The whole hotel (about 60 guests) was served the evening meal (dinner) at once in one big setting at around 7pm each night.
The tables were laid out in a variety of shapes (as the staff tried to accommodate the various group sizes and their requests to be able to sit together) throughout our stay. The actual table decoration was simple (a single paper napkin in the largest wine glass) yet it ensured all the utensils and glasses could be accessed.
Dinner consisted of three courses, baskets of bread, wine (red and white) and water.
The menu included:
- A hearty meal of stewed meat, puff pastry circle (French version of dumplings), salad, pumpkin soup, and for desert we had two profiteer roll balls.
- Duck slivers on oranges and baby lettuce, lamb shanks with Swede mash and followed by blueberry tart. The lamb was falling off the bone and was extremely nice; to the point where I’d even try to cook them myself.
- Parsnip soup (which some of the guys thought was burnt), chicken on a bed of pasta and a slice of blueberry tart. Not as good as the other nights but ok.
- Bruschetta, lightly cooked (some said a bit on the rare side) duck on a bed of leeks and finally sticky toffee pudding.
It was cheap cuts of meat but cooked well so we weren’t disappointed. We were also given fairly large portions of the main (middle) course. Despite the plain fare it was presented with French panache (arty farty garnish, etc). 
Oh, and all the free red and white wine you could drink. We remembered from our last experience that the wine was not free because it was good stuff they wanted us to fork out for later but rather any ol’ shit that they gave to English **** tourists.
This stuff was only ever drunk on the first night when unsuspecting idiots (like us) decided that ‘free’ and ‘as much as you want’ meant ‘good’, 'drinkable' or even ‘passable’. It was that bad that even the less cultured wine drinker went ‘phewy’, ‘bluhhh’, ‘****!’ and spat it out (and not like those posh guys who assess fine wines).
