We arrived at the B&B where we are staying and it’s a very charming little coaching inn located in the medieval village of Mells. It’s called the Talbot Inn.Mells, in case you were wondering, is somewhere between Radstock and Frome, not too far from Bath. Okay, so you can picture it, right? It was recommended to me at the office party when I was really drunk, but I recall the gentleman who recommended it saying they had a fantastic restaurant.

Anyway, Mells is very quaint, as in, there’s a Post Office/Store here and not much else. My wife and I are traveling out this way with a friend, and we all remarked that if this were a similar sized town in America, we’d all be thinking “Deliverance,” but instead, it’s cute. Very cute. Darling, in fact. There’s a church (St. Andrews) down the road from the inn, so we walked down and had a look around the courtyard. It was a very old church, let me tell you, and very pretty. In fact, it’s pretty all over around here… and quiet. A person could really get used to this.

Now, I did mention that this place had a good restaurant, right? Because this place has a good restaurant. It is really amazing… forget everything I’ve said about British food. Well, not everything. But this place is outstanding. We split a bunch of appetizers, which included a carmalized apple and blue cheese tatin, some mussels in cream and white wine sauce, and some Scottish smoked salmon. All were out of this world. The we had our main courses… I had a fillet with wild mushroom ragou in a Madeira sauce, with garlic roasted potatoes. Did I say out of this world??! My wife had the lamb though, and–oh my god–I’m getting the lamb tonight!! It was the most tender, succulent lamb… with none of that “lamb” smell/flavor/aftertaste. It was simply out of this world food.

If you’re ever traveling out this way, I’d have to recommend this place as a B&B. The rooms have all the quirks–like low ceilings in the bathrooms and weird stairways–that you associate with country B&Bs, with a staff who are friendly and outgoing and a restaurant that is simply amazing.