The Mill at Gordleton

Silver Street, Hordle near Lymington, Hampshire, SO41 6DJ. Tel: 01590 682219

This is a beautiful little gem of a place, set in the New Forest. Not exactly the cheapest for pub grub or a Sunday roast but worthy for a little treat now and again.

It is a hotel, restaurant, small bar and lovely beer gardens. It even has a Victorian swimming pool that is being renovated into a pond. There are some pieces of art in the gardens, a stream running past with a few bridges.

We went on a Sunday early evening and had dinner for 6.45pm but I can imagine it being brilliant on a summer's evening. They say Friday and Saturday nights are busy and need reservations but Sunday is usually OK and not so packed.

The two course meal was £21.50 and three courses was £26.50. Not cheap as I said but the sirloin I had was definitely worth it. I had it pink on the expectation that the meat was going to be decent quality and you will see from the picture below what I mean but it was so good. I actually thought it was going to be some thin slices from the roast but it was like two thing sirloin steaks.

Southern Yorkshire puddings are not as good as those made up North but that was the only minor point.

It would have been nice to have more slices of the roast duck in the starter but that is just me being greedy as ever. We definitely had no room for dessert. If you must know, we had the Vista Flores, Malbec Sangiovese.