Blog: Hotel with Kitchen Garden
Our Georgian country house hotel in Shropshire is admired locally for its glorious and award winning garden. However, not everyone knows that we also have one of the U.K.’s largest kitchen gardens, which lies at the centre of every guests experience when they visit Goldstone Hall Hotel.
Garden of Plenty
With luscious produce cultivated in raised beds, fruit cages, poly tunnels plus herbal walkway, our head gardener Nick Huxley has helped us create the bountiful plot it has become today. Throughout the year, produce is lovingly sown, grown and harvested by Nick and his team and then beautifully crafted into an array of delightful culinary creations and drinks by our head chef Liam and the Goldstone team.
Plot to Plate
With over 200 different herbs and micro herbs, heritage vegetables, salads, heirloom fruits, edible flowers and even spices, we always have something fresh and seasonal to offers guests in our hotel restaurant. We even use our produce for flavour and garnish in cocktails and to infuse spirits such as sloe gin.
By cultivating and harvesting much of our own produce seasonally, we can deliver fresh food to the plate within minutes of it being picked. We are extremely proud of our award winning one acre kitchen garden here at Goldstone Hall Hotel and our team’s hard work in maintaining it.
Spring into the Seasons
Throughout the seasons guests can enjoy a variety of freshly handpicked produce here at Goldstone Hall Hotel. From April the raised beds accommodate a huge variety of brassicas such as Dwarf Green Curled Kale, Marabel Cabbage and Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli.
We also harvest early potatoes such as Lady Christl, plus Blauwgroene Leeks and Bright Lights Swiss Chard. Early shoots from the extensive variety of plants in our herbal walkway are picked for their intense and concentrated flavours. They include nasturtium, oregano, mint, sage, sorrel and salsify to name a few!
Summer heights
As the months warm, the garden yields plenty of crisp salad leaves, succulent tomatoes, soft ripe fruits such as apricots and nectarines and edible flowers – always a treat when used to garnish special celebratory feasts at anniversaries and special occasions.
Autumn Colour
Autumn brings a proliferation of apples, beetroot, squash, pumpkins and Jerusalem artichokes. Plus we harvest our Szechuan peppers at this time of year too – wonderful as a rub on our charcoal hog roasts. Read all about the spicy little berry here.
Food Miles
Delivering a fresh and seasonal menu enables us to reduce our food miles and carbon footprint, lessening our impact on the environment. As well as growing our own, we also support local Shropshire and Staffordshire producers for meat, honey, drinks and regional delicacies such as the North Staffordshire oatcake.
Cultivating Conversations
To deliver a true plot to plate experience here at Goldstone Hall Hotel, both our gardening and culinary teams must work closely together to plan the year’s abundant harvest.
Our menus are a great conversation point for both staff and guests alike and truly embody the essence of the Goldstone Hall Hotel experience.
Make a Restaurant Booking
The restaurant is open for lunch from Monday to Sunday from 12noon to 2.30pm daily. For dinner from Monday to Sunday from 6.30pm to 9.30pm (until 8.30pm on Sunday). For Afternoon tea from 3.00pm to 5.00pm from Monday to Sunday, and for breakfast from 7.00am to 10.30am from Monday to Friday and 8.30am to 10.30am on Saturday and Sunday. Booking is advised.
To enquire, or make a booking, or for any further information, please contact us on 01630 661202 or email enquiries@goldstonehall.com
