After the celebration of our civil partnership back in February, we hadn’t really had a chance to relax and take things easy. So it was with great excitement that we headed off on a week’s holiday, planning not only to visit friends and family but to stay at competitor hotels far from the Torridon – benchmarking ourselves to see just how good we really are.

The first of these experiences was at the Pipe and Glass Inn in South Dalton. Awarded East Yorkshire’s only Michelin star for dining earlier this year, it provided Bruce and I, along with my sister-in-law and niece, a hugely enjoyable evening.

We were beautifully catered for with fresh prawn cocktail for starter, potted Gloucester Old Spot for two of the grown ups along with three types of Yorkshire tomatoes with Yorkshire Wold’s mozzarella cheese and lovage pesto.

Accompanied by some great wines, the chicken, wonderfully prepared with a mousse stuffing, and a generous fish pie followed.

In true Ince style, the only option which screamed out from the menu at me was the Pipe and Glass chocolate plate. It was aptly worded as Five Reasons to Love Chocolate, comprising rich brownie with sauce, coffee and chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, mint chocolate ice cream.

Homemade ice creams satisfied the remainder of the party and rounded off a really enjoyable evening.

Always with ideas at the back of my mind, I requested copies of the menu for Bruno, took a long look around the property and brought some inspiration from a wee pub on the Wolds back to our inn in the Scottish Highlands.

The next installment of our week long trip coming shortly.

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