Where golf meets gourmet…

Set in a 543-acre country estate, Brocket Hall really is much more than just a golf course, or two to be exact. Standing on the site of the original house, built in 1239, the current monument took shape in 1760 and remains one of Britain’s finest stately homes.

Boasting a brace of golf courses fittingly named after the two Prime Ministers who used to reside at Brocket Hall, the only shame is that we hacked it around like a couple of local MPs on a junket.

The Melbourne, designed by Clive Clark and Peter Allis, is the more spectacular of the two, and the omnipresence of the River Lea guaranteed we lost 16 balls between us. No, don’t adjust your settings, that says 16.

The Palmerston, crafted by the legendary Donald Steel, melts into the scenery and rewards long, straight drivers of the ball. We, as a collective, are neither long or straight.

But our worries soon joined our balls as we sat in the Michelin-starred Auberge du Lac restaurant eating food fit for a head of state. Or you for that matter. Get in where you fit in…