What a great time over Christmas our teams have had. It is tiring work but there are plenty of smiles and fun around the place!! The Bulls Head in Mobberley held its annual Christmas Jumper competition and the judges moved around the pub secretly assessing the best. Pete had won it last year with his ‘snow man number’ so was a favourite again this year.

There were a number of good efforts but I am pleased to say Pete held on to his crown with an ‘elf jumper’ with matching hat!! Well done Pete! There must be someone out there who can out do Pete in 2014??!

The teams as you can see had a good go with our personal favourite being Tom at the Church Inn with his Christmas pudding version!! Thanks to all our teams for making the effort. At the Cholmondeley Arms the ‘Snow Ball’ Drink was re-incarnated by the team and you can see Miya sampling some for the camera behind the Cholmondeley Bar!!!

Thank you to all our customers who have added to the atmosphere at all our pubs. There have been Christmas Carol singers at Cholmondeley and Brass bands at The three Greyhounds Inn at Allostock and The Church Inn in Mobberley as we managed to squeeze them in our newly decorated Church Inn ‘boot room’.

On Christmas eve as the Carol service finished at St. Wilfs church opposite the Church Inn in Mobberley we were on hand to serve the masses (get it!!) with mulled wine on the terrace with warm chimineas  burning away. There were festive nibbles and roasted chestnuts and a lot of good cheer! A very happy Christmas to all!!

Thanks to all our teams for working so hard!!

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.”

 

 

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…..

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.

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.

Cholmondeley ‘Bloody Mary’ Club

From 11am every Sunday. How do you like yours?

The best way to enjoy a Sunday Morning!!!

Yes it is true Jess and the team have introduced the Cholmondeley ‘Bloody Mary’ Club every Sunday at 11am, where you can enjoy a Traditional Bloody Mary with Manzanilla Sherry or the usual Bloody Mary with Chase Vodka, or there is The Red Snapper with Opihr Spiced Gin and boy does this work well, then there is the Bloody Maria with a hint of tequila or of course the Virgin Mary with not alcohol at all. All the ingrediants from celery salt to horseradish you can add yourself with two types of tomato juice!!

Bacon butties are the brunch munchies as Christian looks to develop the menu as the following builds. 25 BM’s were sold on the opening Sunday and we believe a tradition is building. So fancy a crispy bacon sandwich and mixing your own Bloody Mary??! Come on down to the ‘Chum’. See you Sunday!!

 

 

Steve and the team made sure the ‘Chum’ was ready for love this Valentine’s day. Right in the middle of Head Chef, Christians, hugely successful ‘Nose
to Tail’ week….celebrating all things Pig… the romantics turned up to celebrate cupids arrow here at the Chum. It was a record Valentine’s day and
Steve ensured chocolate roses were enjoyed by all the ladies present including our wonderful team of girls (pictured) who worked very hard to ensure a good time was had by all. They were rewarded by chocolate roses of their own…even Steve received a hamper of sweeties from his girlfriend as the night enjoyed a sweet note to say the least!!!

So if you want to impress a loved one…remember we have 6 bedrooms and there is nothing more romantic than dinner at the Chum in February!!

Loyal customer and very keen cyclist Jonathon is the first of our cycling customers to complete the ‘Cheshire Cat Pub to Pub to Pub (Trio) Challenge’.

Setting out from near Knutsford in pretty cold and snowy conditions Jonathon headed first to our Cholmondeley Arms Pub out near Malpas on the A49 heading to Whitchurch!! The picture shows just how snowy Cholmondeley was compared to the rest of the county. Having taken on a warm hot chocolate for energy, Jonathon then headed to our next pub the Three Greyhounds Inn at Allostock. Conditions here were much better for a cycling enthusiast. After another picture outside this pub it was on for the final leg of the journey to a rather misty Bulls Head before heading home for a hot shower and an early night. Just over 70 miles later without any performance enhancing drugs or a Steak and Ale Pie even!!! The respective pub teams gave Jonathon a warm welcome as well as helping with photo taking and ensuring he was back on his bike for the next leg of this journey!!

Jonathon commented “I was at a loss as to where to go on my Sunday ride today. So thought I would tackle that well known ride ‘The Cheshire Cat Trio’!! Cholmondley is a little further down the A49 than I thought and there was also more snow than I anticipated when I got there but I am thrilled to be the first of many to hopefully tackle the challenge!!”

Well done Jonathon a great effort and there is a Pie waiting at a pub of your choice from the trio as and when you have recovered!!!

If you are a keen cyclist and want to be listed as a ‘Cheshire Cat Trio Cycling Challenge beater’ then set out and ensure your photo is taken with your trusty bike at each pub with the signs in the background of each picture and send them to info@cheshirecatpubsandbars.co.uk. You will get your photo in our ‘hall of fame’ and we will send you a ‘refreshment voucher’ as well as a pint on us at the final pub!!

Thanks again to Jonathon for taking on the challenge and beating it!!!

 

What a great week it was last week both at the Bulls Head celebrating 200 years as a pub in 2012 and amazingly the Cholmondeley Arms celebrated 150 years as a building, the old school house opening in 1862!! Cakes were baked, celebrations were had, Lord and Professor Ted did his birthday quizzes with great curry evenings on the nights too, Cholmondeley had its 2nd Annual Gin making competition and the Bulls Head had a jazz evening with the ‘smoooth’ old boys Laurie and Stewart. We are still waiting for the 5000th dog to stroll in to the Bulls Head to finish off the celebrations!!! Thanks to everyone who worked so hard on the week when all our Christmas specials ‘went live’ too. Thank you to all our customers who turned up in support and joined in the festivities!! It might become an annual event!!

 

It isn’t every day you walk across the car park of ‘the Chum’ from the pub and look left and see a line of cars like these!! It was one of those days when the posh cars come to lunch.

No it wasn’t our car club, the old Toads and nor was it the annual ‘Pageant of Power’!!

Just a sunny day (for once) when you can bring the car out to enjoy itself!!

It seem obvious that the supplier with the white van felt proud enough to line up next to them….or was it just a delivery??