The Malvern Hills Hotel And Restaurants

New book all about the hotel

2011-10-06T00:39:00.000-07:00

A good friend of the hotel Amanda Simons has kindly written a new book about the history of British camp including of course an extensive history of the hotel. We have copies at reception so pop by and have a look.

old british camp hotel brochure

2011-02-03T05:09:00.000-08:00

Lots of people have asked me when the brochures from, well it does not have a date in it. However it does state that a Mr W Parrish was the proprietor at the time which puts the brochure somewhere between 1937 and the start of the second world war, when the hotel was requisitioned for military use.

Beer Mats

2011-01-25T10:50:00.000-08:00

I know its January, i know its cold but iv got something for you to come out of your houses for. We have had our own beer mats printed. There here to celebrate our new bar refit see the post below for more details.

This is the one side however the other side will feature one of four different designs, collect them all to get the big picture. I'm not sure how long well have them on the tables, so you better come and get your quick before they all get permanently borrowed.

Completed refurbishment

2011-01-25T10:33:00.000-08:00

Well its been a hectic week here at The Malvern Hills Hotel. We have completely refitted our back bar and completed a new floor in the kitchens, they both look great. Iv uploaded a quick picture of our new back bar using Alex as a model.

As you can see its super shiny, we've got new light, a new bar and of course a new back fitting. There is still lots of work to do but ill try to get some more pictures on the hotel main gallery over the next week.

Malvern Hills Hotel Bar Refurbishment

2010-12-30T04:01:00.000-08:00

We will be closed on Monday 17th, Tuesday 18th and Wednesday the 19th for a back bar refit and kitchen refurbishment.

Ill be posting pictures on the blog during the week showing how we get on.

No were not going that modern. you will just have to come back and see us on Thursday 20th January to find out how we got on.

Festive season highlights

2010-12-29T11:52:00.000-08:00

This year its been Cold

Warm and festive inside at least

Malvern Hills Hotel Festive Menu

2010-10-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

With a choice of The Vu Retaurant for small intimate dining or the Dining Room, for larger groups there is somthing for evry one this Christmas

Click on the link below to download the PDF

Festive Menu

Roof shots

2010-02-14T12:07:00.000-08:00

For the first time in ages the weather was good today this is a picture of my excellent barman tom. He did not want picture taken. So if you see him at work don't mention it.

Here is the same view without tom, I think its better.
For those of you who who are wondering where we are were on the roof above the Vu restaurant.

Malvern St James careers day

2010-02-09T07:49:00.000-08:00

Recently we were asked to host a stall at a local careers fair, instilling the virtues of the hospitality industry on today's youth. Of course we accepted and I thought it would be a good idea to put some hospitality based resources on the site, for people to use.

Characteristics of a good hotel manager
Sizing up people is not an easy task, nor is trying to describe the 'typical' characteristics of a hotel manager. However the good ones tend to be charismatic, hard-working, independent (also good at teamwork, might sound like a contradiction but its not) and achievement driven.

Hotel managers tend to come from to distinct categories firstly those who come up through the ranks, perhaps starting as a humble kitchen porter and then in latter life working their way up to Hotel owner. Secondly professionals usually based in business finance or business management, often buy themselves into the role making up the lack of on the job knowledge with good business acumen.

There is of course a third path, with Hotels having a large social cache often the rich and powerful buy and then use a status symbol. (See The Clarence Dublin)

Hospitality magazine's
To find out more about hospitality career paths please take a look at one of these fine publications.

Hotel and Caterer magazine's own website, first for jobs and gossip on the hospitality industry. Also the magazine is stocked at most shops well worth getting.
www.caterersearch.com

The Publican's website, first for big brewery news. Tends to be used by brewery's to advertise so id take the content with a pinch of salt. Again available at all good news agents.
www.thepublican.com

The Morning Advertiser's website, very similar to the publican, however it does tend to have a lot more coverage of business for sale.
www.morningadvertiser.co.uk

More helecopter shots of the hotel

2010-02-06T05:12:00.000-08:00

Finally got round to sorting out the winter shots!

This one shows the hotel as a winter wonder land, the snow was about 10 inches deep as you can see.

The roads were terrible however thanks to our next door neighbours the Potts, we managed to get the front of the carpark cleared with some orange snow shovels.

The Worcestershire beacon had snow on it for nearly three weeks, it was cold & very icy. Lots of walkers still made it to the top, some of them even had a go at sliding down.

Valentines day menu

2010-01-28T04:17:00.000-08:00

Don't leave it to late to book for our valentines weekend whether its a meal, champagne, or a room remember we have got you covered.

This year the chef's gone all out to make sure that the menu is just right with a three course meal from twenty five pounds per person your sure to impress that special someone. The menu is available Friday the 12th Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th alongside our already excellent al a carte menu.

Feel free to download our Valentines menu below

Valentines Menu PDF

Helicopter shots of the British camp

2010-01-28T03:30:00.001-08:00

As you all know a couple of weeks ago it snowed and we were lucky enough to have a helicopter do a flyover of the camp, getting some great shots. They are not all ready for general consumption yet however I thought id give you a chance to see some of what’s to come.

Blog goes live on website!!

2010-01-27T02:52:00.000-08:00

Finally got a link from the hotel website to the blog today. Hopfully more of you will be able to find us now!!

Times Walks: The Malvern Hills

2009-09-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

On saturday the 19th of september Christopher Somerville, renowned country walks righter published an excellent walk in the Times, including the hotel as a starting and finishing point.

Please click the link to down load a PDF of the walk

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00577/walking_guide_wk4_0_577385a.pdf

Or to read his complete article on line at

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/walks/article6838630.ece

British Camp Tombstone

2009-03-20T04:55:00.000-07:00

I had a wonder over the road this morning with Whiskey and took a few pictures of the base of British Camp. This one is of a tombstone giving an explanation of the hillfort. As we can see the it tells us that the hill is 1115ft tall in my humble opinion tall enough to be a mountain!

Part of the text upon the tombstone reads thusly

One of the finest earthworks in Britain, built around the second century b.c. later enlarged and altered before the roman conquest it dominates the vicinity and commands magnificent panoramic views.

Please click on the image for a bigger readable shot

Whiskey The Dog

2009-03-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

Always ready to welcome you at reception, Whiskey our resident dog/head of security.

We don't know Whiskey's exact age but it is believed that he is about ten years old. He has been working in reception with George and Karen for about five years now and has a wealth of experience in small functions and the dog treats usually located in Georges pocket.

The Malvern Hills Brewery

2009-03-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

No trip to the Malvern Hills Hotel would be complete without a hardy sampling of one of our local brews from the Malvern Hills Brewery. At the moment we are serving Black Pear ABV 4.4% VOL. A premium beer, golden in colour with a combination of hops giving a pleasant bitter finish.

Malvern Hills Brewery (affectionately known as MHB) was established in an old quarryman’s gunpowder store back in September, 1998. Brewer and owner, Julian Hawthornthwaite, is proud to craft imaginative and distinctive beers using hops sourced from a local hop merchant. For more information on MHB beers please feel free to visit their website at http://www.malvernhillsbrewery.co.uk/

Post cards from the past

2009-03-18T13:36:00.001-07:00

There have been lots of postcards of the hotel over the years and this is one of the earliest. Its interesting to see that the hills back then had far fewer trees, giving a much more defined outline.
Infact the name ‘Malvern’ is derived from the Celtic term for ‘bare hill’

You can clearly see the quarry next door and the gate house where the famous singer Jenny Lind once stayed.

There is no date on the card but judging by the level of development we can see that its from the turn of the century.

We have some nice framed examples of old British Camp postcards in the Vue restaurant. Also if your really interested you can ask at reception and i'll show you our full collection of over 60 different postcards from all periods of the hotels history.

We still sell postcards of the hotel today although I don't think they are as interesting as these old shots, I may get some reprinted if there's a market.

Brazilian Rotary Swap

2009-03-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

Colwall Rotary club usually meet here on a Thursday night at 7:30pm. However, this Sunday lunchtime, they arrived for a splendid two course meal with some of their Brazilian counterparts, who are taking part in a rotary scheme to see how people from similar industries operate in different parts of the world. Later on this year four members of our own comunity will ge the chance to visit Brazil in return.

The meal was a fantastic success and everyone had a great time. To find out more about our Rotary's activities please feel free to join them on a Thursday night here at the hotel or feel free to visit their website at http://www.colwallrotary.org.uk/

The history of British Camp

2009-03-04T09:12:00.000-08:00

The Malvern Hills Hotel sits at the base of British Camp, customers sometimes ask me about the fort so here is a quick post giving some facts.

The British Camp is an Iron Age hill fort located at the top of Herefordshire Beacon in the Malvern Hills. The site is thought to date back before the Common Era and has been extended subsequently by a medieval castle.
What remains of the fort suggests that it was constructed to a classic mot and bailey construction.
There is no evidence about whether the coming of the Romans ended the prehistoric use of the British Camp, but folklore states that the ancient British chieftain Caractacus made his last stand here.
On a clear day you can see upto 14 counties from the top of british camp (Please don't ask me to name them).

The extensive earthworks remain clearly visible today and determine the shape of the hill. As a reminder of its former glory.

Let the show season start again

2009-03-02T15:21:00.000-08:00

Every year people pop in the hotel and ask me when is the spring show well as we can see above it starts on the 7th of May.

On a smaller scale but closer date the Malvern Showground's next show is Country Tastic, introducing food farming and the countryside this Easter its the perfect event to keep the children happy in the school holidays.

For more information please feel free to contact the showground on 01684 584900 or you can take a look at there website at http://www.threecounties.co.uk/

Incidentally The Malvern Showground is located less than three miles from the hotel, just down the hill.

Malvern Walking Festival

2009-02-27T06:07:00.000-08:00

Suddenly spring is in the air, Snow one week to unseasonably good weather the next. Any way here a quick post to tell you all about the Malvern Walking Festival which takes place between 30th may and 7th June, this is a public guided walk along the full 109 miles of Geopark Way. The British Camp car park opposite the Malvern Hills Hotel is the starting point for walks on
5 , 6 and 7 June. Early morning with breakfast walk on 5 June starts at 6.00am , this is a circular walk and ends with breakfast at the hotel, booking essential. The Evendine walk on 5 June starts at 2.00pm and should be finished by 4.30pm in time for a cup of tea at the hotel. On 6 June the walk covers the Ancient Landscape of the Southern hills lasting approx 3 hours. On 7 June the Hill and Valley walk takes around 3 hours 30 minutes. The Hotel serves food all day on Saturday and Sunday.

For more information please feel free to contact our tourist information center
Tele: 01684 892289
or check out the website at http://www.malvern-hills.info/

Winter Snow Days

2009-02-22T10:30:00.000-08:00

My dad took this shot of the hotel last week when it was snowing i thought it looked nice but the evening customers found it a bit slippery. Oh well at least the sledgers in the morning had a good time at the top of British Camp hill fort.

Our new restaurant

2009-02-16T16:37:00.000-08:00

Our new restaurant offers a fresh dining experience from couples to larger parties for private dining of up to fifty people.