Lunch in Sutterton, Lincs.

Yesterday was great.  Haven't had a day like that in a long time.  Katie and Ben went to their friends' house in the morning as Katie was going to see The Hobbit in the afternoon and Ben decided a day with his mate would be fun too.  Paul and I grabbed the moment and went out for lunch, then I had a fun evening at the greyhound stadium in Peterborough with a couple of home ed friends.

Lunch was lovely.  We headed to The Thatched Cottage, Sutterton, just off the A17.  We'd heard good reports of the place and wanted to give it a try.

The pub is traditionally pretty and sits on 8 acres of land that has been turned into an area of grassy walks which, although pretty boggy yesterday, would come to life in the warmer months.  We met Murphy and Poppy, the two resident donkeys, who ventured out of their field shelter for a quick hello.  Also on the site is a farm shop selling home baked bread, cured pork and home made confectionary, pastry, preserves and pickles.  Meat butchered on the premises is used in the restaurant as well as sold in the shop, and I'm guessing the delicious chunk of fudge, which accompanied our after dinner tea and coffee, came from the shop too.

We're quite nervous of venturing into unknown pubs.  Not too sure where this came from as we'd frequent pubs quite often when we lived in London without a hint of fear!  We had a cheerful welcome from the bar staff who showed us to a table in the restaurant and given a choice of two menus, the al a carte (restaurant) menu and the gourmet (bar) menu.  Warmly decorated with plenty of space between tables, laid with perfect white cloths, the area had been tastefully cheered up for Christmas with strings of twinkling lights.  The good selection of food on offer all sounded tempted.  We both decided on a (Norfolk) turkey roast, with all the trimmings, as we hadn't planned on eating turkey at all over Christmas!  Bread was offered as we waited for our meal to be prepared - a nice touch as we'd decided not to have a starter.

The roast was presented on simple rectangular white plates.  Slices of meat, a slice of stuffing, roast potatoes, a sizeable ball of mashed potato (a lovely surprise), gravy and a separate plate of perfectly cooked vegetables - carrots, parsnips, shredded cabbage and brussel sprouts.  Now, other than carrots, I'm not a huge vegetable fan, but these were cooked just as we like them, not over or under cooked, just al dente.  Everything was full of flavour and a joy to eat.

There was a good selection of desserts too, plus cheeses (with an additional glass of port should you prefer it).  Paul had banoffee pie with banana ice cream and toffee sauce.  I went for a lemon cheesecake with a mixed berry sauce/coulis.  Both were delicious, although we found the biscuit base fairly tough to break through with fork and spoon.  Visions of losing my cheesecake to the floor as I tried to cut through it came into my head!  The mixed berry sauce was lightly spiced, which I wasn't so keen on, but it went well with the fresh lemon of the cheesecake.

Tea and coffee with a chunk of devine buttery, melt-in-the-mouth fudge finished off our meal.  We would certainly recommend a visit here - the atmosphere was warm and friendly and the food tip top.  Food was plentiful but we didn't feel uncomfortable afterwards, which was lucky as we needed to walk Poppy, nothing more unpleasant than waddling along after a heavy meal!