Gainsborough, Milborne Port, Sherborne DT9 5BA.

As is the way now, I had looked online first, and found some great reviews which left me wondering can they be that good? The proof is in the eating as they say so I called to see if we could book.

“Yes of course I will find you a table.” A lovely beginning to our Clockspire experience.

At the beautifully restored Victorian school building, the parking was easy and we were made to feel welcome and shown upstairs to the lovely cocktail bar. I had a Ven Royale, made with their homemade pomegranate syrup. Delicious.

There is a choice of two menus, the evening one and the taster menu which is for two people sharing.

Back downstairs, our table was in what is a stunning restoration of an old school room, very high ceilings, lovely timbers and beautiful lighting – nothing not to like about the setting.

The wine list too looked very good, but since my husband is teetotal I am normally limited to an odd glass of at best ordinary wine. Well, how nice to have a choice of good wines by the glass. I was happy to pay a little more for this.

Before the ‘main event’ started, we had homemade bread and butter, again delicious. For starters my husband had a lovely lobster dish and I had homemade smoked salmon, followed by sea bass and venison.

All the dishes were perfectly cooked with masses of attention to detail. We ended with blackberry parfait and treacle tart, which my husband ordered. For me the treacle tart was the outstanding moment. He gave me a taste of the most wonderful buttery, crispy pastry… I refused to give it back to him and polished it all off.

Our lovely waitress asked if we would like to meet the chefs in the kitchen afterwards, you bet we would! Great atmosphere, great food and super staff. We really enjoyed our evening, exceptional and recommended.