Lindeth Howe Country House Hotel, Bowness, Lake District

I decided to book Lindeth Howe for Easter weekend, as they had a great offer - £200 per night for room, breakfast and dinner. Trip advisor showed very positive reviews, particularly of the food, so I was sold.


We arrived on Friday afternoon and were quickly shown to our room – we had a great view of Windermere lake from the top of the house. Lindeth Howe used to be owned by Beatrix Potter so there were loads of references to her throughout the hotel, including pictures of the hotel as a grand family home at a time when the wealthy would visit the Lakes for their holidays.

We had dinner in the restaurant on both nights, but this is just a review of the second night. Both evenings we thought the food was excellent. You start in the lounge, where a waiter takes your drinks order, brings you the menus and some delightful canapés to start the evening off. The menu contains a Table d’Hote menu for residents having dinner, along with some chef recommendations. There were also a range of other dishes that you could pay a supplement for, but this was really unnecessary as the Table d’Hote menu had sufficient options. On this night, however, we decided to “push the boat out” and go for the extra main courses (partly because A fancied a steak).

On being seated, we were brought an amuse-bouche, which on the Saturday was a mini Yorkshire pudding with roast beef.

After this, our starters were served. Both A and I had the crab fish cake starter, which was just right.  A passionfruit sorbet was then presented to "cleanse the palate". 

For my main, I had sea bass with a bouillabaisse broth. The fish was cooked perfectly with crispy skin and a light broth containing other seafood. 

 A had the fillet steak, which came with a mini steak suet pudding and mash. We ordered some vegetables as a side dish to try to compensate for all that meat!

For pudding, I ordered the old favourite of Sticky Toffee Pudding, which came with Earl Grey ice cream (not my favourite flavour of tea – a hint of washing up liquid, I always feel).

A had the same pudding on both nights – a chocolate mousse with chocolate flakes on top, which was served in what I can only describe as a mini flower-pot. But the real attraction was the peanut butter ice-cream it came with. In fact the second evening, A said he would have been happy if they had just brought him an enormous bowl of that with a big spoon!

We were offered coffee or tea but declined. Although a lot of courses, the food isn’t overwhelming because they don’t outface you with massive portions. But we were certainly full by the end of it and coffee always seems like a bad idea just before bed!

I would go as far as to say that the food on offer was of equal standard to the few Michelin star restaurants I have visited. The waiters were pleasant and service was of a high standard. In fact, the hotel in general is well worth a visit. It is set in lovely gardens, has a small indoor pool and it is great to hear the geese and ducks quacking away on the lake from an open bedroom window as you drift off to sleep. A very relaxing but also “foodie” weekend.

The White Swan, Wighill, Nr Tadcaster

I grew up in Garforth, which is on the edge of some lovely countryside with plenty of village pubs a short drive away. After I passed my driving test at 17 (after only three months of lessons – go me!) I used to drive from Ledston to Ledsham, then on to Towton and Aberford, each village having a real old-fashioned pub. Zipping down country lanes with my sixth-form mates in the back of my mum’s old fiesta, we had a great time. You don’t mind sticking to orange when you are a brand new driver!


The novelty of having a car and drinking soft drinks all night has worn off a bit after 23 years, but thankfully on Saturday night I wasn’t the designated driver. And Wighill is a bit further than we used to go, but those country lanes really brought back some memories. We were going to the White Swan for my Dad’s birthday, and it is one of those traditional village pubs I remember from my youth.



Thai fishcakes

We ordered drinks at the bar and were taken straight through to a table. The menu isn’t extensive, but this is always a good sign in my experience – too many options and you just get lots of dishes done quite badly. There was also a specials board, but none of them grabbed me so I ordered off the main menu.

For starter, I shared some Thai fishcakes with my sister. These were done very well.

Black pudding

A had a black pudding starter which was fried in batter.

For main, I had Cottage Pie which came with chips and vegetables - a bit of a carb-overload in that I never think that you should have chips with a pie that already has mash on it! The pie was excellent, though, with lots of beef mince and creamy mash. The vegetables on the side were slightly the wrong side of al dente, however, and almost raw.

Cottage pie

Other meals around the table looked good – A had the fish and chips which was a really big portion.

Fish and chips

It was a good meal overall. Service was just right and the pub was busy with other diners. Obviously a popular place.

Sushi Hiroba, Kingsway, London

The conveyer belt sushi restaurant is a marvellous invention. So far I have only experienced Yo Sushi, so I was delighted to discover another one, Sushi Hiroba, on Kingsway in London. The conveyer belt style is known as “Kaiten-zushi” (thanks, Wikipedia). It particularly suits my enjoyment not only of eating food, but looking at it as well!

We were in London for the Taste Festival, but fancied some sushi for Friday night dinner. We were quickly seated at the bar and given menus. The food is priced in the same way as Yo, with coloured plates indicating the cost of the food. The conveyer belt was pleasingly full, and I enjoyed my usual choice of Salmon Maki along with a range of sushi rolls. Sushi Hiroba is probably a bit more adventurous with their roll designs, as I kept seeing a roll filled with a slice of banana passing by on the belt. (I didn’t try this one as it breaks the Leeds Food Leads rule of food – no sweet with savoury. This applies to Hawaiian pizzas, gammon with pineapple, and now I find, sushi).

Service was a little slow – it took a while for our drinks to arrive. The hot food we ordered arrived promptly, however. We managed about eight small plates each.

I would recommend Sushi Hiroba. The choice in Leeds is fairly limited so if you are a sushi fan, it is always worth checking out what’s available in other cities.

Carriages, Knaresborough

The regular school friends’ lunch had a twist last Saturday as it was one of our number’s 40th birthday. A surprise lunch out in Knaresborough followed by some embarrassing karaoke in Leeds was planned down to the last minute, with transport generously provided by one of the husbands.* So four ladies and a husband piled into the Zafira and roared off up the A1 with two labradoodles in the back.
Carriages is a lovely cosy restaurant with a comfortable bar area and tables available in a few different rooms. There is a lunch menu and a tapas menu, so we decided to order some tapas and a bottle of Pinot.

Two tapas portions each seemed to be about right, but we also ordered a few extras – patatas bravas, olives and garlic bread.

Scallops and crab were served in a shell. A really generous serving of scallops, considering this was a tapas dish, and presented in a lovely creamy sauce.

I was keen to order the parma ham and quail egg salad and wasn’t disappointed. Tiny fried quail eggs complemented the ham and rocket leaves perfectly.

Cod pieces were served with pancetta and a creamy sauce on the side. 

Other dishes included huge green lipped mussels which were served with a tomato based sauce. A couple of vegetarian dishes were given the thumbs up by the non-carnivore in the group.

After lunch, we retired to the garden for our coffees – a covered area with a view of the valley. It almost felt like summer! The bill was provided promptly so we paid up and went to visit a few other Knaresborough hostelries.

Carriages is great – a lovely setting, great food and pleasant service. The evening menu was on a blackboard and looked wonderful. Maybe next time......

Side note: OK Karaoke in Leeds afterwards was a revelation. A private room, snacks and Pinot were provided and a massive selection of songs was available for us to systematically murder. Brilliant place.


*we are not practicing polygamists, this was H’s husband.

Pentre Mawr Country House, North Wales

A weekend camping in Wales in October is not appealing to me. In principle, I like the idea of being around nature, cooking beans on a gas stove and eating them from plastic plates. But as soon as someone reminds me of the toilet situation, it all falls apart right there. Images of the last episode of The Inbetweeners and “digging a trench” flash through my mind and that’s the end of that.

“Glamping”, however, I can cope with. We booked a weekend at Pentre Mawr Country House, not to stay in their lovely guest rooms but in the luxury tents in the grounds. These are large canvas structures, with bedroom, living area and bathroom (all plumbing provided). They also contain TV, DVD, heating, lighting and a hot tub on the patio outside. This is camping I can live with.

Evening meal was taken in the House itself. Sitting in the drawing room with a pre-dinner drink and menus, we were made so welcome by the hosts that it felt like we were friends of theirs from over the valley who had just popped in for drinks after a day shooting pheasant in the grounds. Sadly, this is clearly untrue as we had driven two hours from Leeds and braved the horrendous M62 so were ready for a nice drink and dinner.

The drawing room.....



Dinner was taken in a number of different rooms. Before our starters, an amuse-bouche was served. This was lentil soup served in a small coffee cup. Lentils can be rather bland but this had a delicate spicy flavour.



For starter, we both ordered smoked haddock in a wine and cream sauce, which was excellent. Lots of bread was provided for mopping up the sauce.



A sorbet was served between starter and main to "cleanse the palate". I am never sure about serving something sweet at this point in the meal, even though it tasted great.

I had to order Welsh rack of lamb for main course. There were fields full of sheep all over the place on the drive through Wales so I felt I had to give it a go. It was fantastic, and a really generous portion. It was served with a potato gratin and vegetables.



We were stuffed after two courses, so asked if we could have our pudding “to go”. The owner gave us a tray of our choice of pudding to carry down to the tent and we ate it later. Bread and butter pudding was probably the best I have ever tasted.

After pudding, cheese and coffee is served back in the drawing room, but we missed this on the first night. Our second night, though, we managed to eat all three courses and stayed for cheese. We were joined by one of the owners’ dogs and one of the cats (they have three of each and two horses). The dinner on the second night was equally good.

The service is excellent and the owners clearly have long experience of running a hotel. There are loads of little touches which make the place so brilliant. Polo mints are left in the hall for guests to feed to their horse in the next field. The three dogs love a bit of football on the lawn. Bucks fizz is served at breakfast. Afternoon tea is served when you arrive to check in. A golf buggy is used to take you to your tent if you have a lot of luggage.

We were very lucky to stumble across a food festival in Conwy when we went to visit the castle. Loads of Welsh produce, a beer tent, a champagne and oyster bar – I was in my element. We bought and ate some pies on the sea front. I do love a pie.

Petrus, London

Our second dining outing in London was Gordon Ramsay’s Petrus, situated in Belgravia and a bit of a nightmare to find! After a morning of wandering around the London Science Museum, trying to avoid screaming children and do some “learning”, we were looking forward to a peaceful, serene lunch in pleasant surroundings.

When we arrived at Petrus we were quickly seated and menus provided. The restaurant was quiet and we all admitted that we felt a little uncomfortable – it is very upmarket, and I felt that my choice of wearing a checked shirt made me look like I had come to mend the boiler rather than attend a Michelin star restaurant! My thinking was – who dresses up for lunch? Well some people do, apparently, especially in Belgravia. Also, the staff were very attentive, which in some ways is great (impeccable service) but in other ways makes me feel slightly uncomfortable (I’m just not posh enough for this!)

Anyway, Psycho Psu, Miss Babs and I all felt that as the lunch progressed, we started to relax a bit. It’s not like we eat with our hands and wipe our mouths on our sleeves. We may have broad Yorkshire accents but we can appreciate an amuse-bouche with the best of them.

The wine list is incredibly long and about 99% of it was out of our price range. So we ordered a Sauvignon Blanc at around £26. The reason I had chosen Petrus, however, was because of the £25 set lunch menu (three courses) -an opportunity to sample Gordon Ramsay food without breaking the bank.

The amuse-bouche was a pea puree with a tiny crouton and goat cheese balanced on top. This was an amazing colour and flavour, and may well have been my favourite part of the meal. For first course, I ordered lobster and salmon cannelloni, which was just one small tube of pasta, crammed full of the seafood. Fantastic! I don’t have a picture of these two courses, sadly, because at this point I still felt a bit weird about getting my camera out.

Second course was chicken with confit leg, creamed leeks and caper juice. (I finally plucked up courage to get my camera out at this point). Sides of pomme puree and baby carrots were served with this dish.





For starter and main there are only three choices for each course on the set menu, but we all easily found something we liked. For pudding, however, there are a lot more options and I found it really hard to make a decision. Before pudding is served another “freebie” was brought to the table – a tiny ice cream cone filled with lemon mousse – fabulous.

I decided on Hazelnut parfait with a chocolate centre and praline crust – it was incredible!



Psycho Psu had a crème brulee, which she said was good. Miss Babs ordered a raspberry dessert which looked fantastic and she reported it tasted as good as it looked.



Finally, as the bill arrived, so did a silver bowl with dry ice billowing out of it. When the fog cleared, there were three tiny lollies, white chocolate coated and vanilla ice cream centre. A lovely surprise for the end of the meal.

Along with all this food we had two bottles of water and a bottle of wine. With the free gift tasting portions, this is actually a six course meal but it is in no way overwhelming and although we were satisfied, we were not stuffed! The final lovely surprise was the bill – it only came to £45 each. Considering all we had eaten, the fact this is a Gordon Ramsay restaurant and it has a Michelin star, this is amazing value. Once we got past our initial “blimey, this is posh” feeling, we had a very memorable meal. I would definitely go again. And probably wear a smarter shirt!

Le Caprice, London

A few days in London means an opportunity to try a few top restaurants. The first was Le Caprice on a Tuesday evening. This is a sister restaurant to the Ivy, and despite it being Tuesday, it was packed when we got there for our reservation at 9pm.

The maitre d’ informed us politely that our table hadn’t been vacated yet (my understanding was that Le Caprice has a strict 2 hour policy on vacating tables for the next sitting) but never mind, we were offered the wine list and proceeded to order the cheapest one we could find! (This was a pinot gris at about £26, but for some reason they brought us the pinot grigio at £31). I didn't realise until the bill came so just paid for it!

Le Caprice serves food at the bar as well as at tables, which means that if you are waiting, there is really nowhere to go. We started at the reception desk and ended up practically in the cloakroom, and weren’t seated till after half nine. The staff were incredibly friendly, polite and apologetic, however, so that compensated a little.

I ordered Garden pea soup to start – served hot or cold – I chose hot! Very green, very flavourful and great with the Sourdough bread that was brought to the table.



My main course was the famous Le Caprice salmon fishcake – a huge cake, more salmon than potato, covered in a hollandaise sauce and on a bed of spinach. We ordered a range of sides – fries, salad and green beans.



Dining companions Psycho Psu and Miss Babs had calves liver and squid respectively.

The portions were pretty big for a fancy restaurant. All the food was excellent. We couldn’t manage pudding, although this was partly due to the late hour we ended up eating.

We didn’t see any famous faces, either. The place was packed, however, and very loud! It’s not cheap, but it's what you would expect to pay for a well known restaurant in London. There is a service charge added to the bill and a cover charge of £2 each (I have not seen this outside the US before) so it can really bump the bill up.

The Punch Bowl, York

We decided to go to York for a bit on Sunday, as we had a free day. I was hungry when I got in the car to set off, so was eager to eat fairly quickly. We came across the Punch Bowl on Stonegate, which was a lovely traditional pub. A sign outside advertised their pie selection. I can’t resist a pie so in we went.



I ordered steak and ale pie – the biggest I think I have ever seen. It came with mash, broccoli and carrots and a side jug of extra gravy. Hacking through the lovely thick pastry, the chunks of beef and onion were cooked just right in a dark beer gravy – melt in the mouth!



They have a “pie board” with a list of options on the wall – about six different types – the Ham Hock and Pea suet pie looked good too!

A had the small fish and chips portion. Two big portions of fish were presented, with chips and mushy peas. Pretty good.



It was extremely busy in York with lots of tourists and shoppers. There seem to be lots of flower boxes and displays around the city centre, making it very pretty. We also popped in the Golden Fleece, supposedly one of Britain’s most haunted pubs. They have filmed an episode of Most Haunted here and apparently they lay on ghost nights, which sound like a right good laugh!

Delfino Blu Boutique Hotel, Corfu

We went on our first beach holiday in years, last week. Normally I can be found propped up at a blackjack table or slot machine in Vegas for a week in the summer, but this year we decided to do something different. I booked Delfino Blu owing to some fabulous reviews on trip advisor. Also, I have never been to Greece, and it was on my list. Flying out of Doncaster, Thomson airlines was a pleasant surprise, with a movie to watch on the three hour flight. I am used to sticking with the budget airlines for European flights so this was a bonus!

Delfino Blu is a boutique hotel in San Stefanos on the north west coast of Corfu. It is a small place, with only 14 rooms, and this means that you get lovely friendly service. We ate in the restaurant at the hotel twice for dinner, with seats on the terrace and an amazing view of the sun setting over nearby islands.

For our first dinner, I chose garlic mushrooms to start,



We both had moussaka for main course, which was excellent.



Service was attentive and friendly. They bring out some lovely bread and dips to start with, and the aubergine dip was fabulous – must try to make it at home!



Second dinner was disappointing. I ordered meatballs in a yogurt sauce followed by a spaghetti with olive oil, pine nuts and garlic. I like a simple spaghetti dish, without too much sauce, but sadly this was completely tasteless. I had to add salt to it, which I would never usually do. A ordered the mixed grill – chicken, sausage, beef burger, lamb chops, steak – all served on a pita bread. Except it wasn’t. And when we asked the waiter, he said it didn’t come with pita - a clear contradiction of what was clearly written on the menu. Unfortunately, the meat was all cooked to within an inch of its life, so not a great dinner.

The restaurant sells itself as fine dining, with a lovely setting and view. The latter part is true. Sadly, the food does not live up to expectation. There are a range of other restaurants in the resort where we had much nicer and cheaper dinners. In fact one of the best was a place called Ozzie Oils, run by an Australian called Kerry, serving Australian food (yes, I know we were in Corfu, but we did eat plenty of Greek food as well). The Australian meat pie with mash, however, was probably one of the best meals we had!



Despite our reservations about the food, the hotel setting is beautiful. An amazing view of the sea from the balcony, coupled with a lovely room and friendly staff. A short walk down the steps of the hotel leads you to a sandy beach where the hotel reserves sunbeds for its guests. Delfino Blu offers accommodation only and I would definitely take this option over B&B or half board.

Donington Manor, Castle Donington

A trip to Birmingham to drop off a keyboard (don’t ask!) involved a stopover in Castle Donington. I found the Donington Manor Hotel by googling the journey and working out a good place to stay on the way.

We arrived just before 7pm (with the keyboard – the band has arrived!) For £99 we acquired a suite (with its own patio), dinner and breakfast.

The entire hotel was lovely – quiet on a Thursday night – with very obliging staff. After checking out the room (switching lights on and off, opening cupboards, looking what toiletries are in the bathroom) we went down to the bar and had a couple of drinks in the garden before sitting down to dinner.

Three courses were on offer, with a good choice of dishes. I could have eaten every one of the starters, but opted for the smoked salmon and cream cheese, a light start to the meal.



A ordered pigeon – he wasn’t overly keen – it was very gamey. However, this was due to A never having eaten this meat before, rather than there being something wrong with the way it was cooked.



For main, I ordered lamb, which was presented on a pea puree base. A had the duck. This all came with vegetables and potatoes on the side. Both dishes were lovely and full of flavour.

The duck.....



The lamb......



Pudding was blueberry crème brule for A and cheese for me. Both good.......





The food overall was outstanding – best meal I have had in ages. I couldn’t believe that this was included in the special offer price, particularly with breakfast as well. The hotel staff were friendly and hospitable – you couldn’t really fault it in any way. Breakfast was excellent as well – a full English fry-up!

The hotel is a couple of miles away from East Midlands airport, so a good place to stay if you ever have an early morning flight from there.

The Black Swan, Helmsley

I have visited this hotel a couple of times before I began writing this blog, and felt I should pass on the general wonderfulness of this place and its restaurant.

Helmsley is a small market town in the North Yorkshire Moors, very close to Harome, village of the famed, Michelin-starred The Star Inn.

The Black Swan is a hotel right on Helmsley’s market square. It is the sister hotel to The Feversham Arms, and you can use the Feverham’s spa facilities if you stay at the Swan. I have never done this, however, as I am there for the food.

There are some great deals to be had at the Black Swan. We booked a “Thank fizz it’s Friday” deal last year. For £145 for two, we got a bottle of champagne in the room, a three course dinner in the restaurant, a nightcap and a full English breakfast in the morning. The second time we visited was for Valentine’s night this year, a late deal at a similar price, but including a cream tea on arrival in the afternoon.

The restaurant is outstanding. I don’t know why they don’t have a Michelin star. Last visit, we both had French onion soup to start (better than the one I had in Paris last year). Duck was the choice for main and then A had the cheese and I had the coffee themed dessert – a coffee tiramisu, coffee ice cream and a cold latte with a straw!



Breakfast is equally amazing. A full English brought to the table and a choice of cereals, pastries and fruit on a small buffet table. Clearly high-quality produce used at all times.

There is plenty to do in the area. Rievaulx abbey is round the corner, where you can do a good audio tour. Helmsley castle also has an audio tour and is really interesting. The stately home, Duncombe Park is in Helmsley, although I haven’t visited yet. There are some lovely foodie shops in the village.