galloping gourmet

August 3rd — Wedding Venue of the year

Wasing Park was today announced as Wedding Venue of the year by Perfect Wedding magazine. This is a wonderful result for both Wasing and Galloping Gourmet, and a tribute to all the dedicated work that has been put in by all.

Following on from last year's Countryside Alliance award, the operation is really notching up a fine and impressive reputation.

July 20th — Coffee table book is published

Fine Food at Galloping Gourmet- our new coffee table book is published today. We've created this to illustrate the range of food we produce across our organisation and to inspire our clients to order a dish they wouldn't otherwise have necessarily considered. We're delighted with the finished article, so much so we are now already working on the second edition.

A pdf version is available to view here.

July 15th — New appointments

Appointments announced today at Coltsford Mill in Surrey where Andrew Mayne joins Chris O' Neill in the kitchen from The Bell at Godstone and we also welcome Stuart Tyler to Wasing Park as Joe's Second Chef who joins us from Rare Events and Bearwood Lakes.

June 28th — Welcome to Lynsey Spring

We always like to appoint great people with relevant experience at Galloping Gourmet. Lynsey Spring has unique experience of what we do - she's a bride from Rivervale Barn! We're delighted to welcome her to our Events Team in Yateley today. She reports:

"having organised my wedding at Rivervale Barn earlier this year I was truly impressed with the professionalism of the Events Team at Galloping Gourmet. I knew they'd be a great company to join! I previously worked as cabin crew in the airline industry for several years and I know my experience in customer service there will serve me well and I shall look forward to the exciting challenges ahead."

June 20th — Stuart Tyler appointed today

Stuart Tyler appointed today at Wasing to work with Joe Cathers in our GG kitchen.

May 25th — Stuart Murrell appointed today

Chelmsford resident Stuart Murrell appointed today as Nick Green's Second Chef at Gaynes Park in Essex. Stuart joins us from an exciting spell at The Cuckoo in Radley Green and becomes part of our very strong team at an incredibly busy time of year. He brings with him experience gained far and wide including a spell at the pass in Fitzroy Island, Australia.

May 1st — Second Chef Jamie Walsh appointed

Second Chef Jamie Walsh appointed today at Packington Moor. Jamie's experience includes time at Netherstowe House and prior to that alongside Head Chef Richard at The Meynell Ingram Arms.

April 3rd — Opening day at Packington Moor

Opening day for Galloping Gourmet today at Packington Moor and the first of a very busy stream of weddings in 2011. Penny, Richard and Hayley hosted a very successful celebration and our new service team acquitted themselves magnificently.

We're on our way...

Have a look at the Packington Moor website

April 1st — Caroline Lacks joins as Events Manager

Caroline Lacks joins Katrin today as an Events Manager at Curradine Barns. She has been working within our service team as for three years, so brings with her an enormous amount of experience and understanding in how an event runs and how best to enjoy all what's on offer at our Shrawley venue. Such insight will be invaluable as she now plays a significant part in the planning of the events as well as running the service on the day.

March 15th — Richard Light joins us

Richard Light joins us today as Head Chef at Packington Moor. Richard is extremely well known locally and most recently managed the AA rosette kitchen at The Meynell Ingram Arms, and prior to that was Head Chef at Bramhalls in Ashbourne. Truly great food cooked by local people...

March 8th — Andy Gotting has been promoted

We're very pleased to announce that Andy Gotting has been promoted to the position of Executive Group Head Chef for Galloping Gourmet with immediate effect. This is a significant step forwards not just for Andy but for our entire organisation. With considerable additional time and resources at his disposal, he'll be able to lead our team of talented chefs with an increasingly hands-on approach. There's a wealth of innovative ideas generated within our various kitchens and we're keen to harness as much of that creative energy as possible and use it to continue to evolve and improve our food offering. Equally we need to ensure that general best practice and truly effective central management is adopted as speedily and seamlessly as possible as it's our avowed aim to serve nothing less than the best wedding food in the UK- bar none.

Andy will be out on the road more regularly and more often working with individual members of Team Chef to inspire and aid as well as listen and learn about the new ideas directly from the talent that resides in our kitchens.

Andy's been Head Chef at Curradine Barns for four years and will remain based in Shrawley alongside the venue's new Second Head Chef Adrian Szuba. Adrian has been working under Joe Cathers at Wasing for the last two years and has played an enormous part in the success of our food in the Castle Barn.

March 5th — Website launches

The updated Curradine Barns website launches today with some of our latest food images and all the latest news from Shrawley.

February 25th — Jane marries Stuart

Events Manager Jane marries Stuart today at her place of work - Gaynes Park in Essex. She reported afterwards:

"we had the most fantastic day at Gaynes Park; it was all we could have hoped for and more. The weather was very kind to us as it was dry and not too cold, so we were able to enjoy the wonderful gardens and get some beautiful photographs outside. Of course the food and staff were fantastic and we were very well looked after! I couldn't recommend Galloping Gourmet enough!"

February 20th — Hayley Spiers joins our team

Hayley Spiers joins our new team at Packington Moor. A couple of weeks later, Hayley wrote:

"I applied for the Events Manager position at Packington Moor because the job description highlighted a lot of the skills I've gained from previous jobs in retail, hospitality and administration. Since graduating with an English Degree in 2009 I've been involved in various jobs in a concerted search for the perfect career. Galloping Gourmet has provided me with the chance to progress my career by using the various skills picked up along the way. Such an opportunity is a dream job, and so I'm really looking forward to working with some fabulous people in such breath- taking surroundings. I truly look forward to the forthcoming events at Packington Moor and throwing myself into a very long summer of hard, yet rewarding work. I've already travelled to a couple of the GG operations and worked with colleagues elsewhere in the UK. It's been both informative and inspiring!"

February 8th — Training at Galloping Gourmet

Training is an essential part of work at Galloping Gourmet. Today we held a conflict awareness course for members of our bar personnel. Jemma Garland reported:

"This was an extremely helpful very interesting session, giving us all a good insight into how particular situations should be dealt with. Via both tutorial and role play we were all given advice on body language, terminology to use and general tips on how to avoid difficult or dangerous situations. The majority of the day was spent brainstorming and discussing situations we may have been in or heard of that have caused some sort of disruption or conflict. We had all experienced varying degrees of challenges and all realised that perhaps there were better ways of dealing with things. Each bar manager would have gained greater knowledge of how to react to and how to prevent potentially problematic situations. Alongside discussing prevention, we also touched on dealing with a problem once it had arisen, including citizen's arrests and what the requirements are to make one. By the end of the day, I think we all felt considerably more confident in how we would react in any difficult situation, and each manager will ensure that their teams are informed of the key points so that as a whole we are increasingly well-informed and pro-active in such situations."

January 28th — Local water at Wasing

We've installed Pure water today at Wasing Park- our latest initiative in keeping it local, and keeping it green. This type of water is filtered, cooled and then poured from the tap into elegant recyclable designer bottles.
We believe it's a fresh, green and appealing alternative for people who are careful about what they drink. We look forward to serving it. From tomorrow in fact!

January 26th — Student Cookery Competition

Wasing's Head Chef, Joe Cather took part as a judge today for an exciting new cookery competition, "The 'S' Word", which aims to encourage young people to enjoy cooking with local seasonal produce. Seven West Berkshire schools took part in the 'S' Word, with each school running two heats. Students competed in teams of two to plan and cook a winning two-course meal for under £10 using local seasonal ingredients. The winning teams from each heat will be invited to a celebration reception in March 2011 where they will have the opportunity to showcase their culinary flair by cooking canapés for invited guests. The S Word Poster

January 23rd — Packington Moor website re-launch

All the latest news, menus and real life wedding stories are now on-line here: www.packingtonmoor-events.co.uk

January 10th — New roles at Galloping Gourmet

We are delighted to announce that Katrin Adams has been promoted to the role of Senior Events Manager at Curradine Barns effective today. Simultaneously, Penny Smith has moved to our new office at Packington Moor in order to manage our operation and set up and recruit the new on site team.

January 5th — New wedding contract announcement

We are delighted to announce the opening of our new Galloping Gourmet operation - Packington Moor near Lichfield in Staffordshire. Our office is open with immediate effect, and our first weddings take place in what is already a very busy April. Packington Moor is in a stunning rural setting yet easily accessible from the major road networks of the Midland area.

We will play our part in offering great food and drink within what is a unique venue for weddings and other events with a charming relaxed atmosphere, giving our clients the scope to plan a very individual day.

The 18th Century Oat Barn is approached through a flower filled courtyard and this leads through to the Standings and Malt Barn, the combination of which provides a variety of stunning rooms in which to entertain guests.

More exciting news on this venue to follow...

December 31st — Farewell to Xavier

Xavier Pellerin leaves us at the end of this year with our very best wishes for the future. He's spent 18 busy months at Gaynes Park and has made an enormous contribution not just to the food but to the morale of the team. We'll miss his input and we'll miss his cheerfulness. Bon courage from us all Xavier!

December 3rd — There's snow business like wedding business...

As the country grinds to a halt with its latest battering of snow, there remain very important weddings days to be enjoyed, food to be cooked and wines to be served. Our teams are coping tremendously once again in co-ordinating supplies, equipment and staff. And just as importantly everyone is keeping cheerful!

November 26th — Fine food at Rivervale

Another wonderful tasting event at Rivervale Barn hosted by Hayley, Olivia, Kris, Michal and Nick.
View more photos from the Tasting Event...

November 15th — Welcome to Nick Green

Nick is well known to Galloping Gourmet and has been assisting us in Essex over the course of the last 15 months or so; he's cooked, he's planned and he's even come in and washed up one night at very short notice! In addition to this he has known and worked alongside Gaynes Park's out-going chef Xavier for a number of years. Nick will become our new Head Chef at Gaynes Park on January 1st and until then will work with Xavier on a smooth handover of his excellent food operation. Nick has diverse experience including stints as Head Chef at 'Taste the Food' and time with Tom Aikens at 'Tom's Kitchen' in Selfridges London and we extend a warm welcome to him as he joins us full time.

November 15th — Very good news will be announced early in 2011

Watch this space!

November 11th — Galloping Gourmet tasting days

It's that time of year again when we welcome newly booked clients to enjoy a full tasting event at their venue. Our first date of the season was at Coltsford Mill today- complete with spectacular fireworks display. Our Event Manager Jan Nicholls reports: "The Coltsford Mill Open day was very well attended and the beautiful weather certainly helped to bring everyone out to the Mill. We had a great turn out also from our contractors, photographers, cakes suppliers and florists. We also had an ice sculptor who presented a beautiful swan on his stall. The delicious canapés and Buck's Fizz and Bellini's were served and all went down very well. The bride & grooms that I spoke to said they had a very enjoyable day and had gone away with many more ideas for their wedding day."

October 28th — Galloping Gourmet 2011 service manual launched

It's never satisfactory at GG to rest on laurels so we've spent a great deal of time this year closely working together at various events in different venues and reviewing best service procedures. All of our conclusions have been published today in our 2011 service manual containing comprehensive details on how best to serve a glass of wine all the way through to ensuring how best our service complements what we believe to be very special wedding food.

This has been developed over 2010 to incorporate and collate exactly how we would like the service to run at all weddings so there is consistency throughout and we know that we are running each wedding to the very highest standards. Everyone has been a great help bringing forward their own experiences and thoughts on how we can deliver the best possible service and it's been an interesting process looking at the various different ways in which we can deliver this. This is not a book on the shelf- this is how we work, what we aspire to and best of all it's a wonderful collaborative effort.

It's important that we all try and work consistently with all areas covered in the service manual in order that we can ensure that all areas are well carried out, presented and ultimately we've delivered the first class food and drink service our clients pay for and deserve.

October 7th — Hayley Baker joins us at Rivervale Barn

Hayley Baker joins us at Rivervale Barn as the Senior Event Manager. Here she is working at a wedding at Gaynes Park alongside MD Simon Robson and Angela Walter.

Hayley spent her first two weeks training with various personnel around the company in the office and shadowing at events, which has proved to be incredibly useful and helpful. Hayley reports:- "It has been a pleasure to visit our other venues and meet with the events managers. Galloping Gourmet are committed to exceed the expectations of the bridal party and their guests to create the most seamlessly perfect wedding day. What a great company to join!"

September 18th — Chris O'Neill promoted

Very many congratulations to Chris O'Neill who has just been announced as our new Head Chef at Coltsford Mill. Chris has proved to be an extremely strong member of our organisation moving around the various venues helping out and providing cover, whilst also gaining invaluable experience in a relatively short period of time; all this whilst working alongside our Group Head Chef Andy Gotting at Curradine Barns where he's obtained a thorough grounding in all food matters GG. Quite independently, he's also spent a great deal of his own time considering what he can add to the offering at Coltsford Mill and we really liked what we had to say. This represents a big step forwards for him involving, amongst many other things, relocating to Surrey. We all wish him well as he embarks on the next phase of his developing career with us.

August 25th — Frank Wilson joins our bar team

With a wide breadth of experience running pubs and hotels across the UK we're delighted to welcome Frank to our team today: "It is my pleasure to have joined a vibrant company to which I can offer my experience. I have many years of high profile positions within the catering industry and feel that the future with Galloping Gourmet and all the team is going to be a constructive and happy one."

August 10th — Katrin Adams joins us at Curradine Barns

A new addition to our front of house and event planning team joins us today: "I am very excited to be working for Galloping Gourmet. I have worked as a business manager, organised weddings and owned my restaurant in the past and this position "marries" all three. I have lived abroad for 10 years and I am now very content to settle in Worcestershire and really happy that I have found a job I know I will love so close to my home town."

July 15th — New Facilities at Wasing Park

A great venue can never stand still and the best never do. The old offices in the stunning Walled Garden at Wasing have now been converted into a beautiful one bedroom cottage for brides and grooms to retreat to as an alternative to The Stables Bridal Suite.

July 2nd — Joe Cathers in Focus

Our colleagues at Breathe have taken some great shots of Joe, Adrian and team at Wasing Park. Note not just the concentration on their faces but the incredible calm in the kitchen!

June 15th — New GG Menus Go Live

Our new Team Chef menus are now live and whilst our most popular dishes remain, there has been a significant transformation in additional content. A wide variety of stunning new canapés has been launched and a new course of locally sourced cheeses within our Premier package. Andy Gotting has been keen to ensure his contemporary vision sits comfortably with a selection of food which also appeals to the wide cross section of guests who are likely to attend a wedding. We have also taken the opportunity to update our wine list to allow for best food and drink partnerships as well as great value for money.

June 1st — Victoria Joins the Team at Gaynes Park

"Angela, Jane and the other staff members have made me feel very welcome. Previously I was a part-time Event Manager at the London Stock Exchange organising corporate events. I have always wanted to work at a local wedding venue and Gaynes Park really fits the bill - it's so beautiful. I feel very excited about the future at Gaynes Park and am looking forward to working on weddings; this is something new and very exciting for me. I am really looking forward to working with wedding parties and helping them plan their special day."

May 15th — Jaqui Joins the Team at Coltsford Mill

"Having worked for 12 years in recruitment, I am in the process of understanding that there are actually many similarities to the catering industry. I am looking forward to transferring my people and service related skills into this new and exciting job role. I feel very privileged to be working at such a stunning venue and with a great team of people who've all made me feel so very welcome right from the start. Coltsford Mill is a happy, fun and professional place to work and I am delighted to be one of the team."

May 1st — New Staff at Wasing Park

Katie Lewis joins us at Wasing today and is straight into action as we have a run of weddings taking place on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Katie reports: "I'm really excited to join Galloping Gourmet and begin working with the team at Wasing Park. The venue is fantastic and such a great location and I can't wait to get started. I've come from an events and customer service background, working in Austria, America and more recently in Reading in the education sector coordinating events for Local Authorities and schools across the UK. I wanted to make the move towards weddings and venues so when I saw this role I knew it was the right one for me."