The History of The Robin Hill Hotel

The History of The Robin Hill Hotel

A Place Where Time Has Always Been Part of the Welcome

Perched on the hills above Torquay Harbour, The Robin Hill Hotel has been welcoming guests for well over a century. Built in 1896 as a gentleman’s private residence, the house was later opened to travellers seeking comfort, courtesy, and the distinctive charm of England’s south coast.

From its earliest days, Robin Hill was never intended to be merely a place to stay. It was conceived as a home with hospitality at its heart — a retreat where guests were personally received, well fed, and quietly cared for. By the 1930s, the hotel was already recognised as a “select establishment”, offering modern comforts of its time, full board dining, and the attentive presence of resident proprietors who lived on site and knew their guests by name.

Over the decades, generations of visitors have passed through these rooms. Honeymoon couples in the 1960s. Families returning summer after summer. Guests who later searched for old postcards, photographs, and memories — and donated them back to the hotel, so that its story could continue to be told. Even today, some of the images displayed within the house were once carried home in suitcases, kept in drawers, and rediscovered decades later.

What makes The Robin Hill Hotel unique is not scale or spectacle, but continuity. The walls have listened to conversations across eras; the gardens have witnessed quiet breakfasts, evening walks, and long conversations after dinner. This is a place shaped by people rather than trends — a hotel defined by time, not by fashion.

Staying at The Robin Hill Hotel is an invitation to experience Torquay as travellers once did:

unhurried, personal, and deeply human.

It is a reminder that some places are valued not for what has been added, but for what has been preserved.

We invite you to step into that history — and to become part of it.