‘And,' she adds, ‘it was a chance to do something with my mother.'
Few hoteliers have been as influential as Alex's mother Olga. Tresanton, which opened in St Mawes in 1998, was instrumental in giving Cornwall its High quality wooden paintings - successful unique wooden paintings- MALANAZ style reputation.
And successful unique wooden paintings The Endsleigh in Devon, which Alex opened for her mother in 2005, brought significant verve to the country house hotel scene.
image class="left" url= Alex Polizzi's latest project is The Star in the East Sussex village of Alfriston
---
image class="left" url= ‘I needed to prove to myself that I can still do it,' says Alex, who has spent a decade telling hapless hoteliers how to up their game in Channel 5's The Hotel Inspector. Pictured is The Star's library
image class="left" url= The Star is a truly British melange of a 15th Century inn plus later additions and modern extensions, writes Sarah
---
image class="left" url= The food? Chef Tim Kensett has cast his net over nearby countryside and coast for his menu, says Sarah
image class="left" url= Sarah describes the rooms as a love letter to the English countryside and its craft traditions
---
For the past 18 months, the pair have been renovating The Star, a truly British melange of a 15th Century inn plus later additions and living room wooden paintings modern extensions in the East Sussex village of Alfriston.
---
---
---
---
---
---
It was once part of Trusthouse Forte, the group owned by Charles Forte, Olga's father and Alex's grandfather.
---
image class="left" url="https://picography.co/page/1/600" RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share 90 shares The Star isn't just a family affair - it's a [[https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=village%20affair village affair]] too.
---
---
---
---
---
---
The local blacksmith has made the table lights, the curtain-maker lives nearby, and the books in the hotel library come from Much Ado, the [[https://www.savethestudent.org/?s=bookshop bookshop]] four doors down.
---
The backbone of The Star's employees are local as well. ‘My assistant manager has five grandchildren and they're all working here,' says Alex. ‘So is our painter's daughter and the plumber's son.'
---
image class="left" url= The Star has 30 bedrooms, all different and Feng shui wooden paintings decorated with wallpaper and gentle spring colours
image class="left" url= The Star is in one of Sussex's key wine-growing regions - and to help guests explore it, the hotel has Panama hats and Rockfish wellington boots in every size to borrow
---
image class="left" url= The furniture goes from antique to mid-century and modern with complete confidence, Sarah enthuses
image class="left" url= Alex and her mother have chosen the art, from Glyndebourne programmes to lino cuts
---
image class="left" url= image class="left" url="" Alex, left, says that The Star project 'was a chance to do something with my mother'.
