Old Deanery, The

The Old Deanery is a surprise; a contemporary and stylish interior inside a very old and interesting building. The food is well-served, excellent local produce and not a bit pretentious, you can even go there outside lunch and dinner hours for coffees and drinks. There are log fires in the winter in the bar and restaurant, and tables in the garden in the summer. Don't worry; there is no religious hush in the welcoming bar! Even better you can stay as long as you like in one of the eleven bedrooms. Not what you would imagine there either, not a chintz curtain in sight.

Immediately opposite the superb Cathedral, the almost equally handsome Old Deanery offers a very warm welcome to its customers. The menu has a good range of dishes, all with a familiar ring to them. During the day there is a bar snack menu alongside the more traditional set lunch in the restaurant. Pre-concert the Old Deanery welcomes Cathedral-goers to early bird dining.

In the evening, olives are part of the bar offering along with your pre-dinner drink or cocktail. The chef always provides an amuse - a little taste to whet the appetite for the two or three courses to come. The table is yours for the evening, no enforced second sittings there. Choose from a menu of speciality coffees or a cafetière with petits fours, to round off the evening at your table or at the bar. The atmosphere is candlelit, warm and comfortable.