“Do you know where you are going yet ?”, asked K as the taxi turned off the main road.

Even the taxi driver had been sworn to secrecy, preferring to tell us all about the gory death of someone last summer.

Despite being close to home and in an area I knew pretty well I didn’t have an idea until we pulled up at the impressive main gates.

I’ve known about this place for years, it was mentioned in the family from time to time as some aged aunt worked here as a maid when it was “The Big House” but I’d never visited it.

Welcomed inside by Christophe we sat next to the fire, admired the Grade II impressiveness of the place and wondered which wine went best with Chateaubriand before we were seated in the candle lit dining room.

There has been a mansion house on this site since 1561 but it was Sir Lionel Phillips who almost completely rebuilt Tylney Hall in l985 and incorporated the Great Hall. Partially panelled in Italian walnut, its ceiling was brought in sections from the Grimation Palace in Florence.

The gardens outside are no less impressive influenced by Gertrude Jekyll and an Italian Garden by Seldon Wornum.

Today, however, it was the food that kept our attention, along with the wine, the piano player and the quiet click of the tappitrees.

All in all a very Happy Birthday…