Weekend on The Test and The Dundas Arms, Kintbury

We wanted a quite weekend getaway and Hampshire is always our go to spot. Surrounded by gorgeous countryside, quaint villages and wonderful traditional pubs - a lot are now of Michelin starred standards (The Wellington). Hampshire is fast becoming a foodie destination, and perfect to get to for us Londoner's as it took us just over an hour from Clapham. This Bank Holiday weekend was the perfect amount of time to get some good food in our tummies and fresh air in our lungs and for me to learn a thing of two about fishing!

We drove down on the very wet Saturday and went straight to The Dundas Arms, in Kintbury. This has been recommended by a friend whom moved into the village recently. They have rooms which are simple, cosy and everything you need for a weekend escape and we'd heard good things about the food, plus they happily take dogs.

The Dundas is nestled on the banks of the river Kennet - perfect for you sporting types! It's extremely picturesque and perched on the edge of Kintbury village, which is a lovely old town filled with desirable homes and chocolate box cottages, and as an added bonus it's right by the train station. If only it had stopped teaming it down we could have taken advantage of a long river walk by the tow path. Instead, we took full advantage of having a pub on our doorstep and, once the weather had stopped, took a cider onto our balcony which was blissful...

From the pub website

Supper was booked at 8pm where we were seated and asked if we wanted a glass of prosecco, yes for moi, beer for Mr D and nestled into the menu. A good variety shown for both starters and mains and an extremely decent wine list also.

Mr D chose the asparagus and poached egg to start, with quite 'gloopy' hollandaise.

I opted for the chicken liver parfait, pan fried foie gras, spiced chutney and brioche toast. The foie gras was quite heavily charred which did over power any other flavour when eaten with the parfait so I chose to eat this on it's own with the brioche and the same again with the parfait which was delicious and perfectly smooth, and made even better when combined with the chutney. It was all well seasoned.

Predictably, Mr D had steak cooked med-rare.

Sea bass, crushed new potato, green beans and a light tomato sauce was my choice of a main and this was well cooked, perfectly seasoned and the sauce was delicious.

Wanting to make our evening here last as long as possible we paused for a while and finished our wine, before ordering pudding and digestifs (of sorts). Our sticky toffee pudding (to share) was yummy. We plodded off to our wonderfully comfortable bed, content and happy around 11pm with more amaretto's and whiskies (!!).

Needing to get on the road, to see the cousin's babies, I completely forgot to picture the breakfast. We both had a lovely full English with two fried eggs, sausage, bacon, black pudding and toms. All delicious, my only niggle was that the bacon could have been a little more crisp! There's a table with juices, teas and Dorset cereals for you to help yourself and staff were attentive throughout. Sat over looking the wonderful beer garden which was now flooded with sunlight it was a shame we had such miserable weather the day before!

The next day, after a lovely evening with family, Mr D and I headed into Longparish, home of the Plough Inn from the Great British Menu, to do a spot of fishing. Me bring a TOTAL novice seemingly got the hang of it and I've been converted, although not catching a single thing (I can blame the weather!) I absolutely loved it.