Lainston House Hotel, Winchester.

As promised here comes the full review of the incredible Lainston House Hotel in Winchester.

As you can see the grounds are incredible, and after a very long tedious journey including a broken down car, an RAC man, a three hour garage stop and lots of stress, it was a dream was we drove up the drive to witness this!

We were delighted to see our room, it was spacious and the sun was streaming in through the three large windows.  I will do a post of all of my photos I took after editing them so you can see all of the tiny attentions of the detail the team put into our stay.  The bed was the largest we’ve stayed in, and was insanely comfortable! I didn’t want to have to get up!

The lounge had a great atmosphere, buzzing with people sipping on cocktails and taking in some of the fantastic 63 acres of land that surrounds the house itself.

The house even has their own Kitchen Garden which is open for you to take a wander and see where you’re vegetables for your evening meal are going to come from.  I tried the rhubarb and it was full of flavour.  We also saw Head Chef, Phil, out picking it!

Just beyond the Kitchen Garden lies The Falconry that is home to a collection of owls, and falcons. The birds are all incredible and even respond when you talk to them! We were fortunate to be there with the General Manager, and the Facloner, so we were filled to the brim with facts about the birds.  The Great Grey Owl is even trained as the ring bearer from weddings, something I’ve noted for a later date!

Dinner in The Avenue, names after the mile lone avenue of lime trees you can see through the window, was beyond words!  I filed myself on some of the largest scallops I have ever seen for my starter whilst the partner in crime tried the pigeon! Both plates were left empty!  For main course I had the Seared Dorade with White crab, girolles, bisque, and razor clams, which I devoured every single mouthful and emptied my glass of Sancerre, Les Longues Fins, Domaine André Neveu 2011, and the partner in crime tried the Roast Lion of Lamb with braised shoulder, artichoke, mint, spiced wine, black garlic paired with Rioja, Lealtanza Club Reserva, Exclusive Hotels Edition, Spain 2005.  As full as we were, we obviously had to try the desert, I opted for the Tahitian Vanilla Cheesecake with the amazing garden rhubarb, sorbet, and a macaroon. The White Chocolate with Hob Nob biscuit, toffee popcorn, and mandarin sorbet went down a right treat for the other half!  We were also lucky enough to have our deserts paired with divine desert wines but the fantastic Sommelier.

For breakfast we tried the homemade pastries that left us wanting more, so we decided to fill ourselves up for a second time within a few hours with a bacon and sausage sandwich.  I do have a genuine excuse.. We had to try the meat from the pigs that are hand reared on site!!  They were great!

We had a most fantastic stay and I would certainly make the trip back (minus the broken down car) to eat and stay there again.

Disclaimer: This was offered to me by their lovely PR team.