Bon Appétit: Northcote Manor

Friday 18 November 2011

Northcote Manor

Having recently had a birthday and a baby, not in that order, I was lucky enough to visit Northcote Manor for a night, while Frankie’s grandparents had an opportunity to spend some quality time looking after their granddaughter for the night!

This is a place I’ve wanted to visit for a long time, being only an hour or so from where I grew up. Nigel Haworth and Craig Bancroft are joint proprietors with Lisa Allen doing much of the cooking. We arrived on a Friday afternoon and were shown straight to our room: a beautiful large corner room overlooking the gardens and fields. we had booked a gourmet break (dinner, bed and breakfast for £335 in a superior double) and were invited for drinks in the lounge, complete with roaring fires, pre-dinner. The price included a half bottle of champagne, canapés, a 5-course seasonal menu, breakfast, and of course the room (with free minibar stocked with (unfortunately no alcohol but) locally produced soft drinks and the cutest little glass bottle of milk from a local dairy.

We settled in quickly, and went straight out to explore the herb and vegetable garden, then went for a short drive to the village of Whalley, then on for an afternoon drink at Mitton Hall (well worth a visit, if only to look over the Ribble river with a glass of something chilled in your hand!) We returned and had the most luxurious bubble bath imaginable before dressing for dinner. (In the bathroom, even the mirrors are heated so they don’t steam up – clever huh?!)

A warm welcome awaited us from the staff downstairs, and our drinks and lovely canapés were served in front of the fire. It is over a month since we went, and I can’t remember what they were, but I know they tasted delicious!

The meal, too, was very tasty. I'm not going to comment on every course, suffice to say, the combination of flavours and textures was excellent.

The amuse-bouche deconstructed blt had, to quote Gregg, bags of flavour and interesting textures to make it taste ‘just right’.

I’d make a special note of the lemon caviar (no idea how it was done, but resembled caviar with little bursts of lemon flavour). It’s floating at the bottom of the tomato consommé, somewhere!

As usual, we opted for the local cheeses rather than dessert; simply can’t resist a good cheese board, especially as I’d saved a glass of red to go alongside.