The Cotswolds has announced that their highly anticipated summer festival will take place on Saturday 17th August. 

They will be bringing together some of the best live music, delicious food and drink here at their distillery near Shipston on Stour in the beautiful surroundings of the North Cotswolds. 

From 12pm – 8pm you’ll be able to relax and enjoy a day filled with incredible blues, jazz, swing and rock music from 7 different acts, including the legendary swing, rhythm & blues band King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys, 1970’s rock band Yellow Dog with their hit song ‘Just One More Night’ and Hipkiss fronted by Patsy Gamble and Muddy Manninen (ex. Wishbone Ash).

A number of local food producers from the Cotswolds will be on offer, so whether you’d like pizza, paella, tacos or a BBQ, there will be something to tickle your fancy. The distillery will, of course, be serving their award-winning spirits and ales from Hook Norton Brewery will be available.

Tickets are just £20.

www.cotswoldsdistillery.com/blogs/news/the-cotswolds-distillery-festival

The Ebrington Arms was voted Pub of the Year at last night's National Pub and Bar Awards. 

The annual event took place last night and was hosted by critic Jay Rayner at BAFTA in Piccadilly, London.

Landlady Claire Alexander said "We were completely shocked to win Pub of the Year for the whole of the South West as the region is so vast and with such huge competition. The area covers so many counties, right down to Cornwall! They highlighted our food, rooms, beautiful building and marketing as reasons why we were chosen. 
 
Editor of the magazine, Tristan O’ Hana had been to see the pub within the last month and said he was really blown away with the whole experience.
 
We are indebted to our amazing team of people that work with us at The Ebrington Arms. They always go the extra mile and are genuinely proud of what we’ve achieved together. It’s been an amazing year moving to more organic produce and making our business more sustainable and we’re lucky to be doing it with such a brilliant bunch of people and regulars!"

There are just 100 days until The Big Feastival descends onto Alex James' Farm in Kingham. 

To celebrate this, they're giving away 25 pairs of tickets for one day only. Entries close at midnight tonight (Wednesday 15th May)

The festival takes place on the 23rd-25th August 2019 with headliners including Lewis Capaldi, Jess Glynne, Elbow and Rudimental. 

To enter the ticket giveaway, visit thebigfeastival.com/thebigfeastivalbiggiveaway

If don't ever want to forget your wedding anniversary, get married on a day that will trigger your memory. It really works. St George's Day is her, sorry, our day. I actually need a reminder the day before as again I forgot to buy a card. She hadn't bothered either. Who said romance was dead?

​"It's leather this year"  as a picture of some riding boots was shoved in my face. Apparently we are supposed to buy each other something leathery for 3 years of marriage. Let's hope she'll be as enthusiastic with a few pieces fruit next year. 

I had the day pretty much planned; a Veuve Clicquot Champagne brunch at The Lygon Arms followed by dinner at their new Back Garden Restaurant at Dormy House, albeit with an eight hour gap in between.

The brunch menu included pretty much everything you would expect to find from Eggs Benedict, Royale and Florentine to Avocado on toast, more eggs and chilli, with an optional glass (£14) or bottle (£75) of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label. I convinced her that 3 years of marriage didn't warrant a bottle, and the fact the sun was out and we could eat outside was more than enough.  

What can you really write about a brunch? I love reading so called foodie bloggers' reviews of a free brunch they have been given thinking they have cracked the world of Instagram influencing with their 28 post likes. "The eggs were really runny" They actually were very runny. "The toast was cooked just right" It was. I would have been worried if it wasn't. "The avocado was perfectly smashed" Yep, that too. However, the additional chilli flakes did add a surprising, yet welcome fiery kick as I reached for my glass of fizz to stop my coughing.

It was 20 degrees and the courtyard terrace is a lovely place to spend a few hours. The fact that this brunch is served from 9.30am - 6pm is an added bonus as we enter the summer months.

The Back Garden is the latest restaurant to launch on the Farncombe Estate. This time at Dormy House, under the watchful eye of Culinary Director, Martin Burge. 

The estate has pretty much covered all culinary bases now. Hook at The Fish Hotel is a splendid seafood restaurant, not forgetting the hotel's outdoor Feasting BBQ Deck for groups of 10-20. Guests at, Foxhill Manor, their private manor house, can choose what they eat, where they eat it and when they eat. A concept that I love as I often eat on impulse and regularly eat far too late.

As well as The Back Garden, The Dormy has also just launch MO, a unique, interactive 7-course tasting-menu experience to just 12 guests at a time. These both sit alongside the always consistent, relaxed, no-faff Potting Shed. I can highly recommend the belly pork. 

The Back Garden is completely different to the others. It would be stupid if it wasn't. There is a huge focus on nature, local ingredients, high-welfare meats and sustainability. This might sound a little bit twee and pretentious. It really isn't.

We booked for 7.30 and were the first to arrive which is always a little bit strange. We were shown to a window seat that looked out towards the, errrrr,  back garden. Of course it did. 

The restaurant is beautiful with the fading evening sun offering some natural light. There are plants mixed with subtle coloured soft furnishings and wallpaper-covered walls with a print that neither of us could decipher. 

Then menu arrived with a bottle of Merlot and a G&T. It's fixed-price at £49.50pp for 3-courses that would have my local pub-eating parents gasping for air. It's a special occasion type of place which works for both hotel guests and locals alike. 

At the risk of choosing off the sample menu on the website, luckily our choices were on there. Stuffed saddle of rabbit, pickled spring vegetables, whole grain mustard, bitter leaves and Pearl barley & Worcestershire hop risotto, beer pickled onions to start, and Braised beef cheek, pointed cabbage, cauliflower purée, king oyster mushroom and Jonny’s fish of the day. I have know idea who Jonny is but it was Halibut with samphire so that was me sold. 

She looked up from her risotto, like Goldilocks over a bowl of porridge, and declared that this is "the best starter I have ever had". 

It was all exquisite. I'm not even sure if I have ever used that word before.

The flavours of the rabbit, pickled veg, mustard and bitter leaves was immense and I won't lie about having slight food envy when I saw her Braised beef cheek arrive although my fish was superb. 
​
There was enough room for desert. We chose the apple tart with toffee sauce as the picture on the website looked so good and the local cheeses, bits and pieces. 

With excellent service from our French waitress (I usually try and get a name if they are really good) and some incredible cooking by Head Chef Sam Bowser, the price becomes irrelevant. For the same meal in London you would definitely be looking to double, or even treble, the bill. 

Surely food like this better than some leather riding boots, right?
​
​
www.dormyhouse.co.uk/eat/the-back-garden

Cheltenham Racecourse has officially been declared the greatest racecourse in the world by the Racing Post, the UK and Ireland’s dedicated racing media outlet.

Taking in competition from racecourses across the world, the Home of Jump racing was announced in the number one position recently – something which the racecourse are of course hugely proud of. 

Racing Post editor Tom Kerr said: "When we were compiling the list for our Greatest Racecourse series we spent hours debating the merits of different tracks around the globe, considering their atmosphere, history, facilities, quality of racing and overall wow-factor.

"However while we had some mighty disagreements over the order one thing was consistent from day one: we all agreed Cheltenham was going to take the top spot. It is a legendary racecourse in an incomparably beautiful setting, is the home of utterly thrilling racing and has seen some of the most epic showdowns in sporting history. 

"Cheltenham has become a must-visit racecourse not just for racing fans, but for anyone with even a passing interest in sport."

Ian Renton, Regional Director of the south west region of The Jockey Club added, “We were delighted when it was announced that the Racing Post had nominated Cheltenham as the Greatest Racecourse in the World. With eight different countries represented in the top ten nominated racecourses, the list is truly representative of all the great racecourses around the world and we are very pleased and greatly honoured to be chosen to top this list.”

The racecourse hosts 16 racedays a year, including The Festival™, presented by Magners, which takes place in March each year and attracts over 260,000 racegoers. A survey undertaken by the University of Gloucestershire found that over those four days over £100million was spent in the Gloucestershire economy.