Last night I went out for a Christmas get-together with a group of my closest girlfriends. We went to a hotel / pub which we would not normally eat in and had a fab evening. Not that what we ate was very Christmassy or complicated!

5 of us got together last night for food and wine, with a sudden change of venue, we ended up somewhere which would not normally be top of our list for eating out. But then the most important thing was to see each other before the festive season really takes off.

There was mid-week entertainment but we managed to find a good table in the corner where we could hide away and natter. None of us chose a Christmas dish and bar snacks were the order of the day with ham, egg and chips for 1 and 4 of us picking ‘Burger of the Day’ Exmoor Beef and chips, including me.

I have to say we all really enjoyed it and was just what we needed, I guess with Christmas on the horizon it was nice to have something simple. The chips were lovely and crispy, the burger was meaty and the cheese not too cheap. I think you can say we were all pleasantly surprised and wouldn’t hesitate going back if we just wanted a bar meal. And to be honest I’m surprised but happy to be writing this about the Seagate Hotel. Oh and we washed this all down with a bottle or 2 of Australian Chardonnay, which I’m sure you’ll be surprised to hear!

Hopefully a good night was had by all, I certainly had a great time.

And so with the rest of the Christmas preparations – the decorations are up, just another tree to purchase for the dining room – the stock has been prepared ready for the Christmas gravy to be created and exciting-ly my vegetables and goose arrive from Local Farm Box today as does my meat from Eat Great Meat. I’m sure to report back! And yes I’m getting excited and Christmassy, hope you all are too!