At the start of December (last year now) I decided that some fine dining was needed, as we hadn’t indulged for some months.

I always try to book via our American Express Concierge service, and it worked well this time! I originally wanted to book a table at “The L’ortolan” restaurant, which we have visited about 3 times previously. The concierge assistant tried in vain to get a table at such late notice (I wanted a table for a Saturday night and was trying to book on the Thursday of the same week). After calling me back, the Amex concierge put forward a suggestion for “The Vineyard” – one I had not heard of upto then. I decided to book the table and then took a look at the website. First impressions were good – nice menu, fantastic wine list and a 5* hotel to boot.

Saturday evening came and it was freezing! We eventually found the place, halfway down a VERY dark lane. Driving in we were greeted by a large pond with floating fires on it. We parked the car and walked in. Straight away you could feel the friendly atmosphere and we were taken to the lobby to sit down, take a drink and browse the menu.

After placing our order, we were escorted to our table. The restaurant’s main dining area is on 3 levels, which is really good as you have larger open areas, smaller private ones etc. At the highest point (which is about 10ft above the lower floor) was the pianist who was playing lovely tunes all evening.

The waiting staff were very friendly and the whole place was relaxing and very congenial.

Read my online review!!