The 2017 Taste Cumbria Food Festival in Ulverston launched with an ultra-exclusive event which literally took fine dining to new heights in a ‘pop-up’ restaurant created in the Sir John Barrow monument on the top of Hoad Hill.
The event was organised in conjunction with Wildsmith Hotels in Cumbria which brought a team of Michelin-starred chefs to prepare a feast of food, sourced from the county.
The VIP guests included the new Mayor of Ulverston Councillor Paul Smith, Managing Director of Marl International Adrian Rawlinson, GlaxoSmithKline Site Director Phil Wilson, and Chris Blade, Managing Director of Cumbria Crystal, along with specialist food writers and journalists.
The guests enjoyed a tour of Cumbria Crystal and tried their hand at cutting designs in glassware before boarding open-topped 4×4 transport for the trip up to the 100-foot tall replica of the Eddystone Lighthouse which had been transformed by the team from Forestside in Gransmere, one of the Wildsmith Hotels.
The aim was to showcase Ulverston and the annual food festival, and the venue gave the guests the opportunity to enjoy spectacular views over Morecambe Bay and the Furness Peninsula in glorious sunshine before settling down to their exotic treats which included pig’s tail, special breads with hay and celeriac butter, and seaweed broth!
Greg Stephenson, Marketing Manager for Wildsmith Hotels said: “The Monument made a fantastic setting in which to enjoy some wonderful food which demonstrated just why Cumbria is the best larder in the country.”
Rachel Oakden, editor of Taste Cumbria Magazine declared it a ‘magical event’: “The food was fantastic and so was the setting. To look up and see the inside of the tower, with the glass baubles and floral displays which had been brought in was just breathtaking.”
Chris Blade from Cumbria Crystal said: “It was a stunning evening, enhanced of course by being greeted at the Hoad with champagne served in our own Cumbria Crystal glasses, before an exquisite meal.”
Clerk to Ulverston Town Council Jayne Kendall added: “The monument is as signature image for Ulverston and we were eager to take up the ‘pop-up’ idea, with our volunteers working alongside the restaurant team to enable Hoad to fulfil its temporary role as a very high class dining venue.
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