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Hotel Accommodation Whitchurch, North Wales
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Eventus provides a wide range of experiential training programmes, corporate team building events and conference energisers and ice-breakers, perfect for professional groups of all sizes. By avoiding the frivolous (while providing plenty of fun), Eventus' reputation within the industry is built on delivering Intelligent, innovative and enjoyable team activities. From our Labyrinth Challenge to our International Marble Run to our Make a £Million event and beyond, there's something for every team. Eventus specialises in providing organisations with a professionally-delivered team building event that delivers a meaningful team experience.
For a complete hosting and facilitating of corporate events with The Hanmer Arms as a venue, please contact Claire Baldwin at Eventus - claire@eventus.co.uk - quoting The Hanmer Arms as your source of information.
Hi Gill!
I'm glad to hear that your daughters are enjoying their T-shirts. I still feel bad that you paid for them after all you did for us, but I'll find a way to repay you someday.
I cannot thank you enough for the kindness and generosity you and Geoff extended to us while we were in Hanmer. What an amazing place- we could not get enough of it. The Hanmer Arms is beautiful, and I think Tim and I are going to try to plan a short vacation with our girlfriends so we can stay for a few days! I'd also like to heed your advice that we play a few more shows in the area....While we enjoyed our "city" gigs as well, there is no question that our two best gigs were at the Hanmer Arms on Friday 8th May and up in Fife County Scotland in a little village called Letham. We are city boys at heart, and I think that's why we more so appreciate the beautiful countrysides of the UK. Just absolutely amazing.
Thank you again. The food, the folks, the ambience, the beer, the ROOMS, the grounds....everything was just amazing. It was quite hard to go to work on Monday, not because of the jetlag (which I somehow fought off), but because sitting in a cubicle in a dreary Chicago suburb just isn't as fun!
Thank you thank you thank you. I hope we were what you expected, if not more. I will keep in touch with you. Not only are we planning our next tour, but I'd also like to come to the Hanmer Arms for vaction!
I will certainly put a link up on our website and other online sites.
Thanks again, and I will speak with you soon!
Tony Manno
The Black Oil Brothers
Chicago
USA
www.theblackoilbrothers.com
THERE'S no such thing as bad publicity, or so the saying goes. The veracity of the axiom has always been debatable, but if proof were needed that not all publicity is beneficial then one need look no further than the Hanmer Arms Hotel.
The picturesque little village of Hanmer, tucked just inside Wales close to the borders with both Shropshire and Cheshire, did not exactly revel in the attention when it was featured in the TV series The Hotel Inspectors
To the contrary, very soon after its failings were displayed to the nation it closed down.
That now seems a long time ago and under new owners Geoff and Gill Leigh-Ford the hotel is once again buzzing.
The hotel is just off the A525 just five miles from Whitchurch and 10 from Wrexham.
We were a little later than expected arriving and were also thrown slightly by the approach from the large car park to the rear of the building. To reach the bar and restaurant one has to walk through the function suite.
We were immediately shown to our table in a cosy corner and our attention was inevitably drawn to the old photographs and paintings covering virtually every inch of wall space.
It seemed like a family portrait gallery, and I later learned that is exactly what it is: a personal record of the Leigh-Ford family.
On a wet and miserable night the menu offered a welcome, varied and interesting mix. I needed warming up and so, unusually for me, chose soup. The roasted parsnip soup served its purpose and my wife agreed it was simply delicious.
It's not often I need a breather after the first course but the bowl was exceptionally deep.
My wife had a crisp and attractive Caesar salad, which was also a meal in itself – the menu stipulated that it contained chicken but no anchovies, which suited her.
One of my favourite dishes of all is paella. It rarely appears on British menus, so I was happy to overlook the fact we were a good distance from the sea.
My faith was justified as the sizzling hot dish was packed full of seafood, including succulent king prawns, mussels and squid.
The saffron rice was slightly on the chewy side but overall the dish was excellent and I struggled to make any visible impact on the accompanying salad.
A sign alongside the bar said local produce was used whenever possible and the owners would be happy to speak to any local suppliers. Try as I might, I couldn't think of any squid farms in the Wrexham area, making me feel almost guilty I had not chosen the Denbigh entrecote steak or "Local John's own plump pork sausages".
My wife also went Continental, choosing Mediterranean vegetable tartlet, which came glazed with mozzarella and served with garlic and tomatoes, pan-fried potatoes and spinach. It, too, was nicely prepared.
At that point she conceded defeat whereas I was determined, after a respectable interval, not to miss the Eton Mess, one of my favourite sweets. Instead of the usual raspberries, however, it contained blueberries and strawberries as well as a massive amount of thick cream and the pieces of meringue.
The blueberries worked well but I would still have preferred to have had some raspberries in there somewhere. It took some doing, but I eventually managed to empty the dish.
Meanwhile my wife enjoyed a cafetiere of coffee with mints.
Most of the tables around us were occupied by now and there was a warm, friendly atmosphere about the place.
I had never been to the Hanmer Arms before its sad decline but it was recommended to me by someone who knew it in its heyday and who believed its reputation had now been restored. I'm glad I took him at his word.
Star rating: *** The Hanmer Arms on the north Shropshire border has travelled full circle over the last 10 years.
It had a wonderful reputation as a traditional restaurant, specialising in its carvery which would draw in diners from across a large area.
But sadly a change of hands left the hotel floundering. And, after an appearance on the television series The Hotel Inspectors, the Hanmer Arms closed.
Thankfully, the hotel has reopened and is now enjoying a new lease of life.
Owners Geoff and Gill Leigh-Ford have successfully owned and run many businesses in the hospitality sector. Originally from South Manchester, they have tested their entrepreneural skills far and wide including Cheshire, Val D’Iseres, Paris, Devon, the Greek Islands and the depths of Wales.
And, while they have revived the hotel’s famous carvery – £8.95 before 7pm and £9.95 after – they have completely updated the menu and brought a new speciality to the area, seafood.
Although only a 10 minute drive from our house, we had not been to the Hanmer Arms for more than five years and I had heard mixed comments about the new look hotel.
So it was with some trepidation that we literally breezed in on a very wild and windy night.
I need not have worried as we enjoyed an excellent evening.
The Hanmer Arms is a venue for all seasons. It is set in the picturesque village of Hanmer, midway between Ellesmere and Whitchurch and summer visitors can enjoy a walk along its beautiful mere before or even after their meal.
The hotel offers a special deal for coach trips, lunch or afternoon parties with, its website reveals, the coach driver eating for free!
It is in the middle of some good if not challenging cycling country and a perfect place to go for a pub lunch or a sandwich as part of a long bike ride.
But in the winter the hotel has all the charm needed to warm you up on the coldest of days. It was a very welcoming atmosphere; the roaring log fire in the lounge where the dining tables were set was very much appreciated on a stormy night.
From the car park we had to walk through the empty function and larger restaurant area to find the livelier part of the hotel – a little disconcerting.
But arriving in the bar/lounge area the waiter immediately put us at ease with his gentle voice and gentlemanly nature.
There were a healthy number of local people enjoying a night out without food and several tables already being served meals.
Mel and I had opted to join our local running club for a gruelling five mile run before a swift shower and a late meal.
We were both pretty hungry after our exertions so were very grateful when, having taken our order, the delightful waiter returned with our drinks and a basket of bread.
It was beautiful bread, soft and tasty, brown and white and we gratefully tucked in.
Our starters arrived and Mel’s eyes were like saucers. His choice, Black Tiger King Prawns with sweet chilli noodles, £6.75, was huge, served in a tortilla type shell and with a large leaf salad on the side.
It was, he said, delicious, one of the best starters he had ever had and, persuading him to let me have a taste, I had to agree. The noodles had just the right hot taste from the chilli and the huge prawns were moist and tender. I was so jealous. The one drawback of eating for a review is trying not to have the same dish as your partner as this is something I would have definitely chosen myself.
My fish soup, £6.25, was also good, although I had expected it to be more like the French boulebaisse rather than a cream soup. It was served beautifully, however, with side dishes of garlic and saffron mayonaise and grated cheese, taking me back to my childhood when we had oxtail soup with grated cheese sprinkled into it.
There is a good, varied menu at the Hanmer Arms with traditional and modern dishes, meat, seafood and vegetarian.
But I carried on with the seafood theme, unable to resist the half lobster for £14.95. Again presentation was perfect, the lobster sitting on a large bed of salad and new potatoes. My first time with lobster, I was expecting a bit of a battle. But the flesh had already been taken out of the shell, mixed with a creamy white wine and Dijon mustard sauce, returned to the shell and glazed with cheese sauce.
I have to say that it was the one time that I actually felt sorry for the ‘thing’ that I was eating. I hastily put visions of lobsters in the sea out of my mind.
Mel’s Denbigh entrecote steak (£16.95) came with chunky chips, a whole cooked tomato and homemade onion rings – an excellent idea and much much nicer that the frozen variety served at probably 90 per cent of establishments.
We were also given a platter of vegetables to share.
A sign behind the bar said that the hotel used local produce and would be pleased to talk to local growers – an excellent idea. I made a mental note to plant out all those butternut squash seedlings growing from the seeds I collected in the autumn!
Poor Mel. His enormous starter and that bread were taking their toll and he struggled to finish his main course. The large jug of pepper sauce that he had chosen to accompany his meal was also a little rich, he said.
But I’d enjoyed two lighter meals, so even though I had polished off a couple of slices of that wonderful bread and most of our side of vegetables, I still decided I had room for dessert.
Running up and down Ellesmere’s Church Hill at the end of our training run had made me ravenous.
I was so glad I had as my orange and lemon cheesecake was most definitely homemade. And the toasted almonds on the top certainly made the dish – sorry chef, but I copied the idea for my Mother’s Day tiramisu on the Sunday!
After reading the review you may wonder why I’ve only awarded three and not the four stars that the food most definitely deserved.
It wasn’t because of the diner close to us who never stopped to draw breath, incessantly chattering for the entire two hours were were there.
It was because of the tables. When we were shown to our table it was the very same table we had sat at when our now 5ft 10ins teenager was a little lad revelling in his sausage and chips kids meal.
Not just in the same spot by the fire, the same table.
All those years ago I had remarked it needed sanding down and French polishing and, years later it was still in need of renovation!
The meals deserved much better. All that was needed were some tablecloths, crisp and white or perhaps a dark green rustic alternative to complement slate tablemats. For the want of a tablecloth a star was lost!