drying, like dehydrating blossoms to make wines later in the year, we have been making a lot of wine and beer to sell in the restaurant.
“We have also been playing with curing, but not that much at this point as we aren’t in a proper hygienic kitchen, we have got a proper curing cabinet downstairs being installed so we do intend to cure our own meats professionally, on a much bigger scale when we get up and running.”
The grade II listed building has been purchased by entrepreneur Andrew Wildsmith who owns two
other hotels in the area: Hipping Hall in Kirkby, Lonsdale and The Ryebeck in Bowness. The whole hotel and grounds have been going through a total transformation, turning the existing bedrooms into 18 en suites and three luxury duplex suites. The dining room has been extended to open onto a new garden terrace. Kevin has been in charge of building his dream Victorian walled kitchen garden with 60 planting beds.
He said: “It’s a brand new refurbishment so it was nice to design the kitchen from start to finish, and have it exactly how I wanted it. That opens the doors to many things like a brand new team which is larger and more capable of producing a bit more, and it seemed like a really good challenge. When starting something from new, there’s no rules put in place and you’re free to do what you want. The planting options here are endless and we plan to grow as much produce as we possibly can.
“You can install a lot of things into a hotel and do a lot of different techniques to make it stand out in that way, but when you are in the location that we’re in it’s a massive head start, we have beautiful views and great terrains so we can go out and forage.
“It’s a privilege to be working in this area, it’s not that often you can walk out of your kitchen and get the views we get.”
The Forest Side has sourced almost everything locally, from the vegetables in the Victorian kitchen garden, to the furnishings and art work. Even the tables have been up-cycled from old floorboards, and an old bandstand from the nearby Abbot Hall has been restored for outside events; even local wool has been used for the Herdwick wool beds in every bedroom.
“It’s all about supporting the people around you. For me, it’s massively important that I support the local farming community around here because it’s been a part of my childhood and it’s a part of the heritage up here in Cumbria. There’s not many places that aren’t actually farmlands and it’s important that we give them the support that they need to produce excellent quality produce for us. If you put your support into the community you’ll get it back tenfold in the quality of produce you receive.”
By Katie Pathiaki
