07 December 2011
Last Friday night I was lucky enough to be Executive Chef Justin Wood's 'plus one' at the Cumbria Life Food & Drink Awards where he was shortlisted for Chef of the Year.
We were treated to a Bedrock Gin reception (can still feel the headache!) and a three course dinner at Kendal College of ham hock terrine, lamb and chocolate delice cooked and served by the students themselves.
With Hairy Biker and fellow Cumbrian Dave Myers as host it was a great evening of celebration of all the fantastic fine dining and local produce that Cumbria has to offer culminating with Justin walking of with the coveted Chef of the Year award! Up against Paul McKinnon from the George & Dragon near Penrith and Mark Saunders of the Wild Boar Hotel, near Windermere, the judges commented that Justin's ability to retain his 2 AA Rosettes in our flagship Greenhouse Restaurant as well as overlooking our large banqueting operation, Alexanders Pub and our lounge bar put him head and shoulders above the rest.
His magnificent trophy will be placed slightly in front of colleague Andrew's National Young Chef of the Year Award when it goes in to the Hotel's trophy cabinet.
So with two award-winning chefs in our kitchen there's never been a better time to be a diner at Castle Green!
By Liz Duncan, 07 December 2011 –
01 December 2011
All guests are of course Very Important People, it is just that some are more Very Important than most.
We have just had the privilege to host our first Royal guest, with the visit of Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex.
Her Royal Highness was guest of honour at the recent ASAO Conference that was held at the hotel and was attended by representatives of all the Agricultural Show Societies from around the country.
Following the visit I received a letter from the Lady in Waiting of Her Royal Highness expressing her thanks and best wishes.
I am not sure of the etiquette regarding such correspondence but Her Royal Highness reflected on ‘the excellent packed lunches, which were delicious and much enjoyed’ and which had been provided for her onward journey the next day.
Suffice to say that the Chef now has a ‘By Royal Appointment’ crest of two slices of bread and a bag of crisps over his desk for services rendered.
Whoops…is that the keys to the Tower I can hear clinking.
By Tim Rumney, 01 December 2011 –
20 October 2011
Hot on the heals of coming runner up in The Young National Chef of the Year 2011, Andrew Postlethwaite, one of our fabulous kitchen team here at The Castle Green is tonight competing in the Visionary Dining Chef of the Year competition at The Lakes Hotel School in Kendal.
This competition brings young chefs from around the country to be mentored by some of the finest UK Chefs and compete against each other in a ten course gastronomic extravaganza.
The winner will get to eat in any restaurant in the world in an all expenses included prize.
In order to give some support to Andrew on the night our Executive Chef Justin, Head Chef Mark, Deputy GM Ben and I will be attending the event – a Champagne and canapé reception followed by the ten courses each with it’s own wine…it is a hard job but somebody has to do it!
All the proceeds go to the charity Hospitality Action. I will also be making a personal donation to Alka Seltzer and Anadin.
I will let you know how Andrew gets on…if I can remember.
By Tim Rumney, 20 October 2011 –
11 August 2011
Well it has been a busy couple of months since my last post.
We are making progress at our new hotel the Best Western Pinewood on Wilmslow. The hotel has passed the Best Western inspection and will be on central office reservations in the next couple of weeks. The website is in the final stages of development and will go live any day soon. The signage has been designed and is just waiting for final approval from the planners.
Several of our Castle Green customers have visited the property and had a great time.
At Castle Green it has been busy, busy, busy with July sales being the best ever! New Deputy Ben has settled in and I have even managed to have a couple of weeks off.
Meanwhile in the Rumney household baby Sadie is getting bigger and had her jabs yesterday (she was very cross about that) and her sisters are doing a great job on impromptu childcare.
The economic situation remains a concern for all of us, but we keep doing the sales and marketing, investing in the product and training the team.
Despite the weather, it has been great to see so many regular customers coming back to the hotel and we do really value your support.
Update:
I only wrote this a couple of days ago and we are now live with Best Western and our website at The Pinewood…and it has stopped raining in Kendal!
By Tim Rumney, 11 August 2011 –
03 June 2011
News of our new hotel purchase is all over the web…here is the piece going into our new edition of In Business…
CASTLE GREEN HEADS FOR NEW PASTURES WITH PINEWOOD ACQUISITION
The team behind the Best Western Castle Green Hotel in Kendal has acquired the Pinewood Hotel in Cheshire from Menzies Hotels for £2.3M.
The four star 58 bedroom hotel is located in Handforth close to the affluent commuter belt of Wilmslow. The hotel is ten miles south of Manchester city centre and just four miles from Manchester airport.
‘We have been looking to acquire a property since we sold The Princess on Portland, Manchester in March 2008’, comments MD Tim Rumney, ‘but I had seen nothing that suited our profile until I viewed The Pinewood’.
‘The hotel is a gem, ideally located for our existing Castle Green client base of leisure, conference and events. We can see huge potential with these markets and local dining and weddings. Having had extensive refurbishment in the last few years it does not need an immediate injection of capital but we will be carrying out some selective improvements over the next few months’.
The hotel has already been approved for membership of the Best Western Hotel Group and will be rebranded as The Best Western Pinewood on Wilmslow.
‘This represents a fantastic opportunity for our company, the employees at the hotel, our customers and the local community, says Tim, ‘we feel that the hotel has needs to reconnect with it’s customers and the local area and we have the ethos and enthusiasm to put it back on the map’.
Castle Green’s Hotel Manager, John Scott has joined The Pinewood as General Manager and has been busy implementing new standards and systems. ‘We have some great people working here’, says John ‘and they will now have the support and direction to make the hotel a success’.
Our aim is to grow our company to five hotels or more over the next five years, says Tim, ‘and The Best Western Pinewood on Wilmslow represents the first step on that ladder. Through this acquisition our exiting clients will have more choice and new guests will get to know about our company. It is a very exciting time for all of us’.
By Tim Rumney, 03 June 2011 –