Fairyhill - a reminder of the virtues of the country house hotel

Fairyhill in a nutshell

Food: Classic country house but not over-fussy. Wine-friendly.
Wine: In a state of evolution. There’s some awesomely expensive Bordeaux* but the list is obviously moving in the direct of the New World along with the wine-loving owners' own enthusiasms. Pricey at first glance but there are some bargains if you fillet the list carefully
Style/Decor: Old fashioned - but that’s what you expect.
Service: Warm and welcoming
Who to go with: Your other half for a get-away break
Who not to go with: Your children
Verdict: Oddly comforting in this world of minimalist, over-designed restaurants. The owners know their clientele
Cost: ££-£££££ depending how much you spend on wine. Good value if you don't overdo it.

I’d wanted to go to Fairyhill for a while but had never managed to get round to it. It has a reputation for warm and welcoming service and a great wine list. Plus it's located on the Gower Peninsula, one of the most beautiful parts of south Wales.

Finding myself just down the road on a job (researching salt-marsh lamb - see this coming June’s Decanter) it was just too much of a good opportunity to miss and we booked in for the night.

It’s a classic country house hotel experience. A large family house, beautiful gardens, comfortable, homely sitting rooms with the benefit of such must-have mod cons as power showers and flat screen tellys. More money has obviously been invested in the cellar than the decor which is the reverse of how things usually are in the UK, at the top end at least. Which is not to say it’s drab, just not drop dead cool

We kicked off in the bar with a glass of house champagne (Baron de Marck brut) served with a bowl of deep fried cockles from the same salt marshes as the lamb: a terrific combination.

Then I lurched right back to the seventies with a starter of mushroom canneloni with a garlic and cream sauce which was just ridiculously good. I suspect this is a dish they simply can’t take off the menu. My husband went Welsh with a dish of laverbread and bacon which I wasn’t quite so keen on. It would have been better for breakfast.

Having spent the afternoon looking at lambs I then callously chose to eat one in the form of a roast loin and faggot of Welsh lamb, leek and ginger mash and red wine sauce while my husband tucked into some Welsh black beef. Being simply prepared and accurately cooked both these dishes hit the spot perfectly with a very pretty 2004 1er cru Givry Clos Charlé from Gérard Mouton, a reasonable £29.50.

Unsurprisingly it struggled with the well put together plate of Welsh farmhouse cheeses we then shared - apart from the goats’ cheese but the 2005 Goldackerl Beerenauslese from Willi Opitz we ordered to go with our very fancy warm cider-poached pear, encased in a Jean Christophe Novelli-ish sugar spun cage paired successfully with a couple of the other cheeses, notably the blue.

For the £20 they charge for 2 courses (£25 for three, plus the odd supplement) the meal was excellent value. Interestingly, it was also cheaper than the prices quoted on their website, a realistic low season pricing policy that was rewarded by a surprisingly good turn-out on a mid-week March evening which avoided the morgue-like atmosphere you can sometimes get in posh hotels. Breakfast too is lavish which, when ‘late availability’ room deals are taken into account, makes Fairyhill a good bet for a mid-week winter break.

*Other highlights of the list included a page each of Coche Dury (mainly Meursault) and Henschke, some very old vintages of Bordeaux first growths and Burgundian superstars such as Romanée-Conti and Comte Georges de Vogüé.

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