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Bishopstrow House is also very well placed for excursions to Bath or Salisbury, or for those who wish to explore Hardy's Wessex. It was a pleasant warm May day when we arrived, and we sat out on the lawn enjoying pre-lunch drinks, looking over a meadow with tall grass and a happy little herd of cows contentedly munching away in the shade of an enormous old chestnut tree, still resplendent with its flowery candles.

We ate lunch in the conservatory extension to the dining room. There's a good a la carte lunch menu. You can put together a very good two course lunch from about £12. Pushing the boat out a bit, you could knock up £18 or so for an very satisfying three course feast.

We tried the carpaccio of blue fin tuna (£5.50) which was nicely seared on the outside, served with a tasty rocket salad with an excellent dressing of mustard and soy. A warm salad of wood pigeon (£4.50) featured dark, tender gamey meat, with plenty of wild mushrooms topped off with a soft poached egg and more crunchy salad leaves. These were both excellent dishes. Other dishes I liked the look of included a rather dramatically presented goat's cheese salad (£4.95) with parsnip crisps and salsa verde, and the roast tomato and thyme soup with orange oil (£4.00) looked most attractive on the next table.

There's a selection of salads that you can have in starter or main sized portions. My guest had the salad of Benleigh Blue English cheese, with avocado and lots of crispy bacon with a poached egg. She found the starter portion (£6.80) was more than sufficient after her blue fin tuna.

I dithered over Thai fish cakes with field greens and a sweet chilli sauce (£6.95)but plumped for the Pan-fried calves Liver, which came attractively cushioned on a bed of colcannon which I always think of as "bubble and squeak". The addition of bacon and a nicely caramelised onion confit (they called it "jam") finished the dish off very satisfyingly. It was a generous portion and well worth £8.75.

The wine list is pretty comprehensive, with a selection of wines indicative of a genuine interest in the cellar. It being lunchtime, we sampled a glass each of the red and white house wines, both admirable examples of the value for money you find from Argentina. For pudding we had a tulip of pleasant enough ice creams (£4.00) and a rather brilliant Toque Savarin, a light sponge in the shape of a flamboyant chef's hat, with fresh fruits and orange essence.

At dinner there is a fixed price menu of £35 for three courses. Chef Chris Suter makes good use of the excellent local supplies, especially game in season. Every day there are special dishes, so as one would hope, the current crop of asparagus was one of the highlights.

To keep up your appetite for the next appointment with Chef Suter and his excellent cooking, clay pigeon shooting can be arranged and horses and bicycles found. There are both indoor and outdoor swimming pools and the now obligatory torture chamber equipped with all those bizarre looking machines for working out. Well behaved dogs are welcome and babies can be sat if notice is given. What more can one ask for?

Clifford Mould May 1999

Bishopstrow House, Warminster, Wiltshire BA 9HH
Tel: +44 (0) 1985 212312 Fax: 216769

Email reservations: reservations@bishopstrow.co.uk

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