WELCOMING US INTO THEIR LUXURY HOTEL IN COWES PETER SUSSMAN AND SARA CURRAN THE 'SCHITT'S CREEK' AND 'THE FAVOURITE PRODUCERS ON TRADING TINSELTOWN FOR THE ISLE OF WIGHT

How Hollywood husband-and-wife team Peter Sussman and Sara Curran came to run a business on the Isle of Wight is a story with all the elements of a charming film.

-  ROSALIND POWELL

After leaving behind the glamour of Tinseltown in 2020, the two producers bought and restored a hotel in Cowes - with no previous experience of working in the world of hospitality - and have now found their dream roles.

"If you'd have told me this ten years ago, I'd have said: 'Not a chance," says Peter, 65 - who, in an interesting twist, was one of the driving forces behind the award-winning Canadian comedy Schitt's Creek, about a family of bankrupt millionaires who end up owning and running a shabby, backwater motel.

Not that there's any comparison to be made between the Rosebud Motel and Foresters Hall, a grade II-listed Georgian townhouse that the couple have transformed into a warm and welcoming boutique hotel with 14 rooms, a cosy bar and swimming pool.

As they prepare for their first Christmas as hoteliers, with the dining room looking festive and the restaurant fully booked with locals coming for Christmas lunch, the couple can reflect with pride on their success.

"It's easily the best hotel on the island, I think it's fair to say, and it's probably one of the warmest as well," says Sara, 55, whose film and TV credits include the award-winning The Favourite and The Night Manager. "What Peter and I have tried to do with this hotel is give it a lot of heart. It's a small hotel with a big personality."

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Peter adds: "The best compliment we get is when people say it's like coming to our house. I'm always amused at the end of breakfast when people gather up their plates and start bringing them up because they think they're eating in our home."