The Potting Shed, Crudwell, Wiltshire

The Potting Shed is owned by the same people as the hotel we were staying in, and we could see it from our bedroom window, so the walk to dinner was not too onerous. We sat at the bar for a drink first, and the staff we nicely chatty, which I always appreciate. They were also very helpful at finding out if there was any hidden gluten in any of the dishes, and marked up a menu for me especially. I love the beer pumps, which were made of old spade handles - so cute!

I started with sardines with a lemon and caper butter, which were beautifully cooked with the sauce offsetting the oiliness of the fish perfectly. It lacked a little texture, but that is my fault since I couldn't have the toast that they were supposed to come on. R had red mullet fillets with new potato salad and watercress pesto, which was also well cooked and worked well together.

I followed with sea bass with asparagus and hollandaise. I am definitely taking advantage of the asparagus season at the moment, and these were perfectly tender while retaining some bite, and I could have eaten then forever if I hadn't got full! R had chicken leg with pea and spinach risotto, which again he enjoyed.

You may have spotted the similarity to what I ate the night before, and you could see that the same people had input into both of the menus. It was no worse for that though. We were too full for pudding, and I was heartbroken by this point as I got word that Chelsea had been knocked out of the Champions League in the dying seconds.