Food for thought at Fishmore Hall

1/3
10 April 2012

Was there ever a break more needed than this February's half term? Nearly three months into The Great Slush, England was starting to feel like Narnia — without the Turkish Delight. What you really crave by that time of year is sun and a glimpse of blue. What you get is a frigid layer of battleship grey three inches over your pallid face.

But if you can't afford the Caribbean or the Alps, a cosy English hotel is not a bad fallback. You might not get much Vitamin D top-up but at least you get looked after (and your flight can't be cancelled either).

We chose Fishmore Hall in Ludlow, one of a growing number of post-Babington House boutique hotels reaching out to the stressed urban masses with London-standard food and modernist interiors — without so much as a single hunting scene or "antique" bed pan on display.

The handsome 200-year-old stuccoed building just outside one of England's loveliest market towns ticks a lot of the boxes, although for my taste it is just slightly too close to the A49 ring-road.

We arrived in frigid drizzle, so even the gorgeous Shropshire countryside was struggling to look anything better than bleakly unwelcoming. At the hotel there is no reception as such, just a desk in a bright open plan downstairs taking in the bar and the restaurant.

Before its present incarnation Fishmore was a special school for "difficult" boys so I hoped my two would not take their cue from the hotel's history. I needn't have worried. They were tired but delighted by their room, with its vast double bed and an almost-as-large wall-mounted plasma screen. What more could they need?

As we left them channel surfing my wife and I wandered down the rather airless corridor to our room on the other side of the hotel. We got an even larger double bed, and it was decked out with the same modern art and decor although with a different colour scheme — I prefer my rooms a little more quirky. The bathrooms have generous amounts of Molton Brown toiletries.

There was a slight but unmistakeable aroma of drains in our room that did not dissipate throughout our 48-hour stay. I noticed in online reviews that one or two previous guests had complained of the same thing. We didn't complain, thinking that the whiff would clear, but it didn't.

If the rooms slightly disappointed — perhaps we're a bit spoilt but we expected just a bit more "wow factor" at this price level — the food did not. Even denuded of most of its Michelin stars, Ludlow keeps its reputation as England's most foodie market town, and standards are high.

Arriving in the hushed beige dining room I was initially alarmed. I could see no other children ... or children's menu. The pressure was on the boys. But I need not have worried. Young head chef David Jaram rustled up a superb off-menu take on fish and chips, complete with acceptably non-mushy broccoli that not even the most recalcitrant of Fishmore's previous "inmates" could have complained of.

There were unexpected compliments from the younger contingent for the amuse bouche, a cauliflower cappuccino concoction of some sort.
The menu, presented gamely but with the occasional charmingly mangled pronunciation from the attentive Latvian waiting staff, relies heavily on local sourcing. From the £40 a head
à la carte menu I cannot praise highly enough the Cornish crab and coriander salad or the main course quail with wild mushrooms and sherry. This was more like it.

Even in the rain Ludlow is pretty as a picture, with one of the best exploring castles in England. I can think of few better places for a wind-down break. Fishmore Hall is nearly there but just misfires, falling marginally short on character and personality.

There was a rather odd thing about the hotel I noticed on TripAdvisor. Most reviewers loved it, giving the hotel a five out of five rating and lavish praise.

But a significant minority loathed the place and gave it a zero. A kind of Marmite reaction of extremes with very little in between. Well, I will break fresh ground.

I quite liked Fishmore Hall, I loved the food, but the overall experience did not quite hit the heights. So not a five nor a zero but a solid three.

Fishmore Hall (01584 875 148, www.fishmorehall.co.uk), Fishmore Road, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 3DP has doubles from £140 B&B.

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