While Anna’s been away we have been really busy at The Langton. Today the first steam engines have visited from the Great Dorset Steam Fair to sample our selection of fine real ales.

We are thrilled to be awarded a Silver Award in the Dining Pub Category from the Taste of the West 2010. Whilst I was disappointed to be down graded from a Gold award, I do take comfort that no Gold Award was issued for our category in Dorset.

We continue to stay local; the majority of our vegetables come from our own garden (update to follow!) We make as much as is possible on the premises, from bread to soup and even ice cream. Our suppliers continue to be local… maybe we are too Dorset based? We await the judge’s comments!

To celebrate our success in the awards we will be running a special menu on the weekend of 19^th – 21^st November highlighting Dorset’s Fabulous seasonal produce. We will be posting a menu soon!

Halloween

Halloween fell at the end of half term and this year we decided to celebrate in style! The children arrived in amazing fancy dress and were rewarded with homemade toffee apples and chocolate coated apples, as well as sweeties and other treats. Kerry, Peter, Mark and Hugh from our front of house team entered into the spirit and worked in fancy dress. The magician wowed everybody as he worked the tables. Our thanks go to him, and everybody who made the effort to turn the day into such fun.

Garden Update

I have to say that I’m very proud of our vegetable garden this year, and with Brian’s hard work we have had a fairly constant supply of vegetables fresh to our kitchen and your plate! Currently we are harvesting, Butternut, Squash, Leeks, Parsnips, Turnips, Sprouts, Curly Kale, Savoy Cabbage, Celeriac and Winter Cabbage. The chefs are featuring all of this produce on our menus.

Game Season

The game season is now fully underway and the kitchen team are busy plucking! Partridge is featuring on our menu currently and Pheasant will follow.

Farming News

The maize has now been harvested for winter cattle feed and we have finished sowing for next years crops. We are still waiting for a clear T.B. test.

Taddlestones Ash Tree 

Sadly we have had to fell the big Ash Tree in the garden of our self catering holiday cottage – Taddlestones. It was getting very dangerous as it was loosing branches. Our tree surgeon has told me that it was hollow in the middle and would have become more and more dangerous as time went on. It has featured in many a wedding photograph and was a big feature of the garden.  We will of course be replacing it with another tree. For more details and how to book Taddlestones, please call us on 01258 830225 or email info@thelangtonarms.co.uk

Christmas Menu

Requests for our Christmas menu have been flooding in and our diary is beginning to fill up, so please do book quickly to avoid disappointment.

We are open as usual for lunch and dinner on New Years Eve.

If you haven’t looked at our menu’s for a while then classics such as Dorset venison & wild boar sausages can be found on our Bar menu and favourites such as our own herd ’Tarrant Valley’ sirloin steak with a Dorset Blue Vinny sauce can be found on our a la carte menu. Oh and don’t forget, we don’t charge you extra for your vegetables, in fact your welcome to ask for more at no extra cost! Before the shooting season comes to a close, this week you’ll find on our ‘Specials Board’  a pan roasted breast of local pheasant served with it’s own confit leg on a bed of spiced, braised red cabbage & roasted Charlotte potatoes.

There really is something for everyone at The Langton Arms and we guarantee you can find local, fresh produce featuring highly on our menu’s across the board. If you haven’t visited us before then take a look around our website and then give us a ring or contact us now and book a table or just pop in and read the newspaper over a pint of real ale.

Our weddings are going from strength to strength and we only have a couple of free weekends left for this year and we’re filling up very quickly for 2011! Our individually tailored wedding packages have certainly hit a high note with our prospective newly weds and we like to feel that we offer a more personal and individual wedding day than some of the larger chain hotels.

All in all 2010 looks to be another busy year at The Langton Arms and we’d love to have you on board so why not try us out! You’ve nothing to lose and we know you’ll want to come back for more!