BORDER PATROL; JEREMY GATES FEASTS ON THE FINE FOOD OF HEREFORDSHIRE.

WE had a simple rule for our days of exploring the tranquil lanes and villages of Herefordshire: whenever the flesh weakens, sample the local food and drink. In a region famous for cider, strawberries, cheeses, jams and oodles more, you are never far from something scrumptious.

Following a gentle curve of the River Wye into Ross-on-Wye, we stopped for an alfresco lunch in the courtyard of The Wilton Court Hotel, a sturdy 16th-century building in red sandstone on a stretch of the water where swans run supercilious eyes over passing cyclists.

Helen Wynn, owner-manager with husband Roger, used to work at The Dorchester, but I have struggled to eat this well in Park Lane: organic smoked salmon and quail's egg for me, crab tian for my wife, with luscious local ice creams and a local ale, Butty Bach, to wash it down.

Next day, it was the old town of Ledbury and the famous open marketplace with Tudor beams resting on oak columns and a wellpreserved 15th-century street where the museum celebrates John Masefield, a local Poet Laureate who helped to immortalise the surrounding Malvern Hills.

Lunch here was scrumptious too - at Ceci Paolo, the celebrated deli in the main street, we feasted on Welsh pate, finest buffalo mozzarella, and toasted sourdough bread.

Yet when we recall days in this Heart of England foodie heaven, our gold award still goes to Gary Wheeler, a top chef in Hereford before joining Holme Lacy House, the country-house hotel outside the town which was our base.

When he emerged from his kitchen one night, after dishing up a particularly delectable sirloin of Herefordshire beef with creamed broad beans and pancetta with truffle tortellini, he smiled politely and thanked us for turning up.

Each night, as we looked from Holme Lacy's elegant, oak-panelled Orchard Restaurant across a landscape reminiscent of Normandy, Gary left us marvelling at his skills. No wonder he's just bagged a tworosette rating from the AA.

When Warner's Leisure Hotels started in the 1990s, fine buildings tended to set the style rather than fine food. Today, Warner has 13 rather special locations dotted around the UK. When you dodge scampering squirrels in the curving drive of Grade I listed Holme Lacy House, set in 20 acres of gardens and parkland, the trumpets of Brideshead Revisited might be ringing in your ears. The splendid carving on the main facade is "99.6% certain" to be the work of the great Grinling Gibbons,

Holme room ( our guide Eric Darnell told us in his fascinating tour of the house.

Apparently, celebrated architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner rated the ceilings in Holme Lacy House public rooms as the best he found outside Royal palaces.

A big attraction at Warner's Historic Hotels is a cruise-style daily programme of things to do and see.

Options include wine tasting, general knowledge quizzes, social dancing, salsa classes, tap dancing for beginners and murder mysteries to solve, with regular buses into Hereford for those who don't want the hassle of having to park.

Every night after dinner, there's a fast-moving show with a small team of singers and dancers reworking hits from popular musicals.

Another cruise idea is escorted excursions, or "experiences" as Warner calls them. Our outing to Weston's Cider Mill in nearby Much Marcle ended with such an exhaustive range of tastings that we had to lie down afterwards.

Most mornings at Holme Lacy House, I took an early swim in the indoor pool followed by a bracing walk around the lake to relish the silence

and dazzling sunlight of early morning.

You can walk onto the left) tennis courts to play at almost any time of day and early evening, stroll by the lake, try your hand at an 18hole putting course built on earthworks erected by Royalists to repel attackers in the Civil War, or simply wander in gardens good enough to open to the public under the Historic Gardens Scheme.

At nearby Goodrich Castle, grisly scenes of conflict were re-enacted on headphones on our audio tour, laid on by English Heritage. Its sturdy medieval battlements overlook another beautiful stretch of the Wye and the wide expanse of Wales beyond.

We were amazed by the beauty of Herefordshire, with fir-covered hillsides merging into the Malverns and the Black Mountains, and the savoured delights of slowly exploring a county which has thus far managed to avoid a motorway. When I return, I shall make a point of starting with an empty stomach.

along

TRAVEL INFORMATION . Jeremy Gates was a guest of Warner Leisure Hotels at Holme Lacey House Hotel (0800 138 8399, warnerleisurehotels.co.uk), which offers three-night, half-board breaks from pounds 227 and four nights from pounds 269 . Herefordshire Food Festival (herefordshirefoodfestival. com) is at Hereford Racecourse on October 24-25, tickets pounds 5, U14s pounds 1.50 . Destination info at visitherefordshire.co.uk or 01432 260 621 stay at

CAPTION(S):

Holme Lacy House (top) and its plush drawing room (right). Ledbury's 15th century street (left)