Billy Whiz Keeps Younger Guests Giggling

Billy Whiz is one of our favourite children's entertainers here at the hotel. He and his naughty rabbit Dusty are often to be found chasing each other round the ballroom here at Bedruthan and keeping our younger guests giggling.

Watch him in action here.

Get in step with Nordic Walking

For me, Nordic walking has always conjured up images of healthy, Scandinavian outdoorsy types trekking across Alpine backdrops beneath brilliant blue skies.

Take the coastal path around Mawgan Porth and there may not be a snowy mountain range in sight, but you are still likely to come across clusters of Nordic walkers - wielding their trademark poles with aplomb.

This is down to Bedruthan Steps and the Scarlet hotels, perched on the cliff top above Mawgan Porth Beach, which run free taster sessions for their guests.

These glowing individuals are not, as I once thought, strange people with poles pretending to ski without snow. Oh no, they are enjoying all the benefits of a gym workout, but in the great outdoors – and managing to carry on a conversation while they do it.

So what is the difference between Nordic walking and normal walking? Can you really Nordic walk in England, and why would you want to do it anyway?

For starters, Nordic walking is a fun, sociable, efficient and low impact way to work on your fitness or lose weight.

Kate Weaving, of Walk Fit Cornwall, runs the free sessions for the Scarlet and Bedruthan Steps. She originally got into Nordic walking after trouble with her knees ruled out running.

After reading about the sport in a magazine, she signed up for a course in London and spent three days on Hampstead Heath learning all about the technique and its benefits.

“It was really good fun, I loved it and got into the rhythm of Nordic walking really quickly,” she says. “It’s a great hobby.”

She has been a committed Nordic walker ever since and is now a qualified instructor and member of the International Nordic Walking Federation.

The biggest difference between walking and Nordic walking is that you use carbon poles to propel you along, extending your stride and using a greater percentage of your muscles than when you walk normally.

The technique is a simple enhancement of normal arm swing when walking. It also works like cross training in the gym, working your upper and lower body.

Better than the gym, though, Nordic walking takes place outside and can be as sociable as you want it to be.

“What’s so great about Nordic walking around the Scarlet and Bedruthan is the sensational views,” says Kate.

“You can’t beat them. The beach is the best surface I’ve found for teaching people the techniques. It’s a perfect terrain.

“You’ve also got coastal paths and hills to vary the ground. It’s ideal territory.”

Like normal walking, people of all fitness levels, including pregnant women, can Nordic walk, but the health benefits are much greater.

A study by the University of Brighton in East Sussex has shown that, among healthy people aged 60 and over, the amount of energy used and the heart rate level were on average 40% higher when Nordic walking compared to walking naturally*.

Individuals with differing abilities and fitness levels can all exercise in the same group allowing people to walk together and talk at the same time.

As you use your legs, arms, shoulders and chest/back muscles when Nordic walking, up to 90% of the body’s muscles are actively working**.

On average, you will, therefore, expend 20% more calories than when naturally walking at the same walking speed**.

Moreover, it can actually feel easier and less tiring Nordic walking than natural walking**. This is because, although you are using more muscles and doing more exercise, the effort is spread across the whole body.

What do you need to Nordic walk? You don’t have to buy lots of fancy or expensive equipment, just trainers or walking shoes.

Kate provides adjustable poles for her groups. Gloves are also a good idea, especially in cold weather. If you layer up in cold weather, you can remove windbreakers and sweatshirts as you warm up.

Kate takes groups of up to eight out for 45 minutes to an hour for taster sessions and, depending on your energy levels that day, will take you up the coastal path or show you some resistance exercises using the poles.

The walks are free to Scarlet and Bedruthan Steps Hotel guests – just sign up at reception. Private lessons are also available on request.


Genevra Fletcher

International Nordic Walking Federation UK

Walk Fit Cornwall


* Nordic Walking for Healthy Hearts
** Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 73 (3), 296-300. September 2002

Don't forget to pack your conscience!

Responsible tourism - once dismissed as a little, well, drab - has ditched its old reputation as a holiday choice of dullness and self-denial and is taking off as a global trend.

Operators, destinations and industry organisations in the UK, United States, South Africa, the Gambia, India and Sri Lanka are already practicing responsible tourism and the list is growing, with offerings becoming more diverse and flexible.

“It’s a bit like when the organic food movement started and all you could get was an odd-looking carrot,” says Justin Francis, co-founder of web-based travel agent Responsible Travel. “There are choices now. Whatever you want to do, and whatever your budget, there’s nearly always an alternative holiday that has been thoughtfully created.”

Recognising the global significance of Responsible Tourism is World Travel Market (WTM), one of the world’s largest travel exhibitions. WTM has created World Responsible Tourism Day and the Responsible Tourism Awards, to be celebrated annually during November to recognise hotels, resorts and operators who conduct themselves with care and consideration.

All of us who work at Bedruthan are feeling proud this week that the hotel has been highly commended in the awards. Our special mention is in the category of Best Accommodation for the Environment. We can honestly say that, 50 years ago when the hotel opened, we were doing our utmost to operate in a way that respected and enhanced our local community and environment. We have also understood from the beginning that it is possible to create an experience for our guests that is both luxurious and sustainable. Being a responsible hotel does not mean forcing our guests to wear hair shirts and eat lentils, unless of course, they want to.

So what exactly is responsible tourism?

According to the Wikipedia, responsible tourism is tourism ‘that creates better places for people to live in, and better places to visit’.

The 2002 Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations defines responsible tourism as tourism that:

• minimises negative economic, environmental and social impacts
• generates greater economic benefits for local people and enhances the well being of host communities
• improves working conditions and access to the industry
• involves local people in decisions that affect their lives and life chances
• makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage embracing diversity
• provides more enjoyable experiences for tourists through more meaningful connections with local people, and a greater understanding of local cultural, social and environmental issues
• provides access for physically challenged people

• is culturally sensitive, encourages respect between tourists and hosts, and builds local pride and confidence.

Pumpkin Pie

If the thought of making pumpkin pie spooks you a bit, try our executive chef Adam Clark's easy Pumpkin Pie recipe for a healthy Halloween or Harvest celebration treat.

Ingredients

1 Medium Pumpkin or 350 ml cooked flesh
7 oz Soft Brown Sugar
4 Eggs lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Grated Nutmeg
1 tsp Ground Ginger
175 ml Double Cream
3 tbsp Brandy or Cognac

Method

1. Bake the pumpkin in a roasting tin, flesh side down and skin side up, for 1 hour at 160 degrees.
2. Sieve the flesh and measure out 350 ml
3. Whisk sugar, eggs, spices until dissolved
4. Add pumpkin then cream
5. Stir and add brandy, then pour into a blind baked sweet pastry case
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes until firm

If you go down to the woods today...Chef Adam found a few surprises

A sinister Yellow Stainer

Bay Boletes, Weeping Boletes, Dark Cap Cep, Slippery Jacks and Saffron Milk Caps and a few Woodland Puffballs

Field Mushrooms found on the roof of Cafe Indigo

Bay Boletes

Fly Agaric - the fairy tale mushroom

If you go down in the woods today... you're sure of a surprise or two.

Autumn tends to be all about mushrooms and our executive head chef Adam Clark has certainly found plenty on his woodland foraging trips. Adam has been keeping his eyes down on the look out for all manner of interesting fungi and found the edible, poisonous and hallucinogenic variety.

"I absolutely don’t claim to know everything there is to know about mushrooms," says Adam. "So it's been an educational experience and one we've approached with much caution. We only taste once we have had a positive identification.

"Even Michael, our food and beverage manager, has popped in on his days off with some very exciting findings.

"On Tuesday he came in with some great Shaggy Parasols that looked like drumsticks. We knew these guys, and were happy to try them, as they had been recommended to me.

"I was told to stuff these with some bacon, get them bread crumbed and fry… delicious.

"On Wednesday Michael turned up with another basket full of mushrooms, this time more sinister. They were Yellow Stainers. They look just like field mushrooms, which is why they are the single most common cause of mushroom poisoning in Britain, the stalks are slightly longer though and when broken an intense yellowing appears.

"Steer well clear of these."

Adam has found some rich pickings in the fields and woods near where he lives. He's harvested and soundly identified lots of different varieties including Bay Bolete and Weeping Bolete, Dark Cap Cep, Slippery Jacks and Saffron Milk Caps, a few Woodland Puffballs as well as a couple of Field ones.

He will serve these dried and reconstituted in a consomme soup. "By the way," he adds to anyone thinking of doing a little mushroom hunting of their own, "the Weeping Bolete and Slippery Jack have a mildly poisonous skin which peel, or it may work as a laxative on you!"

Adam has even found the famous Fly Agaric - the fairy tale mushroom with its bright red hood covered in white, moveable spots. "Beautiful, magical," he says "and not seriously poisonous, but should definitely be avoided. If you want to know why…look them up in a mushroom book. I highly recommend the River Cottage Handbook No.1 by John Wright."

"I only had one iffy moment when my dog Slinky wouldn’t return when I called him in the woods. I hauled myself through the trees and bushes only to find him barking at a huge dead badger which couldn’t of been dead for long. I did have a heart in mouth moment of what kind of body he had found!"

Our executive chef Adam Clark gave a bravura performance at this year's Cornwall Food & Drink Festival.

Adam gave a cooking demo at the festival, demonstrating how to make Gunnard Steamed on a Bed of Bladderwrack with Wild Mussels, Sauce Vierge and Organic Marrow with Bacon and Herbs.

The marquee was packed with keen cooks eager to hear more about how to make the most of Cornwall's native ingredients.

Sally Jamieson, who came to Cornwall from Devon especially for the festival, said: "I loved Adam's demonstration, he was so down to earth. When he first told us what he was going to cook, I was a bit intimidated. What do you do with seaweed? But he made it all seem so easy and manageable. I am definitely going to collect some seaweed while we're here and have a go at making it."

Adam's passion for local, seasonal produce means he is often to be found wild food foraging the cliff top and shoreline below the hotel. He regularly rustles his way along hedgerows and through bushes, treetops and rock pools looking for inspiration.

His use of wild ingredients including gorse, ramsons, rock samphire, sea beet and sea vegetables lifts his menus above the usual humdrum hotel fayre.

“I’m always on the look-out, poking through hedgerows,” he says. “Nature tells you what ingredients make good bedfellows for a dish."

Adam takes enormous pride in preparing dishes using a wide range of quality Cornish produce.

Adam’s tip: “Experiment with foraged ingredients. When you are out and about, walking the dog say, open your eyes and see what’s cropping up.
“If you come across blackberries and crab apples, grab a recipe book and experiment. A blackberry and apple jelly works really well.

“Don’t peel or deseed the apples, just chop them roughly and cook them until tender. They are packed with pectin, which is great for jams and jellies.”

A wonderful wedding that didn’t cost the earth

The words ‘green wedding’ can conjure up visions of a bare foot bride in a hemp sack banqueting on brown rice.

Not so at Bedruthan Steps. The hotel takes great pleasure in hosting weddings, and great pride in ensuring that sustainable does not mean drab, over-priced or lacking in luxury.

Bedruthan was witness to a beautiful wedding here last month that was as stylish, fun and eco-conscious as the couple getting married.

Chrissie and Jonno Page live in Newquay and have a quintessentially Cornish ‘how we met’ story. Jonno, a chef and surf instructor on Tolcarne Beach, asked Chrissie out after coming to her rescue when her nose came into closer contact with her board than is usually advised.

A few years later when they decided to marry, the couple knew they wanted a sustainable wedding. For Bedruthan, that meant working with them to create a celebration that reflected their personalities and respected their budget, the environment and the comfort and enjoyment of their guests.

The couple are surfers, so the environment matters to them as much as it does to us. From 100% biodegradable sheep poo paper invitations to borrowing and returning shells from the beach for their table decorations, this couple wanted to celebrate without impacting negatively on the environment.

And they did. The menu was carefully chosen to be as sustainable as possible - all our ingredients are sourced as locally as possible and in line with our responsible purchasing policy.

Chrissie’s mum’s family is French, so instead of the usual dessert, our chef surprised her with a croquembouche, a stunning French cake made of a pyramid of profiteroles.

Transport is usually the biggest factor in a wedding's carbon footprint, but our eco-hero and heroine chose the most sustainable mode of transport around. Guests staying in Newquay were ferried to and from the wedding using a Bio Travel mini bus, which meant a smaller carbon footprint and fewer cars on the road.

Chrissie said: “Where do we start to thank you?
“Our day was perfect. We had the most wonderful time.
“The venue looked beautiful, the food was simply out of this world and chef's croquembouche actually reduced me, my mum and my entire French family to tears (and then set off the next table too).
“It was magnificent.
“To the French, it is such a tradition, and they were so honoured to have the cake, but none of us were expecting something so stunning and intricate, it really made the day.
“People are still talking about the food now. It was a hugely important part of our day and chef exceeded all our expectations.”

Congratulations Chrissie and Jonno. We are so pleased your day was perfect and wish you many more perfect days together.