Weekend Break Recommendation for Foodies

The wife and I went to BailiffsCourt Hotel for the weekend and I can highly recommend it as a good escape from London for the weekend.

Situated in Climping, near Arundel and Littlehampton, it is less than 2 hours drive from London and a world away.  The hotel rooms are lovely, although the more modern ones lack character and the spa is faultless - we were lucky enough to get some decent sun on both the Saturday and Sunday and reclined with the papers next to the outside pool - perfect!

The meal in the main restaurant on the Saturday night was also spot on, although the atmosphere was a touch quiet for my liking - you know how it can be in these hotels when all the couples are whispering.  Fortunately, the main room was almost full by 9pm so there was a nice buzz but a bit of background music would not have gone amiss.

There is a set menu - £44.50 for 3 courses, which at first appears steep but the quality of the food more than makes up for it and it includes service - everything is added to your hotel bill and you do not sign for anything (so don't get too tipsy - you need to remember what you had the following morning when you check out!)

Food is typically British and the service typically Polish.  I had to send back the first bottle of wine which was corked but the second bottle, a 1999 Navarra, went very well with my lamb main course.

You can read all about figuring out whether a bottle of wine is corked on the Pocket Vintages website.

Overall, 4.5/5 for the food, 4 out of 5 for the service and 3 out of 5 for the value, but top marks for the location and the wonders it does for the soul, just getting out of London for a night or two.