Following an expansion of the hotel’s Family Suites and ahead of further updates to the hotel later this year, beloved Cotswolds escape for locals and visitors alike, Calcot & Spa is delighted to unveil its new restaurant, The Brasserie, and day-to-night café lounge, The Hive.
Serving breakfast (for guests), lunch, dinner afternoon tea and Sunday lunch, The Brasserie is a bright and airy restaurant overlooking the surrounding gardens and rewilded grounds beyond, where a menu of beautifully crafted food – from stand-out dishes to cosy comforting favourites – is served in a relaxed atmosphere. Interiors and menus have been spruced to provide new & returning hotel guests and locals with a warm and welcoming space with great food and unfussy service at its heart.
Executive Chef, Richard Davies, and his team bring their extensive experience to make the very best of the freshest ingredients – sourced seasonally and locally, where possible – as well as using foraged elements from Calcot’s very own land and honey from the hotel’s apiary. Starters including Westcombe cheddar souffle with truffle cheese sauce, dressed crab, and pigs head croquette with a caper, raisin and apple gribiche sit alongside mains such as Wiltshire lamb with Janssons potato galette and Jerusalem artichoke, Cotswold white chicken with gnocchi, red cabbage and a peppercorn sauce, Cauliflower risotto with smoked beetroot and Perl Las cheese, and a grill menu. Accompanying this is a carefully curated wine list to complement casual catch ups with friends, romantic dinners, family feasting and celebrations of all kinds. Between 5 and 6pm is a special hour for Children’s Tea (for those up to age 12), providing nutritious and delicious favourites to keep little ones happy, with serene evenings ahead once small appetites have been satisfied.
A brand-new addition to the hotel is The Hive – a stylish café lounge with comfortable nooks for coffee and grazing throughout the day, turning into an ambient spot for pre-dinner cocktails and after dinner drinks as the sun goes down. Serving brunch, nibbles and grazing boards to share, afternoon tea, fine wines and a list of classic and creative Cotswold-inspired cocktails (such as a Beehive Martini, a Calcot Garden and a Rhubarb & Elderflower Crush) and mocktails, guests and visitors can sink into comfy sofas and cosset themselves in cosy corners. A place to while away a lazy afternoon unwinding with a book, a boardgame, or the perfect quiet workspace, The Hive comes abuzz with a different mood as aperitivo hour arrives, through to a final nightcap.
The renovation of The Brasserie and the launch of The Hive represents the latest in the Calcot Collection’s ongoing investment plan, ensuring that Calcot & Spa – and the collection’s other two properties, The Painswick near Stroud and the Lord Crewe Arms in Blanchland, Northumberland – continue to provide a chic escape with heartfelt service to guests and locals.
Later this year will see Calcot & Spa add a brand-new gym and fitness studio, complete with its own café, workspace, and a regular programme of classes and wellbeing talks, offering enhanced facilities and services for members and guests from January. A revitalisation of the Spa will follow, with additional treatment rooms in order to meet the continued demand for Calcot & Spa’s blissful therapies.
Executive Chairman of The Calcot Collection, Richard Ball, said:
“These additions to The Calcot Collection mark an exciting new phase in our offering to guests and locals alike. With the advent of more flexible working, we have found that the way in which our guests are using our hotels’ spaces have changed; people want the ability to switch between leisure and work time more readily, and to dine in an adaptable way that suits differing wants, needs and groups coming together for work or play. Operationally, we are working with a close-knit team that allows us to be nimble and accommodate this evolving guest demand.”
Next year, exciting expansion plans continue with additions to the room inventory at Calcot & Spa, while this summer, sister hotel The Painswick – located in the village of Painswick outside Stroud – will add a neighbouring three-bedroom cottage for guests, perfect for families and small groups. Further details will follow.
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