Calcot Manor, Tetbury

...list is the restaurant at Calcot and the manor’s ‘pub grub’ the Gumstool Inn.

Calcot Manor

Calcot is based in a large beautiful Cotswold stone house (pictures of it before they restored it are on the website), between Nailsworth, near Stroud and Bath just off the A46 on the Tetbury road, this is an ideal location if you are looking to tour the Cotswolds as it is only about 10 minutes off the M4 motorway, so you have ...
...The Restaurant.

Calcot restaurant is set in a large extended conservatory, but even in the height of summer it is well ventilated and they make sure enough windows are open. The waiting staff in here are very professional, you are greeted and shown a seat in small area with plush sofas and offered some canapés and drinks, then when your table is ready regardless of how busy they are sufficient waiting staff come to you to carry your ... more

I don’t know about you, but as I get older I am far more discerning when it comes to eating out. If I am out shopping or travelling I want something quick and most importantly good value (which I rarely get), but if it is for a special meal I do want something that is good value but more importantly is something that I couldn’t do at home and with a service that makes me feel that I am important to them, there are very few – and I mean very few places that can live up to that criteria in our area I would say there are only 2 or 3 that qualify, but by far and away at the top of the list is the restaurant at Calcot and the manor’s ‘pub grub’ the Gumstool Inn.

Calcot Manor

Calcot is based in a large beautiful Cotswold stone house (pictures of it before they restored it are on the website), between Nailsworth, near Stroud and Bath just off the A46 on the Tetbury road, this is an ideal location if you are looking to tour the Cotswolds as it is only about 10 minutes off the M4 motorway, so you have Bath, Bristol, Cirencester all within very easy reach.

The catering at the manor is separated between the restaurant and the slightly cheaper and more informal Gumstool Inn which the website describes as a ‘country pub style’ but to dismiss the food here as pub grub is to do it a huge injustice.

The Restaurant.

Calcot restaurant is set in a large extended conservatory, but even in the height of summer it is well ventilated and they make sure enough windows are open. The waiting staff in here are very professional, you are greeted and shown a seat in small area with plush sofas and offered some canapés and drinks, then when your table is ready regardless of how busy they are sufficient waiting staff come to you to carry your drinks to the table, my Dad almost seemed to upset them when he carried his own beer! I believe all the waiting staff are professionals as they never seem to have the camaraderie between them that you get when local teenagers take on part time waiting roles. The restaurant itself is very crisp and clean in décor but with cosy touches like a very contemporary log fire.

The menu – Now naturally this does not come cheap, my first visit here was as a corporate thank you from the company that my husband had been working for at the time and the company sent £75 to the hotel to cover our meal – and I can assure you there wasn’t much of a tip. They have a set lunchtime menu, or Sunday lunch menu and there is the A La Carte. The current price of the lunchtime menu is £19 for 2 courses or £23 for 3. This includes such delights as grilled calves liver, onion risotto or haunch of venison and champagne and mint granite. The A la carte menu has starters for around £10 and mains at around £20. I notice that the starter I had on my first visit is on the sample menu today which was smoked salmon blini’s with crème freche and topped with caviar. My one and only taste of caviar ever – and I loved it. We also had on that first visit, a taster selection of ice creams and sorbets and I don’t think I have ever seen food look quite so pretty, the plates were freezing cold so they hadn’t run at all by the time it reached the table and as we both had different selections it was a great tasting selection. So going on my criteria of that which I could’t do at home, it certainly ticks every box.

The Gumstool

The country pub, now I suppose the food is, to be fair, more bistro in it’s nature and the atmosphere is a lot more laid back the waiting staff are still very good, but you are expected to carry your own drinks! Generally the prices are starters a couple of pounds cheaper than the restaurant and the mains average at around the £13 mark, portion sizes are generous but certainly not excessive. The last time we ate here was as a family meal so we had my two girls with us they do have a kids menu which has mostly the food that you would expect on it, but the quality is evident even from just looking at the menu – however mine were not in the mood for chicken and chips, so as we often do we ordered 3 adult meals and 1 spare plate, they got a selection and were very happy, my husband less so as my youngest took rather more of his curry than he was expecting! The gumstool shares the same kitchen and chefs as the main restaurant so there is absolutely no compromise on quality whatsoever simply because it is marketed as a pub.

Much of the food is locally sourced and certainly very seasonal, as for value for money, the gumstool is probably much better than the restaurant.

The caterers.

Now a few years ago, I started noticing little green vans going around the area with Williams Kitchen at Calcot on the side of them. Now Williams Kitchen is a deli in Nailsworth, one of those shops that reminds me of my childhood, when I was young I used to spend my school holidays with my gran and I hated the smell of the place – all that foreign food, and I’d hold my breathe every time we walked past, and on the rare occasion she actually went in, usually for cheese, pate was a stretch too far for her war time palate, I was practically turning blue by the time we came out. Well how things have changed, they are still a great deli, one of the last surviving fishmongers in the area and my husband’s particular favourite the olive counter, now I love the place. During the 80’s Williams Kitchen started doing a small catering service, mainly for dinner parties which I always thought as odd as surely the point is cooking for your guests yourselves. But it now seems that they have been bought out by Calcot and provide the outside catering arm of this restaurant on a much larger scale, weddings etc, which is a service I have never used but if I was ever organising such an event they would probably be my first port of call.

The Spa

No good hotel restaurant is complete without a spa section. Last time we ate at the gumstool the manager was kind enough to show us around, it is beautiful. There is a 16m pool, sauna steam room outdoor spa pool, ample treatment rooms and apparently tennis, but for the life of me I don’t recall seeing any courts. They do offer local membership and spa days including a meal in the restaurant.

Hotel

Now living so close I have no reason to stay here, although it would be incredibly indulgent to spend a night as it is about a half hour drive from my house then we could share a bottle of wine – hmm I’m turning 40 this year, maybe a consideration! Anyway, over the past few years on our sadly so infrequent visits, we have watched the renovation of a new suite of rooms with interest. The pictures of the rooms are exactly what you would expect from the place, clean, crisp and contemporary but at a starting B&B price of £115 per person, maybe I should consider a taxi for my 40th birthday.

They have also renovated a barn which they use for conferences and wedding catering.

So would I recommend Calcot, definitely the food is always a pleasure and the plates not quite licked clean because they’d probably throw us out, but you get the picture and for somewhere special it is a rare treat, sadly the bank balance doesn’t allow it to be a more frequent treat. As far as I’m aware it’s not part of a chain, so you get that individual care and something a bit different and non corporate.

If you decide to take my advise I hope you enjoy it as much as I have, please be assured despite this being a glowing review I do not work for them, for me the price is the only downside.
Their website is www.calcotmanor.co.uk and even if ciao’s photo option was working I don’t have any to match the pictures on the site.
Thank you for reading
Digbycat.
 

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