Our second visit to Lee and Su's new house saw us downgraded to the room without the en-suite... albeit it is very nicely decorated and we did get the use of the huge bathroom just next door. I particularly like the artwork over the bed (New York skyline?), too bad we only brought a small suitcase.
Work on the house is progressing nicely, with new carpets in the study and lounge area, new lights in the long hall, new sofas and carpet in the 'snug', not to mention a spectacular new en-suite and lots of other works ongoing. It's all coming together nicely.
And so we ventured out to the Finch's Arms, which seems like a long way away, but probably wasn't... but it was pissing it down, and Rose's Punto screen is prone to steaming up at the best of times. When we finally arrived it was to a car park bursting at the seams. So I unloaded the drinkers and headed back out to the road, which was double yellow lines and pitch black. I managed to park a way down the road and then walked back through a big puddle.
Not a great start, but the place looked nice and there was promise of free chestnuts (roast your own). The place is deceptively spacious out the back and we were led through to a large, modern dining room (later to be filled with a couple of big, noisy parties!). I was starving but as usual nothing on the starters appealed and with the promise of four likely looking puddings, didn't want to shoot my bolt prematurely!
Lee and Su ordered some poncy bollocks appetizers, which only delayed the arrival of the mains further (possibly) and as no bread was forthcoming I contemplated returning to the bar to claim my free chestnuts. I managed to hold off though, and was rewarded for my patience with a huge steak and a shitload of (very hot) chips. While not as superb as the Grey Goose the other night, they were still very good and the steak was lovely (albeit a bit pinker than I'd have liked).
After checking that the cheesecake was in one piece and not spread about the plate... I plumped for that, and again, it was very nice indeed. I would say the puddings here were better than the Fox and Hounds at Knossington, but the mains were better there. But overall, two good meals out from two trips, can't be bad.
The service was a little shoddy, possibly because most of the serving staff were up past their bedtime and were probably a little bit disoriented. They were also oblivious to the man who walked out of the restaurant clutching a Pepsi glass...
Returning home to Wingfield House we all sat around in a state of 'bloat', watching a boxing match and then waking up at midnight and setting about decorating the 40ft high Christmas tree in the kitchen.
We retired to bed just before two and had a decent night's sleep, though there was a very odd noise outside early in the morning, which sounded like a giant mechanical cricket. God knows what that was. Our bedroom was possibly the only room in the house that was missing a TV, although there were at least two spares knocking about. Not that we really wanted to watch TV at two in the morning.
Come the morning we were all feeling rather tired but I was pleased to note the breakfast was upgraded from Continental to bacon sandwiches at no extra charge. Very good, though we should have specified 'crispy' when asked if we had a preference, our mistake.
