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Food and drink launch

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2010-01-21 19:17:57 - Graham Ellis

The Melksham Food and Drink Festival, 2010, was launched at Well House Manor this morning. The vital stuff:

• Waitrose was announced as the 'lead' sponsor (I hope I have that term right), with Leekes also being a major sponsor of the event ...And other sponsors are sought too; if you have food and drink connections and want to take up the opportunities that sponsorship offers, there's details and a form at the web site here.

• The festival takes part from 25th June to 4th July - a wide variety of events is planned following up on last year's successes - and participants are sought. There also a form for participant to apply / express an interest here.

• If you live in Melksham, put 4th July in your diary already - that's the day that there will be a food fayre in the grounds of Melksham House. If you don't live in Melksham, you should also put 4th July in your diary AND book to make the trip here to see what a wonderful town this is ... why not have a weekend away and stay at Well House Manor [Book]. Please book early - it'll be busy in the town that weekend as it's also the Town Crier Competition in the adjoining market place, and with free entry to both events this really will be the Wiltshire town to be in!


OK. That's the marketing stuff done. A healthy breakfast, using appropriate locat produce was provided and enjoyed by all. The scale was larger than our normal breakfast - catering for over 30 rather than for a maximum of 10 hotel guests necessitates a few changes from the normal arrangements, but we stuck very much to our "makes yourselves at home - help yourselves to plenty". And, yes, we were all set up for the Gluten free requirements of Celiacs (UK spelling - Coeliac), for vegetarians, and for people who simply don't like croissants and wanted bread to make up a Wiltshire Ham Sandwich ;-)

The fresh fruit salad went down a treat ... and we noted that most of our guests preferred that to the cereal option. We've asked ourselves why our fruit salads are so popular in the past, and concluded that it's because we prepare them fresh and (in the case of this morning) don't actually mix the fruit but allow people to select the fruit they like from separate bowls. Perhaps I shouldn't call it a fruit salad, but apples, pears, pineapple, kiwi, melon, grapes, clementines and pomegranate!


A breakfast such as the one we provided this morning is an excellent opportunity for us at Well House Manor to "show our wares" to the community and to businesses who we might not otherwise be in touch with - including new businesses who are just moving to the town and for whom setup staff and visiting specialist in the future will need somewhere to stay.

Here's Celebrity Chef Peter Vaughan, who is one of the faces of the festival, with Pam Wiltshire doing 'publicity pictures' for the cook book that they're bringing out for the festival ... the idea is that everyone contributes their favourite recipe and the book is published in time for the festival. (Yes - "everyone" includes YOU!). If you have a recipe ... I guess the best way to submit it is to email it to Maggie or Pam.

Finally - a big "thank you" to our team. Chris did a magnificent job on the morning, and so did Sarah on "preps" the night before. Lisa has put together the whole "Well House Manor" experience ... the "wow" that people feel there, and keeping that "wow" rolling along. Without any one of those three, the event wouldn't have been the success that it was, and I wouldn't have been in that slighly embarrassing position of receiving all those congratulations on the launch.