Cornish Spring Feasts and Flowers Showcased in the Budock Vean’s new Restaurant

The Budock Vean Hotel’s enviable reputation for serving fantastic seasonal food is going into overdrive for a special Spring Gourmet weekend from March 6th to 8th – the first hosted in the hotel’s beautifully refurbished restaurant.

This creatively elegant and comfortable room is a perfect showcase for guests to enjoy the best of Cornish produce transformed into outstanding five course dinners by Head Chef Darren Kelly and his talented kitchen team, while looking out over the sub-tropical gardens, fairways and woods leading down to the Helford River.

“Our restaurant refurbishment has been a major project for us and we are so glad to have it finished and looking so lovely in time for our Spring Gourmet weekend,” says the Budock Vean’s Martin Barlow – one of three generations of the family involved in the hotel. “For all its quirkiness our guests had a fondness for the original dining room – so we’ve put a great deal of thought into keeping a sense of originality and uniqueness – refurbishing without turning it into something bland and generic. We are thrilled with the result.”

Martin worked closely with a small army of electricians, builders, decorators and designers to capture the restaurant’s charm and scale and bring it beautifully in line with the other public areas of this country house hotel.

Think period wood panelling, a fresh colour scheme, some stunning lighting – and a new “Rogues’ Gallery” exhibition wall onto which much-loved historical paintings including “The Cornish Giant” Anthony Payne and inventor and engineering supremo Richard Trevithick have been curated.

“Great food and great service have always been at the heart of everything we do,” says Head Chef Darren, who with Restaurant Manager Mo Roberts have almost 70 years’ expertise between them of running the Budock Vean’s front and back of house teams. “We feel really proud to have such a stylish and beautiful new restaurant to further enhance our guests’ dining experience.”

For this special Spring break the Budock Vean’s chefs will be working closely with North Coast Wines to create dishes which complement the wines they are served with – the sort of attention to detail which has drawn guests back again and again to Gourmet Weekends run by the Budock Vean for more than twenty years.

Menus will include fish and shellfish supplied by Matthew Stevens of St Ives, dairy produce from Trewithen Dairy, meat and poultry from Etheringtons Meats, game from St Ives-based Celtic Fish and Game and fruit and veg by Westcountry.

“At this time of year you’re also catching the magnificent blooming of the magnolias and camellias, azaleas and rhododendron for which our gardens and the ravine gardens of nearby Trebah and Glendurgan are internationally famous,” says Martin. “People often don’t realise how early these amazing plants come into flower in our mild climate: they’re at their peak over the next few weeks in spite of the best efforts of Storms Ciara and Dennis!”

The Budock Vean’s new ‘resident poet’ Kerry Vincent has even written a poem – “Awakening” – to celebrate Spring at the Budock Vean and its surrounding area.

The Spring Gourmet, from Friday 6th departing Sunday 8th March, is from £224 per person including two nights’ accommodation, five course Gourmet dinners on Friday and Saturday, full Cornish breakfasts, unlimited use of the golf course, tennis courts, pool and leisure area – with Natural Health Spa treatments and riverboat or kayak adventures bookable in advance.

 

To book: Call 01326 252100.