Three weeks out, the question arrives: what do we get Dad this year?
The usual answers come quickly. A new golf shirt, perhaps. A bottle destined for the back of the shelf. Another pair of socks. There is nothing wrong with any of them. They are reliable gifts. Useful, well intentioned and relatively easy to buy.
We have plenty of time for a Sunday roast, but Father's Day seems a good enough reason to do something a little different.
At Venner, Sundays are made for settling in. The menu follows the same thinking as our evening service, built around what is in season and what is coming through the kitchen at its best. Produce leads, technique follows. There might be something from the garden, something over the coals, bread from the oven and a few things preserved earlier in the season finding their way back onto the plate. Courses come and go, glasses are topped up and lunch takes as long as it needs to.
There are practical benefits, too. No one has to cook. No one disappears halfway through lunch to check the oven. And no one gets left with the washing up. Everyone gets to stay at the table.
Then there is the bottle. If Dad has something tucked away for the right occasion, bring it. Sundays at Venner are BYO, so the bottle that has been waiting patiently at home finally has a reason to be opened. If not, our list is there.
The point is not to reinvent Father's Day. It is simply to spend it well. Good food, a good bottle and a few hours around the table with the people you came to see.
So this year, perhaps skip the socks. Come for lunch. Bring the bottle. Stay for the afternoon.
Father's Day at Venner. Sunday, 6 September.