UK adults-only Scarlet Hotel inadvertent satellite gag

Visitors to a luxury eco hotel in the UK, that bans children from its grounds, have begun to realise it looks like something X-rated from the air.

The Scarlet Hotel in Cornwall. Picture: Google Maps

A luxury UK hotel, that charges more than $800 a night for its adult-only rooms, has inadvertently found itself being the butt of the joke after people realised what it looked like from the air.

The Scarlet Hotel, in Mawgan Porth, a coastal town five hours west of London, looks like male genitalia from the air, with the shape appearing very obviously from satellites.

Internet users and locals have previously joked about the establishment, a luxury eco-hotel and spa that charges £400 ($A720) a night for its entry-level room, and that was built in 2009.

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The Scarlet Hotel in Cornwall. Picture: Google Maps

Guests don’t seem to mind the unfortunate illusion, with the hotel scoring a 4.7 rating on Google from more than 400 reviews.

The hotel has even won some architectural gongs, winning Michelmores' Building of the Year Award in 2009.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, local Colin Peake said it was “so strange” the building had won awards.

“I don‘t understand how it got as far as being built when the whole thing is an architectural kn*b gag,” he said.

“I think it’s hilarious, either they don’t know or they do know and don’t tell anybody.

“I just think it’s weird that it’s won awards and nobody’s turned around and gone ’hang on, this really looks like (a penis)’.

“I don’t know at what point the joke was played or if the management are in on it or whether it’s something the architects decided to do with nobody spotting it.

“If it is an architectural joke, then it’s brilliant. It’s so big you wouldn’t see it from the ground, you’d only be able to see it from the air. It’s just so strange.”

Mr Peake admitted it was something most people would likely miss.

“This seems to have been done on purpose, and nobody seems to have noticed or cared,” he said.

“Unless you were looking on Google Earth, and orienting it in a certain way, you probably wouldn't see it. It's just so weird.”