So after 2 years of being my boyfriend and it not having killed him, my other half decided to mark the occasion by whisking me off to the countryside for the weekend. The destination was Eynsham Hall in Oxfordshire, this is a grand hall that has many rooms, often catering for weddings, birthday parties, corporate events and of course romantic weekends. When arriving at the hall you follow a winding drive up to the massive, beautiful building which is surrounded by miles and miles of land. To my knowledge some of the rooms in the hotel have been renovated and some had not. We requested a renovated room in the Main hall (there are several parts of the hotel, don't opt in staying outside of the main hall as these extra rooms are dingy corporate event accommodation that we saw through windows and looked horrid). Our room was well appointed, slightly confusing as there was a huge rainfall shower head that only trickled due to the water pressure, but this was neither here nor there. The bed was hard and unforgiving and the pillows similar to synthetic wafers...... (this all sounds so negative doesn't it... but wait). I started to feel a little dejected about all of this. We did however entertain ourselves with a trip to the swimming pool and then got dressed for dinner.... Now.... Dinner is the key word here. We were booked in for 8pm and started off before this with some cocktails in the vast beautiful original wood paneled bar. After being seated next to a large bookcase full of extraordinary books, we ordered starters and mains, along with a bottle of chianti, the starters were along the lines of duck and salmon and for mains we both ordered steak. The food produced by the restaurant in this hotel, is by far, some of the best I have ever eaten. I have eaten in the Four Seasons and "The Modern at the MOMA" in New York and the food at Eynsham hall is up there with both of these. The duck had been smoked and was served with blue cheese, walnut and roast pear salad. It was so flavorsome and tasty. Again the same with the steak. You can order steak anywhere and it be ok...... But this was juicy and tantalizing, served with huge mushrooms and grilled tomatoes along with hand cut chips. I ordered the Bearnaise sauce with mine which was rich and creamy. If you can believe we ordered dessert after this even though breathing was becoming almost impossible.... mine (tiramassu presented so beautifully) was left half consumed and I had to admit defeat. The whole meal, 2 starters, 2 enormous mains and 2 desserts with a fruity and very delightful chianti came to £97 which I thought was exceptionally reasonable for the high quality of produce and fabulous flavours. After passing out in a wine and food fuelled stupor we awoke sunday to a thick snow fall covering the grounds which added to the romantic weekend away. Breakfast was extensive and true to the previous nights food, fantastic. Needless to say, I left a very happy lady and my other half has scored MASSIVE brownie points. **I believe that the main custom for this hotel is for events, such as weddings, parties and corporate events. Therefore the rooms are not quite as polished as they could be. However this hotel makes up for the slightly rough edges with the great food and surroundings. I would suggest reserving a table for dinner if you are staying here, dont miss out**

Absolutely perfection in terms of flavour and presentation aided by stunning decor. It was just let down by the service which was rushed and, on one occasion, intrusive. What a shame.