Food glorious Food!

Before taking possession of our amazing new holiday / run away to eventually home, FSHubby and I naturally had to check out 3 VERY important things. One - peace; quiet (i.e. NO swimming pools within 5 miles, no footballing boys - in fact no near neighbours!) - 2/3 tick - we do have neighbours but they are miles away and have horses in their 'gardens'. Two - access to civilisation - tick we are approx. 1 hour from Liverpool, Manchester & Birmingham and even closer to Chester & Shrewsbury. Three - the most important - access to really good restaurants. And this got a HUGE tick.

Literally staggering distance from the new des res we have a decent gastropub and a lovely Indian restaurant. Plus there's a greasy spoon & a chip shop! Hurrah! The basics are covered. However the week we got the keys we started our food quest in earnest. We were told by our neighbours that a short drive (5 mins?) would take us to Plas Yn Dinas a lovely, recently refurbished pub with wonderful food.

So we visited for lunch with 2 very hungry 20 somethings (as you do) and all went swimmingly. I had a veggie onion soup with a huge cheese crouton, others had smoked trout pate, then for mains I had the Mediterranean flatbread & the carnivores had burgers. I give it 8/10 an excellent lunch.



The next day we headed (this time a deux) just 15 mins in the other direction to Townhouse in Oswestry, a Michael Caines outpost which we had high hopes for. And we were NOT disappointed! The meal was exquisite. We started with a  stunning 'amuse bouche' of haricot bean & truffle oil soup. I had a mixed salmon starter (2nd to bottom left image!) followed by stunning ravioli with duck egg & feta and spring veg (right) and then the best pudding I have ever had in my life - EVER - Red apple and salt caramel cremeux, confit apple with a doughnut - had to be eaten to be believed. FSHubby had a chicken & ham hock starter, then rock bass with a lobster & squid Bolognese and a whisky ice cream & crème brulee! Fab - u - lous. 10/10.

Then we stumbled upon The Sticky Walnut. Another wow! It was in a place called Hoole just outside Chester, so about 45 mins away. Yes a long way to go for a meal but honestly it was truly worth it. We had been searching for discount furniture warehouses and ended up on the outskirts of Chester (where we scored a bargain big dining table and a pair of beds that clip together to make a super king or split to become 2 singles - you know the type). Anyway we needed lunch after our retail therapy and were recommended the Sticky Walnut. And we were hugely impressed! Funky interior, lovely staff & fab food - I had blue cheese arancini with poached pears, spinach & walnuts - amazing (above right - I am rubbish at setting the images in this blog!!) FSHubby had braised Jacobs ladder (to the left, beef apparently) which he said was melt in the mouth.

So with all that amazing food on our doorstep the next thing is to find is a gym! Or a walking book so we don't turn into human versions of Jabba The Hut (well when my b*ggered Achilles mends that is!)