No leaks, no gaffes, no changing channels or presenters – just a fine example of what a corporate group can get up to in the country with a bowl full of baking powder.
Take a beautiful county house hotel in a quaint English village, add a small pinch of baking, and you have the perfect corporate retreat.
We recently took a small group to the Manor House for their annual offsite - a real gem of a hotel which is part of the Exclusive Groups which is the perfect hotel options for those groups that want to get away from it all (but still have a mobile phone signal!!). As soon as you enter the grounds, cruise up the scenic driveway, across a picturesque bridge you finally reach the stunning mansion house that oozes class and sophistication, and then your met by the friendly and helpful staff which make you feel welcome as soon as you enter the hotel. The hotel has just under 50 rooms that vary in size and style, but they also own the local pub the Castle Inn which also boasts another 11 rooms which offers a great flexible solution for catering especially if you have a group at the hotel for more than 1 day.
After a morning meeting in the Dunstanville Suite, we chauffeured the guests over to the hotel's golf club to surprise them with a team bake off challenge. Teams had 3 hours to complete 4 challenges, with one of the challenges being introduced an hour before the end of the event, just to add a little pressure to the proceeding. We had 3 major rounds, which included a show stopping two-tier cake, a technical round of macaroons and a seasonal round of gingerbread spiced biscuits. The final challenge was a batch of sweet or savoury scones which was a gruelling slog to the finish line. Once completed the judges marked the teams on creativity, flavour, tidiness and overall presentation and then revealed a winning team. Guests then took all their cakes back to the hotel for a lovely homemade afternoon tea.
The gorgeous hotel combined with a country style autumnal bake off challenge was the perfect combination for this event and comes highly recommended.
