Our visit to Lainston is a good few months before the traditional wedding season kicks in, but it's awash with matrimony. There's a big white wedding taking place in one of the wings, couples in the drawing room planning the big day and brides-to-be touring the grounds.

Couples are evidently queueing up to tie the knot here and who could blame them? This handsome William and Mary house set in 63 acres of rolling parkland must make for stunning wedding photos. There's also a Jane Austen connection - she set many of her heroines' pensive strolls in this countryside and there's a memorial to her in nearby Winchester cathedral.

In terms of gargantuan scale, our room was very impressive - it could have comfortably slept 25. There was even room for a splendid writing desk with blotting pad should I want to pen my own version of Pride and Prejudice. However a pair of opera glasses would have come in handy to see the disappointingly small portable television. Behind the bathroom door was an awe-inspiring set-up reminiscent of a Roman spa: the deepest bath tub I've ever seen and two huge showers in their own corridor.

Unfortunately the formality of the dining-room and the Cedar bar rather stifles the atmosphere. Men are asked to wear jackets to dinner but you can't help thinking they have stopped just short of specifying an Alan Partridge-style blazer and golf club badge. The sea bass, though not what we ordered (a mix-up dealt with very graciously by the maitre d') was tasty but not groundbreaking.

There is also a fully equipped gym. I didn't use it, but it provided a useful midway marker to negotiate the warren of corridors that wound back to the reception room. We did use the tennis court but it wasn't in good repair at the end of a blustery winter.

I came across the hotel in some press cuttings recently. The couple who lost their winning £3 million lottery ticket stayed there while giving newspaper interviews. There's something very fitting about the fact that they chose Lainston - it's a brush with luxury that doesn't go far enough. It has a scenic setting, lovely staff and some very good points but it just falls short of excellence and hasn't quite found the winning ticket.

· Lainston House, Winchester, Hampshire (01962 863588). £150 to £225. Continental breakfast £13, English breakfast £15.