Like Tea, Free in the afternoon? Then have we got just the thing for you!

Here at the hotel we are always looking to improve our offering to our guests and to that end we have added a stunning Afternoon Tea to our bar menu.

Just imagine sitting out on our terrace while taking in the stunning views of Lake Windermere and the Old Man of Coniston enjoying tea and cucumber sandwiches with generous helpings of lemon drizzle cake to finish. Heaven!

If you’re in the area we’d love to see you so why not pop in and enjoy afternoon tea at the Beech Hill Hotel.

The reservations team

As a receptionist here at The Beech Hill Hotel and a lover of food and wine, I was lucky enough to experience the first of our Gourmet evenings from a guest perspective with my parents who were staying at the time (not planned honest!!).

The evening started with an enjoyable champagne and canapé reception in the lounge area before we moved through to the restaurant.

Once we are all seated, the wine sommelier  introduced himself and explained about the wines that were to compliment each course.  Following this, we had a 5 course meal with a different glass of wine with each course to enhance the different tastes.  Each wine and course was served with information from the sommelier, so it gave me an idea of what kind of wine to order when I dine in the future, as I am a novice to this!  I tend not to drink red wine, but the two red wines served with the courses were not too heavy, all were easy to drink with beautiful flavours.

The food was mouth watering and the service was exceptional.  Each course was well presented and thought out and I loved every single mouth full!

After the meal myself and the other guests retired to the lounge area.  I had a chance to talk to some of the other residents in the hotel, all of whom stated what a very relaxing and enjoyable evening it had been and many can’t wait to return to the next one on 30 September 2011.

Please follow the link  http://www.beechhillhotel.co.uk/special-offers/special-events/gourmet-and-wine-tasting-nights/ for full details of the next Gourmet night and all other up and coming events.

I would thoroughly recommend it!

Rachael Tigwell

Receptionist

A view from our restaurant manager  Dennis who had designs on living and working in the Lake District:

After four years studying at Rochdale Art College I secured a position for myself in a graphic art & design studio in Manchester, after working there for three years I decided I was ready to move on and further my career.

I took a week’s break in the lakes, a place I am very fond of, lots of childhood memories of family holidays that will always stay with me.   Half way through my stay I thought to myself, imagine being able to live and work in a beautiful place like the Lake District rather than a city. So by the end of the week I decided that I was going to look for employment. graphic art was out of the question as the main industry was leisure.

Decision made I went for an interview at one of the top hotels of the time, (which I will not mention).  I was very nervous as I had no experience in this line of work.  I had a fantastic interview; I was asked if I had ever done any work of this type before, I replied no,  so I thought that there was little chance of getting a position, the response from the manager who interviewed me was “great, you’ve got the job”, I could not believe it.

I went home and put my notice in and two weeks later I was here and working.  I worked for a year in Windermere then over to Harrogate for a year at the Hotel Majestic. This was a very old school hotel, silver service and flambé work was the norm, waiters in white gloves, black waist coats and aprons, very smart!  I learnt so much here it gave me a great start in a career that to this day as held me in good stead and I still enjoy. No two days are ever the same!

After a year in Harrogate I decided that the lakes was the place for me and in 1977, some 34 years ago, I came for an interview at the Beech Hill Hotel, and got the job …… well that’s another story.

To be continued ………

Dennis Heywood

Restaurant Manager

I moved to England from Lithuania 6 years ago and have worked at The Beech Hill ever since arriving here.  When talking to our guests many of them ask me “What’s a traditional Lithuanian dish?” and I often struggle to answer, as our food is much more similar to English food than most would expect.  For example ‘bangers and mash’ although the name is something I have had to get used to, is very similar to a lunch dish from Lithuania, but served with a rich creamy sauce instead of gravy.  Also, meatballs, fish pie, sheppard’s pie and quite few other English style dishes are no stranger to our tables.

Lithuanians love potatoes, pork and sour cream based sauces (we like our rich food, not healthy, but very tasty!). The most popular dish in Lithuania is ‘cepelinai’ which are big dumplings made of potato dough and minced meat, and although it sounds like a very simple dish it actually takes about 3 hours to make. I remember as a child, before we had modern kitchen appliances my mum would spend 5 hours slaving over a hot stove so that we could enjoy this dish at least once a week.

It will come as no surprise, that after all of this time, I have grown to like most of the dishes English cuisine has to offer, but I have to say there are a few English dishes that I haven’t got used to – chip butties (I know it’s not meant to be a gourmet dish but for me it’s either potatoes or bread, not both) tea served with milk (I tried it once and decided to stick to coffee) and sage & onion stuffing!

That being said there are some traditional English dishes, which I hadn’t heard of 6 years ago, that are now making regular appearances on my table, mostly desserts!  Bread & butter pudding is one of my new favourites; cost affective, easy to cook and tasty … what else could you ask for?!

Chris Davies, our Head Chef here at the Beech Hill has been very patient with me and every time I have asked to taste something he has very kindly said yes and explained what it is, where the ingredients come from, what garnish and seasoning has been used and how long it takes to make.  I hope his kindness and patience never runs out!

Lina Martutaityte

Assistant Manager