Excitement swept over the Maunsel House Team as we saw ourselves on National Television last week.  Back in January ITV and their film crew descended on Maunsel to film a new series called The Country House Cooking Contest with John Burton-Race and at 4.00pm everyday last week the results of all that filming were broadcast for the whole Nation to see. 

 

Sir Ben & Kirsty looked wonderful and gave their opinion on the food with great gusto and if you looked really carefully at Wednesday's episode you would have been able to see lots of the Maunsel staff enjoying the drinks party & eating lots of canapes! 

 

The house itself looked magnificent in all the snow and there were some fantastic shots of our new catering kitchen. 

 

You can still see the programme on the ITV Player at itvplayer.com but in the meantime I have put up some pics of the behind the scenes action. 

 

 

 Swing into spring with an 'Easter Egg Hunt' and the start of the 'Cream Tea' season.

 

For the children there is the egg hunt, lawn games, colouring competition, egg decorating and lots of space for them to get rid of all that excitement.

 

And for the grown ups, homemade cream teas, cakes and an open bar and a raffle to win more easter goodies.

I want you to close your eyes because I'm going to take you on a journey of romance and love.....

The light s are low, the fire dancing with passion, tables for two are covered with rose petals and floating tea light candles, sitting opposite the one that you love, and romantic songs playing quietly in the back ground. The champagne is sparkling whilst the candle light reflects off the glasses and adds to the sparkle in your eyes.

 

Dinning on sumptous delights and finishing up with handmade chocolate nibbles. And then.......

the romance is done the band comes on to add some fun to the evening. After dancing the night away you know you have an exquiste four poster bed to retire in to complete the night. ( more hand made choccy nibbles on the pillows )

 

In the morning you hear a gentle knock on the door, to be informed that breakfast is outside the door. On the tray is a rose and two glasses of bucks fizz to celebrate your love for each other, whilst giggling and playing through breakfast.

 

Well now you can come back to reality and remember this for next Valentine because this wonderful evening was only £190.00 per couple.

 

Everyone who attended has asked to be informed before anyone else, because they had such a lovely time.

 

 

ITV arrived on 9th January to start filming a pilot series called Country House Cooking Challenge.  Celebrity chef John Burton Race (you know....the one who went into the jungle in 2008), hosts the show where amature chefs have to 'cook up a storm' and at the end of each day someone gets the sack!

 

Kirsty and Ben were filmed every day sampling delicious dishes and giving there comments on who they thought had competently cooked and who had a culinary catastrophe. 

 

A lot of the staff got to be involved with various aspects with most of us attending a drinks reception with canapes ...... I tell you .... what we don't know about canapes now is just not worth knowing!!

 

The filming lasted a week and is scheduled to go out on terrestrial television on Monday 15th March at 3.00pm - Thursday 18th March so set your generic recording devices and catch us all being food critics!

 

We loved having the film crew here and we're very much looking forward to seeing Maunsel House on the telly!!

A huge welcome to Tracy & Steph who join the Maunsel Team. 

 

Tracy is our Outdoor Events Co-Ordinator, so watch this space for some amazing things to come!

 

Steph joins Kirsty & Pippa as our 3rd Wedding Planner. 

 

We have another new arrival to join us shortly........Pippa is having her 2nd baby who will arrive (fingers crossed) on 16th July!

Well, I don't think I know anyone that wasn't affected by the snow and Maunsel House was no exception. 

 

Poor Ben & Kirsty were all on their own for one day when none of the staff could get in to work, but in true Maunsel style we all pulled together, dug ourselves out and carried on with the show!!

 

The house looked beautiful covered in snow, and the inside was just as spectacular with all the fires roaring away and the candles lit!

The Old Corn Mill is the newest cottage to join our other estate cottages.  We now have a total of 3 cottages sleeping a maximum of 22, so this means that a grand total of 48 guests can now stay on the estate (26 in the main house & 22 in the cottages).

 

Take a look at the Holiday Cottage section of the website to see detail of Mill Cottage, Dairy Mead Lodge and The Old Corn Mill. 

Don't let the credit crunch affect you and your wedding!

 

Here at Maunsel we realise the credit crunch maybe affecting your wedding plans and we hate the thought of anyone making cut backs on their special day. So we have come up with some amazing prices and deals to suite all. Contact us for more information.

All the team at Maunsel had a very lovely Christmas!

 

For some we had a lovely break spending the time with friends & loved ones, and for others it was all go with a private House Hire followed by a New Years Eve wedding. 

 

The House Party fell in love with the house and did not want to leave .... In fact they have already booked for Christmas 2011!!

 

The New Year wedding was a great success.  The happy couple partied well into the New Year and all the staff that worked raved about what a fantastic wedding it was. 

Ben & Kirsty were invited to London to watch Issac Slade (a relative of Sir Ben) play with his band The Fray at the Royal Albert Hall in October. 

 

They went out to dinner first at this fabulous Japanese restaurant in Knightsbridge where Kirsty ate something that she had no idea what it was but said it was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten!!  Ben & Kirsty were then taken to the band's private box where they watched The Fray perform some fantastic music.  It was then off to the after party which ended at some point during the wee small hours of the night (or should that be morning?)

 

Hopefully Issac will come & visit us all again soon.