Today was a rare warm bank holiday monday and we decided to go to Kenilworth. We started off with a pub lunch at the Queen & Castle (which is a Beefeater chain pub but has a better atmosphere than most other chain pubs). We then had a walk around the outside of the castle.

We passed this ruined barn on our walk. It looked like there might have been a barn on the site for quite a long time. Some of the stones were suspiciously castle coloured and were probably 'borrowed' from the castle before such things were frowned upon.

The food was a bit more expensive than we're used to - 3 courses cost £56 for the two of us, without wine. I think it was probably worth it though. Everything was well cooked and well presented.

I started with the Chilli Squid (from the weekly specials) and Emma had the potted prawns. My squid came with a couple of 'baby' octopuses which I wouldn't normally eat but I decided to give them a go.

My main course was the Pork Tenderloin, which came with sweet potato mash and a 'black pudding scotch egg' which had a tiny quail egg in the centre. For dessert I chose the pistachio and chocolate tart, pictured below.

We took advantage of our English Heritage membership to pay a quick visit to Kenilworth Castle. It was too hot to spend too long wandering around so we'll have to re-visit later in the year, on a cooler day.

We also had a quick walk around Kenilworth itself, and passed the new Waitrose, which were were told opens on thursday.