Monday 13th March 2017 marks the 10th year of The Ebrington Arms' Cheltenham Festival Preview and this year it is bigger than ever with an online charity auction, including a VIP trip to the world famous White Turf meting in St Moritz and a VIP box for 2 at the Cheltenham Festival on Thursday 16th March, closing on the night in aid of The Injured Jockey's Fund and the West Midland's Air Ambulance.

​The evening will be hosted by Talksport racing correspondent Rupert Bell and racing manager, and former trainer, Milton Harris with Cue Card jockey Paddy Brennan and German trainer Christian Von Der Recke also on the panel.

​There will be a 3-course set menu with an Irish theme and tickets are just £30 with a £5 donation split between the two charities.

For more information, timings, menu and auction lots, please click HERE.

Cheltenham Racecourse have announced that a new bronze statue of Sir AP McCoy will be unveiled on the opening day at The Festival on Tuesday 14th March 2017!

The lifesize bronze of the record-breaking jockey, created by Dublin sculptor Paul Ferriter,  will be situated on the Best Mate Plaza by the north entrance to the racecourse.

​You can read the full article here by clicking HERE

When BBC 3 disappeared from our screens last year many, including myself, have had very little to do with it online. This was until I saw an advert set in Northleach with an unruly looking woman in a Swindon Town football shirt saying "I've got enemies everywhere. I've got enemies in South Cerney, I've got enemies in North Cerney, I've got enemies in Cerney Wick. I've got enemies in Bourton on the Water". What the hell is this?

​I did some digging and found that This Country is a mockumentary created by Charlie and Daisy May Cooper playing characters Kurtan and Kerry Mucklowe respectively. They are pretty much everything you want to avoid in the countryside and something The Cotswolds sweeps under the proverbial carpet. They swear a lot. They are self-confessed bullies and they are both emotionally unstable. It is actually bloody brilliant. Both the acting and script are incredible and the chalk and cheesiness of stunning countryside and the depths of society is bizarre, yet wonderful at the same time.

​This is up there with anything that Ricky Gervais has done. If The Office and Benefit Street collided in the Cotswolds, This Country is what you would get. It is a work of art.

​Watch it now on BBC. You have only missed the first two episodes!
Episode 1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p04qvrhb/this-country-1-scarecrow
​Episode 2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p04rkg5r/this-country-2-mandy

Former Masterchef finalist Andrew Kojima has begun a Kickstarter campaign to bring a permanent casual Japanese dining experience to Cheltenham on the same site as his hugely popular pop-up before Christmas!

After being impressed by the town, he thinks that it is the right place to open his first restaurant bringing a new style of Japanese dining, combining a modern atmosphere, good music, Japanese-inspired cocktails and beers with tasty Japanese food and needs your help!

​You can pledge any amount of money for something in return from a £20 donation to get your name on the wall to a more generous £300 to enjoy dinner for 6 during one of Cheltenham's festivals in 2017.

​For more information click KOJ KICKSTARTER and get involved!

Cheltenham restaurant The White Spoon is honouring British Beef at its next special dining event on Thursday 2nd March.  

Enjoy a stunning 'Nose to Tail' menu which celebrates the rural British tradition of using every part of the animal.

​For more details and the full menu visit http://www.thewhitespoon.co.uk/nose-to-tail

Choose a knife, choose a beer. Choose a f**king big salad bowl. Choose BBQ Wings, shakes, Green Chilli Slaw and some salt and pepper squid. Choose Chilli Cheese Fries and wondering how the hell you're going to eat it all. Choose starring at the menu picking mouth-watering, flavour loaded burgers, thinking you want it all. Choose walking away at the end of it feeling stuffed and impregnated with a food baby. Choose a knife.. I chose not to choose that, I chose something else..

​I chose the undercounter menu.

​The undercounter menu I here ask? This is a shorty daily menu that sits alongside the normal menu and offers something a little different but just as incredible as I found out last night.

​To start, I choose the grilled octopus & chorizo. Six pieces of deliciousness on a stick followed by some mighty Hereford beef & pork meatballs in a spicy tomato sauce. When I say mighty, I mean mighty in size and taste. The sauce had a good kick now and again and was immense with the side of Mac 'n' Cheese that I ordered from the normal menu. You cannot go to The Tavern and not order Mac 'n' Cheese, it's law! This was all complimented by some Sprout Slaw. The name as it suggests is a sprout based dish but if it was called something different, you would never know so don't be put off by its name! It was mixed with carrot, onion and walnuts and a cracking dressing.

​Other items on the undercounter menu include quince glazed St Louis pork ribs, devils on horseback and an incredible sounding dirty mac 'n' cheese with short rib, jalepenos & black truffle. I was torn between that and the meatballs so will have to go again before too long!

​Check The Tavern out. It serves food from midday - midnight everyday! theluckyonion.com/property/the-tavern

For any of you who thought this was going to be a T2 Trainspotting review then all we can say is that it is possibly the best movie we have seen for years. For any fan of the original film, you will not be disappointed as it genuinely feels like you have just stepped back into the lives of Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie - the latter being just as mental and screwed up as you remember him. The acting has moved on a level as has the style of the movie which is everything as stunning as you would expect from Danny Boyle, yet keeping its roots around Edinburgh city center and Leith with a subtle nod to the original and even further back in the lives of the 4 main men . It's a modern masterpiece and just truly beautiful.

We are delighted to be working alongside the brilliant Relish Events as their selected blogger at many of their of their events in 2017!

​Based in Cirencester, you will find the specialist events catering company creating culinary magic at many venues around the country such as Badminton Horse Trials, Cheltenham Literature Festival, The Royal International Air Tattoo and The Game Fair to name but a few. They also specialise in weddings, corporate and private functions working to budgets that suit but still wowing your guests!

Take a look at their site relishevent.co.uk and look out for lots more about them on The Cotswolds Gentleman!