Dinner was billed as ‘The Wonders of Asparagus’, and the meal certainly endorsed the sentiment.

And served as it was, bang in the middle of the verdant Vale of Evesham — wall-to-wall with fields of asparagus at this time of year — it was a local producer’s dream venue and menu.

We were at the Dormy House Hotel, set in the rolling countryside on the outskirts of Broadway, where head chef Andrew Troughton used local Worcestershire asparagus, and purple asparagus from Herefordshire — both freshly picked that morning — in a variety of ways to create a delicious three-course gourmet treat.

The Barn Owl restaurant was full to capacity for this special homage to a green delicacy that has a short-but-glorious season — just eight weeks in May and June. It is a real delicacy, and one that totally deserved the amount of thought and effort Andrew and his kitchen team had put into creating the special showcase menu.

It was a lovely sunny evening and, after aperitifs on the terrace, we were soon seated in the Barn Owl restaurant eagerly anticipating our asparagus feast.

We began with lightly poached purple asparagus (which rather disappointingly loses its distinctive colour when cooked) served with a couple of soft-boiled quails’ eggs, slivers of pink grapefruit, crispy bacon and hollandaise sauce. This was the epitomy of how to combine flavours and textures so that they enhance and complement each other, and was a flavoursome introduction to the meal — though my daughter Joanna wanted her asparagus cooked ‘less springy’!

Sipping on chilled Pinot Grigio, we moved onto the main course, again with asparagus as the main event.

This time it was a bright green asparagus ‘broth’, though it was so smooth and velvety that it was more like a veloute, which surrounded a creamy mound of potato puree, topped with a perfectly cooked fillet of organic salmon. There was certainly none of the muddy taste you get with a lot of farmed salmon, and it was cooked to perfection — still pink, moist and glistening in the centre. Absolutely delicious.

It came with some crispy chicken wings which has been neatly trimmed so that they formed a bite-size chunk on the end of the bone. Very more’ish indeed!

Having polished off the lot, we moved onto dessert. While pleasant, neither myself or my daughter could taste the asparagus in the billed ‘lemon and asparagus’ creme brulee — and it was also a bit on the soft side. However, the bright green asparagus sorbet did come off, and added a certain je ne sais quoi to the sweet course.

We rounded off the meal with coffee and fudge. Celebrating such ‘hero’ produce as asparagus was a great idea, and I sincerely hope that chef will do the same again next year.

In our case, we were lucky enough to be staying over in one of Dormy House’s very comfortable bedrooms, so were able to partake of their delicious cooked breakfast the next morning. The scrambled eggs were the best hotel eggs I’ve had this year — and that is high praise indeed!

Dormy House Hotel, Willersey Hill, Broadway, Worcestershire WR12 7LF. Tel 01386 852711, www.dormyhouse.co.uk