TONY Barnfield is chef/proprietor of The Nurse's Cottage, a tiny restaurant with overnight guest accommodation in the New Forest village of Sway.

One recent guest commented in the visitors' book that "Tony collects awards like other people collect china!" and in the last year alone the business has been named RAC Small Hotel of the Year in Southern England, Southern Tourist Board B&B of the Year, and the top Five Diamond grading has been awarded by all major inspectorates.

The English Tourism Council has given The Nurse's Cottage its supreme accolade this month - the 1999 Gold Award, based on the excellent of service, bedrooms and restaurant. Tony himself has defied sexist boundaries, finding himself in the AA's Top 20 British Landladies for two years running.

In the Which Hotel Guide 1999, the Cottage rubs shoulders with the likes of Chewton Glen and a handful of others as it is in the Michelin Guide and several other publications. The Garden Room Restaurant only opened to the public last autumn but it is necessary to book well ahead to secure a place at one of the six dining tables. "We are certainly evidence that small can be beautiful,'' Tony told us, "and we believe passionately that good service is as important as good food and wine." As well as serving dinner seven nights a week, a simpler lunch menu is offered on Sundays.

WHILE many classify guinea fowl as game, it is generally regarded today as poultry, although there is a distinct gaminess easily compared with pheasant. The meat is tender and similar to many mass-produced chickens. My recipe brings something of the classic Bearnaise sauce flavour to enhance the taste.

Ingredients

4 guinea fowl breasts (skin on, sprig bone in) White wine Tarragon in oil and/or fresh tarragon Double cream Vegetable or olive oil, butter or equivalent

Serves 4

Method

1. Warm a little oil/butter in a frying pan and place the breasts skin-side down. Seal both sides, cooking each for about one minute.

2.Turn down the heat, cover and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes, then turn the breasts and cook for a similar time (timings will depend on the size).

3.Add either chopped fresh tarragon mixed with some olive oil, or (as we do) mix in about one teaspoon of Porter's Tarragon in Oil (available from delicatessens and food halls), plus sufficient white wine to half-cover the breasts. Cover the pan and cook for one or two minutes.

4.Remove the breasts to serving plates, skin-side up, and keep warm.

5.Add one tablespoon of double cream (more or less to taste) to the pan mixture and heat until the liquid reduces to a good consistency, then pour on to the plates (not over the breasts). Garnish with a small sprig of fresh tarragon.

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