Great House Hotel & Restaurant - Lavenham, The

There is about the East Anglian countryside an air of antiquity quite unlike anywhere else you have encountered in Britain. It is at its strongest in places like Lavenham where a combination of ancient buildings, warm dry summers and the red brick and half timbering peculiar to counties like Suffolk are at their best.

It is no surprise therefore that the Great House at Lavenham should fit in so well to this idyllic background. Lavenham has to be high on the list of most attractive villages in England, the sort of place where people who may be weary of their everyday locations come for some well-earned rejuvenation.

Described by The Mail on Sunday as 'a gem of a small country hotel-restaurant with an authentic taste of France', The Great House has five luxurious accommodations, with no expense spared to ensure the sort of setting where, as you walk into your room you know instinctively that this is your personal paradise, yours for as long as you can stay.

Eating well is every bit as important to the process as resting well, and when The Sunday Telegraph said, 'The Great House is a cracking restaurant' it was not referring to the foundations, which incidentally are in fine shape. There are several menus, of which the à la carte is but one example, and whilst the overall influence is French, ingredients tend to follow regional sourcing with an emphasis on freshness.

Starters could include Gressingham duck pancake with red onion and gruyere, white bean and rosemary soup served with blue cheese cream and crispy croutons, or Scottish mussels cooked in white wine, green chilli and coriander.

First courses of this kind of integrity create the sort of confidence that enables a meal to be enjoyed to the full and main courses of farmed sea bass, done as a thick fillet marinated with fennel seeds and dill, or grilled Scottish lamb fillet with thyme sauce, do nothing to diminish this sense of well-being. Dinner brings perhaps a smooth chicken liver parfait, followed by pot roasted partridge with apple and Calvados sauce.

It is within the dessert menu at The Great House that opportunities exist for the most outrageous indulgence. Who, in their right gastronomic mind, would be able to keep calm as they dallied between the relative merits of a perfectly executed vanilla and honey crème brûlée with crispy top just so, or a 'mystère', thyme ice cream with chocolate coated dark chocolate sauce? Well, there are those who would head unerringly for the wonderful selection of perfectly kept French cheeses.

It would be strange if the wine list was anything but equal to the task of matching the cuisine, and not only is the selection everything you would expect and by no means confined to France alone, it is also amazingly good value for money. There is a magnificent range of half bottles, excellent house wine and champagne by the glass, with ports, cognacs, armagnacs and liqueurs enough to ensure a very happy landing.

If I display inclinations towards what some might see as a rave review, it is simply because a lot of people get parts of it right part of the time - few achieve the full monty. Be assured that The Great House at Lavenham is most definitely one of them. Perhaps it should not come as a surprise therefore that the Which? Good Food Guide made them East of England Restaurant of the Year 2009, whilst the Good Hotel Guide for 2009 made them Restaurant with Rooms of the Year.

Their Website informs well about the hotel and restaurant and has a number of useful links to enhance your enjoyment on a wider scale.