The Cholmondeley Arms in Malpas is the only pub to be a finalist in the Local Food category
Countryside Alliance Awards’ North West finalists announced and Cheshire is riding high.
Cheshire businesses are celebrating after making it through to the regional finals of what have become known as the Rural Oscars.
Cheshire boasts competitors in three of the four categories after the North West received more than 300 nominations from the public for this year’s Countryside Alliance Awards – an increase of 100 from the 2012 awards.
The Cholmondeley Arms in Malpas is the only pub among the five finalists of the Local Food category.
Tim Bird, who owns the pub with his wife Mary McLaughlin, said: “We are a pub up against lovely bespoke artisan shops and that’s what pleases me most.
“The head chef has worked particularly hard with all sorts of people locally to bring different dishes to the table that actually reflect the effort that is going on locally. It is a collective effort.”
30 cars joined us on Sunday for our second ‘Car meet’ here at the Cholmondeley Arms. Thank you to everyone for braving the wind and rain in the earlier part of the morning. Thankfully it dried off and although it was chilly from the start time it didn’t rain again and the morning improved and brightened up making for a great meet. We had a wonderful array of cars and once again a massive thank you to you all for making the effort.
We had some wonderful cars from a 1955 Mercedes Ponton, to a fabulous left hand drive 1992 Porsche RS in a wonderful mauve colour which is a member of our 3p Car Club at the Bulls Head in Mobberley. We had a classic Morris Minor, a VW Campervan who camped out the night before. We had a 1928 Sunbeam and a 1936 Lagonda, six wonderful MG’s, three TVR’s, two Lotus’s, more Porsches, one from Yorkshire!! A VX 220 Turbo not to mention Three Lancias as well as Subaru’s, Spartans, an Aston, some BMW’S , a bright Merc and two Triumphs. In fact the day was a Triumph! The cars will be loaded on the website this week so check them out for yourselves.
Existing members rocked up and 23 enthusiasts joined the club on the day. Please email me if you didn’t get chance to register as a member on the day. Sophie was working hard to register everyone while I took the photos and Steve and the team did the coffee and sandwiches so apologies if we missed anyone.
The next bit of good news was that the morning was picked up by the Top Gear team and the picture below went on their website.
The next ‘Sports and Vintage day’ will be announced in the new year. We would like to thank everyone for attending with your fantastic cars and we really look forward to seeing you all again soon!!
Here at the Cholmondeley Arms Head Chef Christian and Sous Chef Dean and the kitchen team have developed a lovely menu for you all to enjoy with starters such as Local Pigeon ‘Kiev’ with blackberry butter, pickled mushroom ketchup and blue cheese salad or Pan-fried Scottish Scallops with curried cauliflower cream and apple crisps or Homemade Handcrafted Venison ‘Scotch’ Egg with Cumberland sauce.
There are heart- warming dishes such as Wild Rabbit, Smoked Bacon and Scrumpy Pie with chervil mash and winter greens or Wild Boar Faggots with cider and puy lentil stew, with smoked bacon and curly kale or Slow Cooked Pork Belly with crackling, sage and onion croquettes and fiery apple chutney.
For seafood fans we have caught Cornish ‘Salt and Pepper’ Squid Salad with poached quince and chilli caramel dressing or Smoked Haddock and Somerset Cheddar Rarebit with curried mussel kedgeree and crispy hens egg.
For Vegetarians we have Beetroot, Walnut and Swaledale Goats Cheese Sausages with wholegrain mustard mash and ‘Cholmondeley Best’ sauce or a main course version of our Westcombe Cheddar Cheese Beignets, Matt’s heritage tomatoes with sesame and roast garlic dressing.
There are dishes for everyone. To view the full menus click here.
We look forward to cooking for you…..
This famous number normally shouted out with Gusto at a televised darts tournament is now being shouted out even louder by our team here at the Cholmondeley Arms!!! Yes it is true the gin tally has rocketed largely thanks to our wonderful customers who are travelling the world to bring back rare gins to add to the Cholmondeley collection!! A very big thank you to all who brought ‘Gin to the Inn’.
If you are a gin fan then pop in to the Cholmondeley Arms ask for Steve, Struan, Monika, Anna or Adam…if you can remember all those names!! They will take you through some of the best and rarest gins out there and of course mix you your preferred option!!
Gin classes too are becoming very popular and indeed that’s why we are now doing them on week day evenings!! This Christmas why not book your gin tasting with Christmas dinner to follow!!
20 cars joined us on Sunday for our first ‘Car meet’ here at the Cholmondeley Arms. Not bad for our first outing on a Bank Holiday weekend too. We kicked off at 10.30am for a couple of hours or so. The weather brightened up as we greeted cars from far afield as well as more local car enthusiasts too.
We had Porsches, BMW’s, Lancia’s (four) and Morgans, a 1972 Cobra, a 1953 MG as well as a ‘Sup’ed up Proton and Peugeot!!! There was a Defender 90 and a Spartan Roadster!! It was truly a great mix of cars!!
Existing members rocked up and 13 enthusiasts joined the club on the day. Everyone got their free pint of Cholmondeley best vouchers and their new Chum Car Club sticker and member mug too. A good time was had by all as you can see from the photos!!
The next ‘Sports and Vintage day’ will be announced in the next two weeks. We would like to thank everyone for attending with your fantastic cars and we really look forward to seeing you all again soon!!
CLASSICS
COBRA ENGINE
NEW CHOLMONDELEY CAR CLUB STICKER IS LAUNCHED
THE PROUD LANCIA’S
THE SAME OLD PROBLEM!!
For details on how to join click here
A FRIEND OF OUR PUBS TOOK THIS PHOTO IN ANNECY OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE!!!
The Cholmondeley Arms has reached the final of the ‘Best Spirit Serving Pub’ at the London Hilton having got through the regional finals in the Great British Pub awards 2013. Steve, our landlord and Gin Champion and Struan, our Deputy and Gin Ambassador, stood proud outside the Cholmondeley Arms as the judge arrived to put them to the test!!! Lucky the judge had a taxi booked!!
This is recognition for the great efforts of Steve, Struan and Monika who have all combined to ensure our gin act is second to none. To add spice to the week the Chum managed to go past the 161 gins stocked by a bar in the Guinness book of records!!!
Gin classes are getting booked out on Saturday afternoons as guests to ‘the Chum’ want to enjoy the Gin experience and learn about the history of a very English spirit.
So fingers crossed on 12th September 2013 when the team go to London!!
Good luck to the team.
OUTDOOR GIN TASTING FROM A TEA CUP!!
The official World Record according to the Guinness book of records for the most gins in a bar is 161 and while we know that the particular hotel which holds the record probably now has more than 161 we are delighted to announce that we have beaten their official record. Gins have been added via our ‘bring gin to the Inn’ and through our Gin merchants to bring us up to an amazing 162 Gins!!!! As you can see from the photo we have three Gins from the ‘Few’ distillery in America. Each bottle signed by the distiller and truly craft examples with an ‘aged’ Gin matured in Bourbon casks. Almost a bourbon Gin!! We are proud to announce The Cholmondeley Arms has reached the final of the Publican’s Morning Advertiser Best Spirit Pub 2013. This is a massive achievement and we are delighted to be recognised. The judging is taking place over the coming weeks. Steve, Stru and Monika have done an excellent job over the last one and a half years to promote all things Gin. We couldn’t be more proud of their achievement.
Thanks to all our Gin loving customers who have joined us in this time to savour a wonderful gin and tonic and have participated in all the Gin Things we do.
Fingers crossed we can go to London in September and win it!!!
Tim Bird
A lot of people avoid the Cholmondeley Arms at ‘Pageant of Power’ time because they think it will be too busy at the pub. Well it is quite the opposite.
The weekend is an excellent time to come over and enjoy a view of the aerobatics as well as famous fly bys performed by the Avro Lancaster Bomber and the two Spitfires pictured here
You can enjoy time at the Cholmondeley Arms even if you have no interest in cars. The atmosphere is excellent and on Saturday night one can see the fireworks and hear the music while enjoying our garden!!
The Sunday is of course Father’s day and is a time to treat dad to an excellent pub lunch or dinner and give him the added entertainment of vintage WWII planes flying past for free!!
So next year remember the Cholmondeley on Father’s Day weekend.
Our Head Chef Christian is now hand picking Heritage tomatoes, courgette flowers, pea shoots, spinach and a wonderful assortment of salad leaves from our local growers ensuring freshness from green house to kitchen in a matter of minutes.
You will notice the difference this summer here at Cholmondeley.
Click on image to view gallery.
NORDES GIN BROUGHT TO THE INN BY OUR CUSTOMERS
Customers have come up trumps once more as Nordes Gin arrives via our gin at the inn!!! This is a Gin outside the boundaries of the traditional, unique character, rebellious, Atlantic. The Gin is a slow and quiet distillation of the Albariña grape, blended with traditional Galician wild aromatic botanics.
It is a100% Galician Gin. So a Northern Spanish Gin and made from a pomace base as opposed to a grain spirit base. This gin is superb with lots of ice, 1724 tonic and a squeezed slice of orange. This gin coupled with our arrivals via Tim our owner and more guests who brought gin to the inn pushes us through the 150 mark.
On the Bar blackboard are advertised our famous gin trays. For a total of £15 you can order three gins, two tonics and we garnish it all up, add ice and you share the tray with friends. It has to be done!!!
THIS BUNCH TAKES US THROUGH THE 150 MARK
OUR GIN TRAYS GIVE YOU THE CHANCE TO EXPERIMENT WITH VARYING GINS
After a very wet and cold winter our car park needed a lot of work to ensure our guests arriving at the Cholmondeley Arms and the Headmasters House Guest Rooms had a pleasant ‘landing’. Rick and Paul from Caddishome did a brilliant job building fencing and completely resurfacing the more countrified end of our car park. The works look outstanding so big thanks to Paul and Rick.