Brampton Grange - Create your own fairy tale

Hello chaps! 

I’ve been travelling this summer but the lure of an appointment with the sheer loveliness of Brampton Grange was more than enough to bring me back home.

The chaps at Brampton Grange (http://bramptongrange.co.uk/) really are sitting on a hidden Northamptonshire jewel. You could be forgiven for driving right by, if you didn’t know the delights that awaited you on the other side of those automatic gates: 25 acres of beautiful Northamptonshire countryside, once part of the Althorpe Estate is now an elegant and inviting venue, befitting of the most note worth wedding, or indeed corporate event.

Brampton Grange is unlike any other wedding venue I have come across. It’s small but experienced and dedicated team are more flexible than an Olympic gymnast and are on hand to make your wedding truly ‘yours’. There is no set formula here, to be strictly adhered to like so many other venues. On the contrary, brides and grooms to be are encouraged to settle in, make it home and create a fairy tale – their way.

Hot on the tails of MJOFOTO’s Food and Commercial photographers, I made a beeline straight for the kitchen and was thrilled to find that the catering at Brampton Grange is probably a couple of notches above ‘top’. The chaps in the kitchen offer a standard menu and a bespoke menu –of course, I was more than willing to try both, but it’s the bespoke that really caught my eye.  Well, it would, wouldn’t it!

Starter

Pork and caramelised onion ballotine, with home-made pickles, carrot ketchup and crispy berries.

Main Course

Sirloin steak, accompanied by wild mushroom stroganoff and potato croquette

Dessert

Peanut butter mousse with shortbread crumb, white chocolate and mango shards

If that isn’t enough to make a chap want to get married, I don’t know what is… but in the absence of a bride and being a gentleman in possession of the finest taste around, I am considering hiring out the top notch, eight bed-roomed country house accommodation and having the chef on hand, simply for the weekend. I may even invite a few pals and make something of a party of it around the outdoor pool…

Tally ho chaps!

Mojo

www.mjofoto.co.uk

Sauls - The Diamond of Spratton

Hello chaps!

I took a couple of the guys from MJOFOTO Food and Commercial Photography to meet the chaps at Sauls of Spratton recently.

Between you and me, it was my way of giving them a little nudge to provide better quality staff meals. I’m hopeful that it may have worked if the looks on their faces were anything to go by.

We photographed a small selection of the local produce on offer in the village butchers, and the chaps were kind enough to give us a few things to try. The first thing I noticed, was the distinct lack of air. 

Do you know what I mean? Let me elaborate. You know, when your butler has been skiving and has simply visited the nearest food retailing establishment to purchase your lunch? And you know, when you bite into that sausage roll for example, it goes; pastry, (normally dry and sticks to the roof of your mouth) AIR, very small bit of sausage type meat? Are you with me?

Now, what would you say if I told you that no such thing exists in Sauls? I’ll elaborate once more. Flaky, golden pastry followed immediately by a well seasoned hunk of locally produced delicious sausage meat. Do you see what I mean? No air!

The diamond pie, which of course I may have tried before since Sauls did supply the Queen with one, (slightly bigger than the one we sampled, granted) is no ordinary pork pie chaps. This is a little pot of deliciousness encased in golden pastry with a chicken and meat filling that is simply to die for. I don’t mind telling you that I’ve never been over keen on the run of the mill pork pies. Sticky pastry, a mountain of jelly, AIR, small cube of pork – no, not for me I’m afraid. The diamond pie was not without the jelly, however it was minimal and again, without the un necessary addition of the free air! I have already ordered another. It was that good!

If you are currently between butlers, fear not, as Sauls have a website and a shop facility including free local delivery at www.saulsofspratton.co.uk  

I can’t promise there will be any pie left by then, mind you.

Tally ho chaps!

Mojo.

www.mjofoto.co.uk