Guest User
September 27, 2023
This is a beautiful country house with a well deserved reputation for excellent food. The gardens are immaculately maintained, a real credit to the gardening team and the location is stunning. The staff were attentive, I thought, but not "in your face" - it's interesting how things have evolved there over the years; on our first visit in the 90's, the service was rather overwhelmingly full-on; now it feels much more relaxed and laissez-faire, a thoroughly comfortable experience. The food, as expected, was top notch; two of us ended with the cheese and we quite fancied a fig with it (as one of the puds was a fig tart, we thought there would be some knocking around in the kitchen) so we asked for and got the fig, which was marinated in something gorgeous and was the best fig EVER!!! My only (slight) criticism, if you can call it a criticism, is that the Hambleton bread is a bit on the crusty side especially when toasted but I'm probably being a bit picky. I wonder also why there are no tea/coffee making facilities in the rooms. I've noticed this before, a bit unusual. Anyway, it's a lovely place, well managed and reassuringly expensive. Will doubtless return.