News/Events

2011 Castle Hill Calendars


			2011 Castle Hill Calendars are now available for sale. They are amazingly good value at £5.00 per calendar plus £1.50 p&p and include 12 stunning images of the gardens throughout the year. These can be removed as postcards. If you would like one please send a cheque made payable to Castle Hill Business Account for £6.50 making sure that you include your postal address or alternatively pop into the office and collect one for £5.00. Please mark your envelope - 'Calendar'.

Castle Hill is now on Facebook! Please click on the to take you to Castle Hill Estate. We would welcome your news and views, thoughts and suggestions on Castle Hill as a venue.

WESSEX FINE ARTS SOCIETY

We were delighted to welcome 46 people from Wessex Fine Arts Society to Castle Hill on Thursday 24th June. They were given a tour of the house and garden followed by lunch in the West Wing and talk on the Castle Hill family history given by Lady Arran.

GARDEN AND WI GROUPS

It has been lovely having visits from many different groups this year. The groups have a lovely day visiting the family home and gardens and enjoying either lunches or cream teas. We look forward to welcoming more of you in the future. So far this year we have had:
The Honiton Garden Club, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, St Tudy Garden Club, Lapford Horticultural Society, Silverton WI, Sidmouth Decorative and Fine Arts Society, Bovey Tracey Horticultural Society, Clifton Garden Society, Lostwithiel Garden Club, Wessex Fine Art, North Dartmoor Garden Club, Stogursey WI, Appledore WI and Cutcombe WI.

WEDDING FAIR 2011

Our wedding fair for next year will be on Sunday 3rd April. Make sure you put the date in your diary!

Visit by Whitbread and Costa Coffee representatives to look at our farms which have become Costa farms. We are delighted to be supplying them daily for their renowned Coffee.

WEDDING SHOW AT CASTLE HILL

Marquee by Sound Events

Castle Hill was delighted to host its first Wedding Show on Sunday 18^th April. We were blessed with a beautiful Spring Sunday and many future brides, their husbands to be and families came along to look at the fantastic array of wedding exhibitors and of course to have tours of Castle Hill. There was huge enthusiasm for our beautiful home gleaming in the sun and complemented by the Gardens looking at their finest.

We would like to thank you all, organisers, exhibitors and brides alike for coming to our Wedding Show and hope you will have found lots of inspiration for your most special day which we so hope you will choose to spend with us at Castle Hill.

AN EPIC ADVENTURE AT CASTLE HILL

Many of you will have watched BBC2’s The Restaurant on 17^th December which was filmed at Castle Hill. For those of you who missed this epic culinary adventure, well all I can say is you missed an extraordinary programme.

The final was filmed in July and so none of us had actually seen the potential finalists and so there was great anticipation as to the marvelous banquet we were going to enjoy. Lady Arran had suggested the menu of truly mouthwatering dishes that are frequently cooked by first class chefs in the Castle Hill kitchens – a clear soup with a julienne of vegetables - notoriously difficult to execute well, a risotto using wonderful vegetables from the kitchen garden, scallops, locally produced beef and a hot soufflé for dessert which is a specialty of the Castle Hill kitchens. The final contestants should have no problem in producing this wonderful menu – after all they had got through seven rounds to make it to Castle Hill.

Greeted at the door by Robert, the Butler, the four finalists looked absolutely petrified. They were then shown into Lady Arran’s sitting room and the rather bemused looks that passed between them as they listened to the proposed menu were the first signs of the disaster that lay ahead. Preparation for the dinner caused more consternation as one team followed orders and selected their veg from the Castle Hill kitchen garden, whilst the second team ordered everything by phone from the supermarket…

The guests arrived oblivious to the culinary adventure they were about to embark on. Blinis overloaded with salmon and crème fraiche were impossible to eat without dribbling down one’s chin or dropping on a blazer front. Once seated we all waited in trepidation as one disastrous course was followed by another. JJ and Jamie’s risotto was the piece de resistance – wallpaper paste was a polite way of describing it. The soufflé was another highlight – Robert watched aghast as JJ added flour to the soup which was the soufflé. The upside of the whole evening was the hilarity and the fact that none of us succumbed to food poisoning.

With the numerous private dinners, weddings and corporate events that are regularly held at Castle Hill, the kitchens have never seen the like before! Role on Masterchef…

A dinner to celebrate 25 years of the North Devon Hospice was held in the West Wing at Castle Hill on the 21st August 2009.


© Jayne Poole Photography																																																																				© Jayne Poole Photography		A couple of models exhibiting bridalware at Castle Hill


We were delighted to continue welcoming groups of Brend Tours and Shearings Holidays visitors. Lunch is a good opportunity for guests to discover more about the family history, the house and the gardens.

Other News


On the Estate's East Clatworthy Farm milking has started of the new herd of British Friesian and Friesian X cows following a major refurbishment of the dairy.