By the time I thought to offer buy us a meal on Friday night and took a look at what Stamford had to offer, The Slanted Door was fully booked in their restaurant but could offer us a table in the bar with the fine dining menu. We were happy with that option and it turned out to be a lovely relaxed way of enjoying what turned out to be a great meal.

The Slanted Door is very central and only about a 5 minutes walk from the cottage. We were warmly welcomed and our table turned out to be a high bar table but plenty big enough to take a few plates and glasses and the stools were very comfy. We began by ordering glasses of champagne – my daughter and I love champagne so it had to be ‘proper’ bubbles.

An amuse bouche of little cups of celeriac soup came with excellent bread. The soup was delicious and a lovely way to start the meal.

The menu was brilliant. We both said we could happily eat any of the dishes and they were wonderfully inventive. For her starter, Nicola chose Sashimi of tuna with edamame peas, soy gel, carrot escabeche, pickled cucumber (£10.95).

My choice was Confit duck terrine, slow cooked duck egg, apricot purée, frozen foie gras (£10.50). I was a little uncertain about ‘frozen’ foie gras but was told it was shaved over the top and I decided to go with it. It was wonderful dish and had lovely meaty bits of duck in the terrine.

We both enjoyed our starters a lot, which boded well for the mains – which turned out to be just as good. I had Roast bass, crab ratatouille, basil oil (£19.95). It was really good and the fish a lovely thick chunk of bass which was perfectly cooked with a crispy skin and gloriously moist and tasty.

Nicola’s choice was Roast rump of lamb, wild mushroom tortellini, cep purée, baby leeks, buttered kale (£19.95). It looked great, with perfectly cooked lamb and Nicola said it was great. We also ordered two glasses of Sauvignon Blanc to have with our mains.

We were pretty full but the food was wonderful and we were on holiday and celebrating mother and daughter time – so we had a pudding! Nicola had Marinated strawberries, pistachio parfait, honeycomb, strawberry sorbet, shortbread (£8.50).

I had Rhubarb, ginger & toffee cheesecake, poached rhubarb, champagne sorbet. All desserts were £8.50.

The cheesecake was wonderful, light and creamy which reminded me of one I’d had a few years ago in San Sebastián, which took our conversation on a short detour to Spain!

It was a brilliant meal: excellent and exciting food, friendly efficient service and a great ambiance. The final bill for the two including drinks but not tip was £116.

It was still a little light as we came out and we decided to go for a walk before heading back to the cottage. We crossed a bridge and looked down the river.

Finally we came back to St George’s Square and our cottage. What a lovely first day and because we’d arrived in time for lunch, it felt like we’d been in Stamford quite a long time. It’s a beautiful town and a great place for a short break.