The dining room at the imposing Norton House Hotel makes an impressive venue for any occasion but never more so than when the need to make an impact is high on the agenda. This is particularly so in the Usher Restaurant, leaving the more frivolous side to the Glass Lounge Brasserie where a lighter approach makes for a zippy atmosphere.

The Airport is two miles away so Norton House can be a useful staging post for those wishing to brace themselves for, or shake off the less attractive effects of travel by air, which might well include a decent dinner. A cream of white bean soup might be followed by a watermelon and vodka sorbet before embarking on a roast fillet of organic salmon, with crushed new potatoes, baby spinach and pak choi, tomatoes, all with a champagne chive and butter cream sauce. Should you head for the venison, however, you may draw comfort from the fact that it will almost certainly have taken the Royal bullet. A chocolate mousse cake with vanilla ice cream tends to sit well with the salmon. The wine list repays close study.