Magical Peckforton Castle becomes an elite award winner

15th January 2013

In an explosion of brilliance, Peckforton Castle, Cheshire’s most prominent venue, has been awarded its third AA Rosette for culinary excellence.

To be awarded one Rosette is a major accomplishment, two is celebration time – but three Rosettes is altogether different.  Only 10% of UK restaurants have been regarded highly enough to receive this number of awards.  Peckforton Castle is now firmly on the map of elite dining experiences.

The prestigious award scheme was impressed by the Castle’s 1851 Restaurant’s ‘sympathetic treatment of the highest quality ingredients’, rewarding Head Chef Mark Ellis for insisting upon using locally grown and reared produce wherever possible, and for developing excellent relationships with the suppliers of these fine local ingredients.

Praise was also heaped upon the ‘timing, seasoning and judgement of flavour combinations’.  With dishes such as whipped Nantwich goat’s curd, croquant chestnuts, pear and vintage balsamic and hot pot of 36 hour breast of estate venison, the reason for success is very clear.

The third AA Rosette acknowledges Peckforton Castle’s ‘intuitive service’ and ‘well chosen wine list’ too, with its wide choice of grapes chosen perfectly to complement the dishes on the menu.

This latest accolade is hot on the heels of yet another coveted award for Peckforton Castle.  The four star hotel was recently named ‘Hotel of the Year 2012’ by Marketing Cheshire.  Other successes include ‘Conference Venue of the Year 2011’ by HBAA, ‘Excellence in Business Tourism’ by Marketing Cheshire and a Taste Cheshire Award.

The castle building itself is a masterpiece.  Built in 1840 by John Tollemache, who commissioned the architect Anthony Slavin for the design, following the Gothic style which was fashionable at the time.  An English Heritage Grade 1 site, the castle is Britain’s only intact medieval style castle.

The castle was converted into a hotel in 1988 and discovered by the Naylor family in 2005, who fell in love with the place, and the rest is history!  Under the Naylors’ guidance, Peckforton Castle has become a thriving hotel, wedding, conference and events venue.

Significant investment has been ploughed into the hotel in recent years, firstly to introduce new features such as the 2010 Brasserie and beauty treatment area in 2010, and to recover from an arson attack in 2011.  In total, over £4 million has been spent on transforming this 48 en suite bedroom luxury hotel.

This latest award comes as no surprise to CrispWhiteSheets – we have already fallen for the magical Peckforton Castle!