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Restaurant Review: The Botanist Cheltenham

 

Last weekend I headed over to Cheltenham to catch up with some of my old work girls and was lucky enough to be invited to review The Botanist, one of the best restaurants in town, with my friend Steph. I had been twice before, once for lunch with my sister and once for an evening meal and drinks for my leaving do just before I went to Australia, but I was super excited to be back as I got to try out the brand new autumn menu this time! With 18 restaurants in various locations across the UK, The Botanist offers fantastic food, drink and live music in a beautiful secret garden style setting, as well as brilliant cocktail, gin and ale tasting masterclasses with crafted experts. I had wonderful evening during my visit, with the food, staff and new menu all being super impressive! Here’s what I got up to during my trip to The Botanist Cheltenham…

 

The location

The Brewery, Cheltenham

 

Situated on the corner of The Brewery, one of the newer parts of town, The Botanist Cheltenham is in a prime position to explore all that the town has to offer. There are shops, restaurants, bars, a Hollywood Bowl, a Lost Worlds Golf and a Cineworld all at the Brewery, as well as popular hotel chains Premier Inn and Holiday Inn Express being just around the corner. With both indoor and outdoor seating, The Botanist Cheltenham is in the perfect place for people watching at any time of day and is easily accessible from every part of the town, with a huge NCP car park just across the road too.

 

The restaurant

The pretty interiors at The Botanist Cheltenham

The plant wall on the right is so Instagrammable!

 

 

Decorated in signature The Botanist style, with references to botanical gardens including plant pots and flowers aplenty, the interiors at The Botanist Cheltenham are seriously dreamy. Split into two sides, there are lots of seating areas both to the right and left of the bar, with booths, bigger and smaller tables and even a private dining room for guests to use exclusively. The floor to ceiling plant wall to the left of the bar is the perfect place to capture those all important Instagram pics, and there’s enough floor space to get up dancing if the live music gets you in the mood.

 

The menu

The new autumn menu at The Botanist Cheltenham

The brand new autumn menu at The Botanist Cheltenham

Launched in mid October, the brand new autumn menu at The Botanist Cheltenham showcases a fantastic range of starters, mains, sides and desserts as well as the ever popular cocktail/drinks menu offering an eclectic range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, with most of the cocktails available as mocktails too. In addition to the main a la carte menu, which is available from lunch and dinner daily from 12noon til late (or from 10am Fri-Sun), there are also separate kids, non-gluten, breakfast and Sunday roast menus too. Serving everything from home comforts such as bangers and mash and fish and chips, to the signature Botanist pies and famous hanging kebabs, the new autumn menu has something to suit all taste buds, with mains ranging from £9.95 – £19.50. The nibbles, starters and sides start from just £2.95, with the deli board and grill section offering popular dishes including steaks, burgers, meats, fish and cheeses. Finally, the yummy dessert menu serves up mouth-watering dishes including lemon tart, cookie dough and the iconic chocolate brownie hanging kebab, the perfect end to every meal!

 

The food

Our amazing hanging kebabs

Yummy starter dishes

Excellent cocktails

 

Steph and I ordered from the brand new autumn menu and were super impressed with all of our meals. We were treated to three courses and two cocktails each so certainly made the most of trying as much as we could from the new menu! For starters I chose the garlic mushrooms on toast whilst Steph opted for calamari, both of which were delicious. For mains we chose the famous hanging kebabs, one halloumi with seasoned fries and one surf and turf with sweet potato fries, all of which were AMAZING. Finally, for dessert, we both ordered the Nutella and biscoff bread and butter pudding which was absolutely incredible and totally melted in the mouth as we ate it! During dinner we had two cocktails each; I opted for a raspberry daiquiri and a raspberry disaronno sour (which was served with dry ice in a plantpot!) whilst Steph chose a passionfruit colada and a lychee and rose martini, all of which were super scrummy and the choice of cocktails on the menu was excellent.

 

The staff

 

The entrance to The Botanist Cheltenham

 

We were so well looked after during our visit and cannot thank the fabulous staff enough for making our visit to The Botanist Cheltenham truly outstanding. Our waiting staff, Georgie and Alex, served our food and drinks promptly and were friendly, welcoming and very informative when we were had questions about some of the items on the menu. Mark, one of the managers, came over to introduce himself towards the end of our visit and asked for some feedback which I gladly gave him as we had such a fantastic time. Natalia, on front of house, was equally as welcoming and friendly and even gave me a hug as we said goodbye at the end of the night – what a lovely lady! A big thank you to all the staff who looked after us so well during our visit, we will both certainly be back very soon.

As you can probably tell, I had a wonderful evening catching up with my old work friends in a beautiful setting right in the heart of Cheltenham. The food was amazing, the cocktails were scrummy and the live music and busy bar area made for a fantastic place to spend a Saturday night. I will certainly be back to The Botanist Cheltenham next time I am in town to visit my friends, and can’t wait to enjoy many more lunches and dinners there in the future. Book your table online to ensure you don’t miss out on availability – it’s getting busier and busier now that Christmas is creeping ever closer!

NB. All my food and drinks were gifted for the purpose of this review, but all words and photos are of course my own.

Thank you to The Botanist Cheltenham for a fabulous evening!

 

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A Charming Cotswolds Retreat: Royal Afternoon Tea at Ellenborough Park, Cheltenham Spa

ellenborough park hotel

Image courtesy of www.ellenboroughpark.com

 

Last Monday I was invited to the beautiful Ellenborough Park, a five star Cotswold manor house hotel located on the outskirts of Cheltenham Spa, to review their Royal Afternoon Tea. The promotion is running until 30th June 2016 in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday celebrations and offers guests a fantastic dining experience amongst stunning settings on the original Cheltenham Racecourse estate. I attended with my sister, Hannah, who absolutely LOVES afternoon tea. I thought she would be the perfect plus one to help me with my review and, I was right, she definitely didn’t take much persuading! 😉 We had a fantastic afternoon in the most beautiful of surroundings and were suitably stuffed by the time we had finished! Here’s how we got on…

Upon arrival we were greeted by the lovely Jonathan, one of the waiters who looked after us for most of the day. We were shown to our table, or in this case, an exclusive lounge on the first floor of the dining room where we were made to feel like true VIP’s for the day. With quirky antique tables and chairs and large windows as well as a balcony overlooking the rest of the dining room, our executive lounge made the perfect place from which to enjoy our Royal Afternoon Tea.

 

Exclusive lounge for our #royalafternoontea @ellenboroughpk yesterday! 🍰☕️#Cotswolds #cheltenham #review #traveltuesday

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Shortly after we were seated, and had finished gazing in awe at our new surroundings, we were shown the menus by Jonathan and were able to select our teas. There was a wide range of teas from traditional English breakfast to raspberry, rooibos and even chocolate flavoured. We both chose the strawberry and mango infused tea which was brought to our table in a cute little teapot with cups and saucers. We then ordered the Royal Afternoon Tea for two which was brought to us promptly.

 

 

Hannah and I couldn’t believe our eyes when the afternoon tea arrived, there was literally SO. MUCH. FOOD! The menu, by executive head chef David Kelman, boasted three tiers of sumptuous goodies including sandwiches, scones, cakes and sweet treats. The bottom tier comprised of a range of sandwiches including honey roast ham with Tewkesbury mustard, smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise with cress and cucumber with tomato and spicy relish. We actually swapped the smoked salmon sandwiches for cheese and pickle ones as we aren’t huge fans of salmon but we both love our cheese! The sandwiches were perfectly cut, neatly filled and incredibly tasty.

 

The middle tier was home to freshly baked Ellenborough Park fruit scones with jam and clotted cream. The scones were fresh out the oven and were still warm so the jam and cream set on the top just nicely and were mouth-wateringly good! Finally, the top tier showcased some of the most fantastic dessert pieces I have ever seen. We were treated to meringue swans filled with fresh strawberries (they were GENIUS!) and Her Majesty’s  favourite chocolate cake with white chocolate flag which was truly scrumptious. There was also a salted caramel Tudor rose chocolate which was incredibly rich as well as Her Majesty’s passionfruit hat, a passionfruit mousse set on a biscuit base with passionfruit glaze and edible sugar flowers which was a delight!

 

Hannah and I devoured almost everything on each tier and were fit to burst by the time we had finished! We thoroughly enjoyed each and every aspect of the afternoon tea and there was no item on the menu which wasn’t expertly made or presented. The 5 star surroundings added to the luxurious atmosphere and it was certainly a dining experience to remember.

 

Can I eat all of these again please?! ☕️🍰 @ellenboroughpk #cotswolds #cheltenham #review #afternoontea

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Ellenborough Park’s Royal Afternoon Tea prides itself on reflecting “the Queen’s love of horses, decades of fashionable hats for royal engagements and guardianship of the nation’s swans.” Executive head chef David Kelman’s “celebratory afternoon tea adds a touch of regal splendour to this quintessentially British delight, served on china fit for a queen.”

With its stunning buildings and sprawling grounds, Ellenborough Park prides itself on “providing guests with the finest hotel accommodation and service in the Cotswolds.” You’ll find 60 large bedrooms and suites as well as two on-site restaurants lead by award winning executive head chef David Kelman. Facilities include an impressive Indian-themed spa and a 15m heated outdoor swimming pool  whilst other leisure activities within the hotel grounds can also be arranged.

 

Beautiful day, beautiful hotel! Thanks so much for having me @ellenboroughpk ☀️🏨 #Cotswolds #visitgreatbritain #cheltenham

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To celebrate all things British and enjoy a quintessentially English dining experience book your table at Ellenborough Park today! Royal Afternoon Tea is priced at £22pp Monday – Thursday or £25pp Friday-Sunday. An optional glass of Champagne Billecart-Salmon can be added for an extra £12pp. To book, please call the hotel directly on 01242 545454 or email [email protected]. Thank you to all at Ellenborough Park for looking after us and for giving us such a wonderful afternoon – I cannot recommend the hotel highly enough and I will certainly be back!

Love Jess x

NB. I dined with Ellenborough Park as a guest for the purpose of this review but all views are my own.

 

 

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Day Out: Cheltenham Spa

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Hi everyone,

Last week me and my best friend had an afternoon off work and were at a loss as to what to do so we headed to the nearby town of Cheltenham Spa for a lovely afternoon of shopping and lunching! Cheltenham is around an hour’s drive from Oxford and London and is a pretty Cotswolds town full of high street and designer shops, bars, cafes and restaurants so there really is something on offer for everyone! Upon arrival we headed to cafe for some lunch before hitting the shops. HMV, New Look, River Island and more are at the top of the high street and you can then work your way down towards the likes of Topshop, Boots, Monsoon and Accessorize before ending up at the large flagship Primark store.

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Regents Arcade and are two of the indoor shopping centres which arent to be missed as they are home to a number of independent boutique shops as well as large well known chains such as Debenhams and TK Maxx. Don’t forget to be inside Regents Arcade on the hour to watch the famous bubble clock chime! This brought back many childhood memories for me and my friend as we’ve been going there since we were little!

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Down on The Promenade is where you’ll find the designer and higher end stores such as Jack Wills, FCUK and LK Bennett. The Prom is situated on a long street leading back up to the town centre and is really beautiful especially in the summer sunshine! I’d recommend heading to Cheltenham Spa for an alternative day out to the busier cities of Oxford and London- you’ll thoroughly enjoy being away from the hustle and bustle but there will be plenty of things to keep you and the whole family entertained!

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this post – I’ve got a special birthday announcement coming soon as my blog turns one in a couple of weeks time!

Love Jess x

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