19 February 2013
. . . or so Wet Wet Wet sang in Four Weddings & a Funeral (The Troggs if you remember it first time!)
Well we've had such a weekend of love, we might have to lie down in a darkened room. Joe and his team in the restaurant set the bar with their decoration of The Greenhouse for the weekend. It looked fantastic and we spotted lots of hand holding from our guests and general smiley dispositions so it must have created the right atmosphere.
Rumour has it that we had a proposal in The Greenhouse on Thursday but Joe is keeping tight lipped, probably looking to get a wedding booking from the unsuspecting couple! As he himself got engaged to Abbie, our assistant banqueting manager before Christmas he knows a thing or to about popping the question so I'm sure they're in safe hands.
From this we had our Wedding Fair on Sunday, which saw over 100 brides through our doors. Armed with a goody bag and a glass of Prosecco they were let loose on our suppliers eager to help them plan their special day. We had some fantastic feedback on our newly refurbished Oak room, which we're extremely pleased about. All in all the day went extremely well, the weather held and we met some fantastic people!
Hope you all had a fantastic weekend.
By Liz Duncan, 19 February 2013 –
30 November 2012
We had a fantastic night on Tuesday at our first Charity & Events Showcase evening. Over 50 people joined us from various local charities and organisations to view our Kendal Suite & Function House rooms dressed to their best and enjoy a glass of bubbles and buffet.
Executive Chef Justin Woods did a great food demonstration for Christmas Pudding Chocolate Brownies - a perfect way to get rid of that excess Christmas Pudding. As you can imagine it went down a treat!
We had lots of local suppliers on hand to help with planning events, dressing tables, flowers, magician, balloons and of course our in house events team who have over 104 years experience, or so Julia said in her speech!
We're finalising a date for another event next year so if you're looking to book a charity event, fundraising ball or awards dinner let us know and we'll make sure we send you an invite to the next one.
In the meantime if you want to make the Christmas Pudding Chocolate Brownies for yourself here's the recipe!
Christmas Pudding Chocolate Brownie
- 370g Caster Sugar
- 80g Cocoa Powder
- 60g P Flour
- ½ tsp Baking Powder
- 4 Eggs
- Vanilla
- 250g Butter
- 200g Dark Choc
- Leftover Christmas pudding
Method
- Combine dry ingredients
- Whisk eggs
- Melt butter and choc
- Combine all.
- Bake @ 160’c for 25-30 mins
Serve with some marmalade cream and some poached vanilla cherries
By Liz Duncan, 30 November 2012 –
15 August 2012
On holiday this week with the boys and wishing I was back at work already! It was my youngest 3rd birthday yesterday so as a treat and as it was a nice day, and you don't get a lot of them in the Lakes, we packed off early onto the open top bus up to Ambleside for a picnic lunch.
Well the day took a bit to warm up and as we sat in Borrans Park at the top of Lake Windermere with our 'butties' we were willing the sun to move towards us so we could take our thick jumpers off! After lunch we wandered around Ambleside and spotted a farmer practising for the Rydal Sheep dog trails tomorrow. If you've ever watched one man and his dog (if only out of curiosity) it was a textbook display. The boys were mesmerised and I found myself doing a running commentary for them and Japanese tourists alike.
Then came the big discussion, Joe wanted to get the boat back to Bowness, Ally didn't. Then because his big brother thought it was a good idea Ally decided on the boat just as Joe changed his mind and decided he preferred the bus. After raised voices by them and me we decided on the bus, but not without a few tears and my frantic searches for Haribo at the bottom of my handbag!
It was a fantastic day though all in all. I'd forgotten how nice it is to sit on the top of a double decker bus through the Lakes, I'd not done it since I took my boyfriend (now husband) on a trip nearly 20 years ago. Given the stress of two under seven's I might just take him next time!
By Liz Duncan, 15 August 2012 –
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 –
09 February 2011
We're gearing up for Valentine's this weekend with all things romance. We've checked the weather which is supposed to be fantastic - well so say's the BBC - so love should certainly be in the air.
I've been married for nearly seven years and together for much longer so I'm only hoping for a card and at best a bunch of flowers, but there must be lots of you who are expecting much more! So if you gents haven't booked anything or ladies if you don't think he's got his act together yet, one call to our reservations team will sort the whole romantic weekend for you and we'll let you take all the credit.
If you're looking to propose not only can we help with the special event, bringing the ring out with dessert for example but we've even organised our wedding fayre for Sunday 20th February so you can book the date as well!
Good luck with whatever you're planning if we can help give us a call .
By Liz Duncan, 09 February 2011 –