Hairy Hot Wax Torment

Hairy Hot Wax Torment

by Genevra Fletcher

Bedruthan's head chef Adam Clark is a man of rare qualities and rare hairiness too.

It was this hirsute quality of his that made his Comic Relief commitment to have his back waxed in public all the more valiant.

But was his demonstration of bravery not bordering on Bedlam?

You decide.

Click here to witness Adam's gallantry / insanity as he subjected himself to his hairy hot wax torment.

Adam, we salute you.

Genevra Fletcher

Spring has sprung!

Tin mine near St Agnes.

Gorse bushes and a quintessential Cornish tin mine.

Man and his Man!

Common sorrel tastes like apples.

Lesser celandine, aka spring messenger!

Head chef Adam Clark enjoyed a beautiful sunny walk in St Agnes this week.

Spring has arrived in Cornwall. The landscape is beginning to burst into colour - lots of lush greens dotted with beautiful yellow flowers. Out on my walk I took in fields of daffodils, dandelions, gorse and some lovely lesser celandine. The little yellow flowers on this very common perennial herb are among the first to show in the spring. The lesser celandine is also known as the spring messenger, as it appears - without fail - in the last week of February. The flowers and leaves are edible and taste good raw in salads. Its small leaves are shaped like horseshoes or love hearts - depending on your viewpoint - and make an attractive garnish on starter dishes.

Just outside my dad’s house, I found some great patches of hairy bittercress, which is not hairy at all! Nor sharp to the taste! In fact, when young as it is at the moment hairy bittercress can be eaten whole - flower, leaf and stem - and has an excellent spicy flavour, somewhere between mustard and cress. It's lovely raw in sandwiches, great in any salad or mixed with cream cheese.

Out on my walk I found sorrel in abundance, which is very common throughout the British Isles. Sorrel has a real tang to it that reminds me of apples. Yes, it's like eating the skin on apples - quite refreshing to eat while your on a long, hot sunny walk. The leaves are great for shredding and folding into an omelette at the last moment. I have also found that a fish sorrel sauce goes very well as an accompaniment to fishcakes.

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of some bright gorse flowers growing in front of a quintessential Cornish tin mine beneath a clear blue sky. Look carefully at the photo and you will see, just above the roof, the moon still high in the sky at 2pm! Gorse flowers get quite a bit of kitchen attention at Bedruthan too. Last year, we made a great ice cream and this year we will be adding its delicate flavour - reminiscent of coconut - to other recipes too, so watch this space!

I have included for you a nice photo of the famous rock near St Agnes head called ‘Man and his Man’. If you have never done the cliff walk at St Agnes, I recommend it; the scenery is breathtaking. And hey, keep an eye out for some of the aforementioned little treasures - you might be able to collect your tea on your way home!

Well, that’s it for this week, apart from to tell you that Sous Chef Adrian has made some delicious Alexanders Vodka that you will be able to find in the bar at Bedruthan. Pop along one evening to try a Forager's Mojito and feel inspired to take a foraging walk of your own.

Food foraging around Bedruthan Steps

Three cornered garlic.

Pennywort.

Early nettles.

Alexanders by the sea.

Our head chef Adam Clark was called on recently to do a spot of moonlighting. Three of our guests were keen for a food foraging walk but our usual expert wasn't able to make it.

Adam was caught on the back foot, as he had never actually done the usual Bedruthan food foraging walk before and didn't know the route.

Luckily, he had a walk of his own that he was old friends with that shows a fairly decent bounty of our local area, and becomes a lovely stroll with great views of our beautiful cliff top surroundings.

Adam set off a little worried that it was too early to show our guests anything much of interest, as it still felt a little like winter. But with a book clutched in his hands and a bit of luck on his side, he managed to put on a pretty decent tour.

They started right outside the hotel with pennywort growing freely along our stone walls; it's a common native plant of England and flowers from May to September. The leaves can be eaten in salads. Adam always says the crisp freshness has a likeness to iceberg lettuce.

Adam noticed that the first nettles have started popping up, so that next evening he put a nettle risotto with wild garlic on the menu. The garlic was picked from the hotel grounds.

He was lulled into believing spring had sprung. The sun had been bright in the sky, he had found a bounty of sea spinach and on his walk back to the hotel found some beautiful lush green Alexanders.

"I can’t wait to get them on the menu as seaside vegetables," said Adam.

"The best thing to do with these is to trim them to pan size lengths and peel with a knife as you would rhubarb. Then you boil them in salted water for about 8 minutes until completely tender, serve with fresh ground black pepper and butter. The young leaves can be used in salads.

"Well, now I know that spring is here…..almost…it’s still a bit frosty in the mornings mind, I can look forward to getting down the valley and getting into the fresh ramsons known as wild garlic."

Adam is booked into Marcus Harrison's wild food school to educate himself further later this month, and is really looking forward to it.

Berlin here we come!

The Euro Star leaves every hour(ish) from London St Pancras for Paris and Brussels, so your guess is as good as ours as to why we decided that the 06.19hrs departure was the best option!

A little bleary eyed, we were delighted at the ease and speed of our check in – flash of a ticket, bags through a scanner, show of a passport, up an escalator, and 12 minutes later we were sat in large, comfy chairs with our small picnic breakfast unpacked.

We sedately changed trains at Brussels and Koln, the leg room and squishiness of the headrests increasing with each move.

At each change over we had time to stretch, buy coffee, lunch, European plug adapters (least we remembered before actually running out of battery) and for Suzie to do a spot of recycling - she just can’t help herself and actually rummaged through her bag to find something to place in the right, colour coded bin at Brussels Station.

We had bought a pack of cards, books and magazines to keep ourselves occupied, I think we read about 5 pages between us; there was too much distraction outside the window...

Our distractions:

• Sunrise over the frosty south east of England.
• Church spires watching protectively over surrounding houses and the French countryside.
• Weak, wintery sun creating shadows in the furrows of pale green and yellow fields.
• Claire, camera at the ready, waiting for something stereotypically French, such as a man wearing a beret and a string of onions cycling on his bike, to appear.
• Wind turbines adding movement and height to the otherwise vast and flat landscape.
• Rivers meandering, slow and steady.
• The pitched roofs of so many red brick houses being covered with solar panels.
• If honest – we did also watch the insides of our eye lids for a short while!
• The everyday-ness of life: canal boats with curls of smoke lingering on chimney pots, tractors in far off fields being chased by clouds of birds, people in towns and villages shopping for groceries, 4 railway workers having a break with sandwiches and hot drinks, 2 boys racing bikes, cars glinting in the sun waiting at level crossings as we rush on by, small children outside their school at playtime, a paraglider dipping on the thermals above an ancient hill side monument, other passengers (on their way to work? on holiday? visiting friends?) waiting at stations we whizzed through, an old man leaning on his bike watching his dog forage in a hedge row, two women walking arm in arm whiling away the afternoon, people on their balconies drinking coffee, watching us watching the world (well, France, Belgium and Germany) go by.

We arrived in Berlin on time, feeling relaxed and like the journey had gone by quickly.

Just wish we would have included a little stop over in Brussels or Koln to add to the adventure – but we can always do that next time...

The Journey Begins...

With a suitcase brimming with far too many clothes for a week and a handbag full of too many books for the journey, I felt my arms breathe a sigh of relief as my train to London came round the corner and pulled into the station.

Once settled on the train the time soon passed with views of Dawlish by the sea and the rolling countryside passing me by. There were no changes so I could comfortably sit back in my seat, cup of coffee in hand, until we arrived in Paddington.

As the train approached the ‘big city’ I felt myself wishing that the silhouette of the rooftops in the bright sunshine were the dark shadows cast by the rugged cliffs at Mawgan Porth. Then I reminded myself that the whole reason for this trip was for myself and Suzie to spread the word about two special hotels with that beautiful view of those cliffs and beach below. I was inspired with the feeling of wanting to share our not so well kept secret….it was just as well as we had to get up at 5am the next morning to get our train to Berlin.

Auf Wiedersehen Cornwall!

It is my last day in the office today before embarking on the journey to Berlin next week! My mission is to go and spread the word about our two fabulous hotels, the Scarlet and Bedruthan Steps, and tell everyone what we have to offer (I think the view is going to be a good talking point!)

Luckily I am not tackling this trip alone- Suzie Newham, our Sustainability Manager otherwise known as Queen of all things green, is coming with me. Suzie is always full of great ideas and one day when I was talking to her about going to Berlin she had a eureka moment…‘Why don’t we go by train!?’

The more we thought about it the more it felt like a great plan was about to be hatched. Instead of waiting in a brightly lit airport staring at a departures board and buying expensive perfume that we didn’t need, we could be sitting listening to the steady rhythm of a train whisking it’s way through Europe whilst watching the scenery pass us by. We were sold.

We want to try and inspire some of our German visitors that travelling to us need not be a chore, it can be an adventure as well as a little kinder to our planet. Watch this space to see how the journey goes, what we see along the way and how many German phrases Suzie can teach me before we arrive in Berlin!

Claire Invest, Marketing Manager