I’m lucky enough to belong to the Keith Wilby Ski Group, a great group of friends who I ski with on Richmond Holidays, a Christian holiday company. Over the years, our group has steadily grown in numbers and our summer reunion is getting ever bigger. It was therefore nice of the Mill Pool to accommodate our group for the Saturday evening meal this year. The restaurant is located in a picturesque setting next to a large pond. There’s a nice area by the bar that we were able to mingle with our aperitifs while waiting for members of the group to arrive. The Mill Pool had been flexible in sorting out a customised set menu specially for our group — it was Keith’s clever idea to help make calculating the bill easier. There was plenty of choice in each section. Once all 21 of us had sat down and ordered, the food arrived very speedily. In fact, suspiciously speedily I initially thought but the starters all tasted great, allaying my fears. My own chicken Caesar salad was full of crunchy lettuce, seasoned chicken, Parmesan, crunchy croutons and hone made dressing. I had been told that this restaurant does good pies, which prompted me to order the steak and kidney pie for my main. Well, the presentation was perhaps a little rustic but the flavour was excellent. There were comments on the table too that we could have done with more veg. I finished my meal with a panna cota with pineapple. It had the right flavour but I would perhaps put a touch less gelatin into my homemade version. I heard very favourable comments about the food from all my fellow skiers and the restaurant were excellent and efficient hosts throughout the evening — the food came out at a superhuman speed considering how many diners they were serving simultaneously. The KWSG salute you, Mill Pond restaurant!