Avenue Restaurant at Lainston House Hotel

Red-brick Lainston House, a charming and cosseting country-house hotel, dates from the 17th century when it was a hunting lodge, and stands in 63 acres of parkland; the ruins of a 12th-century chapel are a short stroll away. It's a stunningly beautiful building in a lovely rural setting, though only a few miles from historic Winchester. A dining area has been added to the kitchen garden, with a wood-fired oven for summer barbecues, and alfresco eating on the terrace is on the cards in warm weather. When the weather isn't being kind, the Avenue Restaurant offers an equally pleasant environment in which to dine. It takes its name from the mile-long stretch of limes glimpsed through its windows, and diners are in safe hands from a kitchen with a solid foundation of culinary skills based on years of experience, with local produce - including many fruits and vegetables from the garden and meat from the resident pigs - forming the bedrock of its output. Venison carpaccio with lemon curd, a crisp quail's egg and truffled mayonnaise, and seared scallops with salted curry sauce, cauliflower purée, bacon crisps and apple are the sort of well-executed bright ideas among starters. Main course might bring on pink slices of lamb saddle on a bed of artichoke along with braised shoulder, minted apple jelly, black garlic and spiced wine gravy, with a fish option among the handful of choices of perhaps accurately timed halibut fillet fashionably partnered by oxtail, served with parsnips, pickled walnut and pearl barley. British cheeses are an alternative to such innovative puddings as rich salted chocolate and peanut millefeuille with creamy burned butter ice cream, or pears poached in orange blossom. The excellent breads are all baked in-house, and the extensive wine list is well worth a moment of your time.