Shropshire Magazine

Goldstone Hall has 12 bedrooms and sits in magnificent gardens, so it’s not just a fine place to eat.

They are probably still celebrating at Goldstone Hall after winning the title of Small Hotel/Townhouse of the Year in the West Midlands at the Heart of England Excellence in Tourism Awards 2008.

That’s not bad when you consider the number of small hotels there are in the competition’s catchment area of Birmingham, the Black Country, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire.

The highly coveted awards recognise quality, innovation and dedication, so Goldstone Hall proprietor John Cushing and his team have every reason to feel pleased with themselves.

My wife Vanessa and I decided to dine there before the award was won, so I could claim that shows amazing prescience on our part. If truth be told it’s more a case of coincidence and pot luck.

It was a filthy evening with an hour-long journey in lashing rain that made visibility virtually zero. What a fillip it was as we ran across the gravel car park to see the imposing oak door open as we neared and a smiling young lady beckon us out of the rain and into a bright vestibule where a log fire crackled in a large grate. What a welcome!

Within moments we were relaxing in a sumptuous oak-panelled drawing room nursing refreshing gin-and-tonics and basking in the elegant surroundings.

Browsing

A glance at the menu set the tastebuds tingling, while browsing through the wine list was an entertaining event in itself. John Cushing knows a bit about wine and has his own particular style when it comes to passing-on that knowledge to his guests.

Of Pinot Noir he writes: “You know those old Tex Avery cartoons where the sleazy dog is sitting at a table in a wild-west town and the impossibly curvaceous singer comes on, the dog’s eyes pop out across the room, his jaw thumps to the floor and steam comes out of his ears? Wine made from the Pinot Noir can have a similar effect.”

His list of Sauvignon Blanc wines has the following prelude.

“Eeurgh! What the bloody hell is this?”

“That’s a glass of good Sauvignon Blanc.”

“Yuk! It smells like some mangy old cat just peed on a tomato bush.”

“Yeah. Wonderful, isn’t it?”

All right, he uses a stronger word than ‘peed’ but this is a family website. . .

Under Grüner Veltliner he explains: “The Austrians attempted commercial suicide by getting caught sweetening and improving the body of their wine with antifreeze. The upshot is that to survive, the proper winemakers have had to improve quality and cut prices – an opportunity for great value at the table. This is good wine.”

He prefaces Riesling with a warning: “Don’t read this bit. You might be tempted to try a bottle of good Riesling and you might get a taste for it. That’s the last thing we need because the winemakers will start charging more for it and that would be a disaster”. 

It goes on in the same vein. Vanessa even remarked that it would have made excellent light bedtime reading had we stayed the night.

Roast carrot and beetroot salad with goat’s cheese and warm sherry dressing.

Cushing has recently renovated the vaulted Goldstone cellar so that he can lay down more fine wine. He and his team have started to collect fine wines that will mature and develop over the years, but which are ready to drink now. These are included in a separate section, ‘The Private Collection’, from which we chose a bottle of Chateau Le Prada, a delicious rich, velvety Bordeaux.

Goldstone Hall has a sense of history about it – which is hardly surprising, since the first mention of the hamlet which gives the hotel its name was in 1180, when Alan de Goldestan was assessed one shilling for two acres of oats. The family name crops up several times during the 13th century, and then the family of Gouldston of Goldstone appears in the parish register. Today it is a three-star country house hotel with 12 en-suite double bedrooms. The gardens of Goldstone are a sight to behold, with some magnificent horticultural displays. That quintessential English author PG Wodehouse is reputed to have said, while sipping a Pimm’s in the shade of the celebrated acacia tree at Goldstone Hall, that Shropshire was England’s “nearest approach to Paradise”.

Goldstone also has a couple of rosettes for its culinary achievements, and Vanessa’s starter of pan-fried, hand-dived scallops were expertly cooked until just opaque, retaining all their juiciness.

My sweet-onion-and-ricotta cheesecake with fig and sage provided a complex contrast of flavours that delighted the palate.

Other starters available included carrot-and-coriander soup; salad leaves with sun-dried tomatoes, olives and feta cheese; Buttercross Farm ham hock and apricot compôte terrine, and kipper mousse with mixed olive tapenade.

In keeping with the chilly autumn evening Vanessa’s main course was a robust and rustic coq au vin with a mountain of celeriac mash.

Grilled fillet of rainbow trout with orange zest, celery salt and parsley, butternut squash and herb butter.

My cannon of lamb wrapped with chicken-and-coriander mousse, cauliflower purée and lavender sauce provided tender meat that oozed flavour.

Other choices included grilled fillet steak wrapped in bacon on toasted briôche with brandy and marsala cream sauce and caramelised onions; herb-crusted fillet of salmon with watercress and prawn casserole; ravioli of goat’s cheese, and marinated tuna with chilli and coriander.

I chose vanilla and cranberry crème brulée from a selection of desserts that also included walnut-and-apricot tart with clotted cream, and winterberry cheesecake.

Highlight

Vanessa decided against dessert in favour of cheese and biscuits, and the almost ceremonial arrival of the trolley bearing the selection was a highlight of the evening. It took two waitresses to wheel the heavy marble-slab topped vehicle to the table but their efforts were well worthwhile as its contents were excellent. My wife chose three blues from a mouthwatering array of eight cheeses. These came with a generous serving of celery, chutneys and grapes. 

We returned to the panelled splendour and comfort of the drawing room to round off our evening with coffee and petits fours.

Two courses cost £27.50 and three £34, while the wine is competitively priced. 

Chocolate mousse, with meringue, orange and passion fruit coulis.

What’s more, John Cushing doesn’t encourage customers to drink substandard stuff. He writes of “corked” wine: “This is a boring nuisance but unfortunately it happens. Basically a fungus hides in the cork at bottling and gets busy on the wines. We can’t spot it until the wine is opened and the poor wine smells fusty and is spoilt. Please, this is not a hassle. Don’t drink it or hope it will get better. Sorry, it won’t. It is terminal and has to go down the plughole. There is nothing to be done but to open another bottle. We’ll change the glasses and let’s have another go.”

That rather sums up the Cushing approach to hospitality: he wants you to enjoy your visit.

REVIEW: NEIL THOMAS

PICTURES: MIKE HAYWARD

• Goldstone Hall, Market Drayton TF9 2NA. Telephone 01630 661202. www.goldstonehall.com. Email here.