Bailli Delugue Philip Evins took the opportunity to promote Whatley Manor General Manager Susan Williams and Executive Chef Rikki Weston at the summer luncheon hosted by the Cotswolds Baillage,

Join us on August 23 at Whatley Manor near Malmesbury is set in 12 acres of glorious English Country Gardens providing a stunning setting for this late summer event with Michelin Chef Rikki Weston.

Whatley Manor (SN16 0RB) (What3Words:science;marzipan;orders) nearest station is Chippenham and a taxi will take approximately 20 minutes to the hotel.

“It was a perfect and unique venue, wonderful food with interesting textures and flavours, accompanied with excellent wine. Extremely hospitable and efficient team looking after us. Great company, perfect weather, what more can we wish for; such a success, and so enjoyed by everyone.” The comment above from one of our members sums up our joint SW/ Cotswolds Midsummer Lunch with Mark McCabe at The Ethicurean. https://theethicurean.com/

Our Autumn gathering will now take place in central Cheltenham at the recently opened Nook on Five. The first rooftop restaurant in the town.

Technically the Cotswolds were guilty of crossing the boundary into Wiltshire for the recent spring lunch, but Iford is only 15 minutes form Bath and nestled in a tranquil valley. The award-winning Manor gardens are Grade 1 listed. The garden was laid out on the last hill of the Cotswolds in the Mediterranean style by renowned landscape architect Harold Peto and lovingly restored by the Cartwright-Hignett family over the last 50 years. In 2020 a café and restaurant was sympathetically designed and constructed. This venture is led by Chef Matthew Briddon supplied by the bountiful kitchen garden, estate, and home farm with a local nose to tail approach. It seems appropriate to compose this review on National Tea Day (21 April) as not only is Iford a beautiful garden and venue but also imports and retails a range of teas (ifordmanorteas.co.uk) one of which was paired with what was a favourite course at the luncheon on April 18.

Technically the Cotswolds were guilty of crossing the boundary into Wiltshire for the recent spring lunch, but Iford is only 15 minutes form Bath and nestled in a tranquil valley. The award-winning Manor gardens are Grade 1 listed. The garden was laid out on the last hill of the Cotswolds in the Mediterranean style by renowned landscape architect Harold Peto and lovingly restored by the Cartwright-Hignett family over the last 50 years. In 2020 a café and restaurant was sympathetically designed and constructed. This venture is led by Chef Matthew Briddon supplied by the bountiful kitchen garden, estate, and home farm with a local nose to tail approach. It seems appropriate to compose this review on National Tea Day (21 April) as not only is Iford a beautiful garden and venue but also imports and retails a range of teas (ifordmanorteas.co.uk) one of which was paired with what was a favourite course at the luncheon on April 18.

The last Cotswolds event in 2022 took place at Green Star Lumiere in Cheltenham. We enjoyed stellar food wine and service and as a token of our appreciation presented Chef Jon with a Chaine plate.

Michelin has now awarded Lumiere its first star and we celebrate their accolade.

We are pleased to share the details of what promises to be a lovely harbinger to Spring at Iford Manor (https://www.ifordmanor.co.uk/) where the ethos rests on the principles of honesty, locality and freshness, with many ingredients coming from the Iford Manor walled garden or the Iford Estate and almost all of the fayre produced in-house.

A rainy March Thursday saw the Cotswolds hold the AGM Luncheon in Cheltenham at GL50 with Chef Jonas. We raised a toast to outgoing Argentier Chris Cook and Charge de Presse Jo Cook. The incoming Argentier Mary McGinty presented them with a token of our appreciation.

The Thames Valley Bailliage proudly welcomes Matthew Randall as the newly appointed Bailli Régional.