Sometimes getting out of the city for just one night makes the weekend seem so much longer. This weekend we did just that: took a trip to Oxford and spent an utterly spoilt night at Raymond Blanc’s Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons restaurant and hotel in the Oxfordshire countryside. It was a lovely birthday gift (six months ago in September!) and something we had booked far in advance and had been looking forward to for months and months. It was a real, real treat; a completely relaxing getaway with good food, good wine and good company.
We first got the train from Paddington to Oxford, where we grabbed some lunch at Turl Street Kitchen (great homely, British food, the fish and chips were very yummy) and walked around the city soaking up with atmosphere and architecture. We went to Modern Art Oxford and saw Love is Enough, an exhibition curated by Jeremy Deller that brings together the work of William Morris and Andy Warhol, a slightly odd duo you would think, but they had more in common than first meets the eye. We even saw a street with (almost) my name!
We paid a visit to a lovely shop called Objects of Use, full of utilitarian but beautiful objects for the home. I could have bought the whole shop.
Then it was on to the main event, the two-michelin starred hotel in the picturesque Oxfordshire village of Great Milton. The historic manor house, run by French chef Raymond Blanc, has 32 rooms and suites surrounded by manicured lawns, orchards, vegetable and herb gardens. Our charming room, Emily, looked onto the courtyard and was located in the oldest part of the house, dating back to the 15th century. It had everything you could possibly need, they had thought of everything: fresh flowers, a bowl of fruit, a decanter of madeira should you fancy an afternoon pick-me-up, slippers and luxurious towelling robes, little bags to take your soap away and postcards to send to loved-ones.
…even a little champagne!
The restaurant is the main, if only, reason people visit le Manoir, and for very good reason. Not only does it have the accolades, its two-acre kitchen garden produces 90 types of vegetable and 70 varieties of herbs! The menu itself has a classic French flair, with the freshest seasonal produce. We both had the sweetest, juiciest langoustines with earthy jerusalem artichokes and delicate slices of truffle, followed by suckling pig for him and perfectly cooked dover sole, scallops, thin slices of cauliflower and tender stems of broccoli for me. They even made everything dairy-free for me, without batting an eyelid. The pudding was the best bit though, as you would expect from a French chef: buttery sponge topped with confit pear, pear sorbet and pear crisps (I would love to know how they made them so thin and crispy!).
Then it was up again to eat more, yay! Breakfast was relaxed, a buffet table dotted with unctuous ingredients: the flakiest croissants and pain au chocolats, crispy French bread, tropical fruit salads and healthy toppings for the more virtuous. There was eggs any way you like them and full english’s if you had room too.
I snuck a few of those in my bag for elevenses…
We finished the trip off with a well-needed walk around the grounds and the next-door village to see the chocolate-box thatched roofed homes. Then it was back to the rainy big-smoke, but oh how I wish I could have stayed longer…
All images my own
