The Royal Exeter Hotel is something of a historical landmark in Bournemouth having originally been built by Captain Lewis Tregonwell in 1812 as a home.
Tregonwell was charged with defending the coastline around Bournemouth against Napoleonic forces, and liked the area so much that he built a mansion for his family.
Later he added a number of buildings, which he let to visitors who wished to engage in the increasingly popular activity of ‘sea bathing’ – and so the origins of Bournemouth were laid.