A Four Star Ladies Lunch at Wentbridge House
Last week I headed off to attend a Ladies' Lunch at Wentbridge House, a four star hotel set in beautiful grounds, just outside Pontefract in West Yorkshire. Wentbridge House is a beautiful building, with the main house dating back to 1700. It is privately owned and a popular venue for conferences, weekends away and weddings.The Ladies Lunch forms part of Wentbridge House's programme of regular events and the hotel tries to ensure that each one has a different speaker. The lunch we attended had a lady from the interiors specialists Farrrow & Ball talking us through colour matching in home design. Following a Champagne reception we spent a pleasant hour having colour families and how to accent or hide features using colour explained to us. I came away buzzing with ideas for a few new projects in my own home and a little in love with some of their beautiful wallpapers.
After this we were treated to a three course lunch:
Crayfish and Prawn Cocktail with Bloody Mary Mayonnaise
Free-range Chicken Breast with Asparagus, Baby Summer Vegetables and Minted New Potatoes
Warm Bakewell Tart with Black Cherry Ice Cream
then
Taylors of Harrogate Coffee with Petit Fours
The food was very good. My favourite course was the starter as I'm a huge fan of prawns and crayfish and I really loved the Bloody Mary mayonnaise. The main course and dessert were lovely with the black cherry ice cream providing another highlight. Wentbridge House tries to source as much of their produce locally and their catering and their restaurant food is cooked by the same team to assure high quality across the board.
Following the meal we were invited on a tour of the hotel, this allowed us to take a peek at all the different styles of rooms available. I was intrigued to learn that no two bedrooms are the same in the hotel. This gives each a unique feel which leads to guests asking to book certain rooms when they return to the hotel for additional stays. The soft furnishings, decor and pictures are really high quality and all the design is commissioned in house which means that the staff get a say in how the rooms look.
Wentbridge House doesn't have spa facilities at the moment but they are keen to add them and have recently become the first hotel in the country to offer Elemis products without having a spa using them.
Back downstairs we were shown through the restaurant and brasserie which offer quite different dining experiences, the restaurant is more formal with a twenties feel to the decor, while the brasserie is cool and modern with some fantastic brightly coloured deer busts.
The grounds of the hotel are truly beautiful with manicured lawns, some majestic trees and interesting features including a new folly which has recently been licensed to offer outdoor weddings, one of the few locations in Yorkshire to do so. The hotel's wedding package looks amazing with only one wedding hosted at a time to ensure a bride will never meet another bride on her special day.
Wentbridge House had lots of little touches which really showed the management and staff's attention to detail. They promote Yorkshire throughout with the use of art, literature and even mini bar contents being sourced as locally as possible. They also hold a huge Yorkshire Day event every year which 3000 people attended last time where they showcase the best that Yorkshire has to offer, this is a real family fun day and everyone is welcome.
We finished our day at Wentbridge House by relaxing with a drink on the lawn. I thoroughly enjoyed my day there and would love to return for a weekend away with my partner, perhaps when the children get a little bigger!
Disclaimer: I was invited to the Ladies Lunch as the guest of Wentbridge House, all thoughts and opinions are my own..
