“FLEUR DU JARDIN” GAINS COVETED GOOD PUB GUIDE AWARD
(ONE OF ONLY 39 UK COUNTY DINING PUBS OF THE YEAR)
Since taking over the “Fleur du Jardin” in May of 2006, Ian & Amanda Walker have been very active in developing the ideas that will be incorporated into the design process during this coming winter.
One achievement that has already come to fruition is to be chosen as an award-winner by the editors of “The Good Pub Guide 2007”. This award is one of only 39 throughout the whole of the UK and there is only ONE winner in each county.
“We received our notification from The Good Pub guide on the 6th September and were delighted that we had been chosen. The review must be extremely stringent as only one establishment from each county in the UK is awarded this prestigious accolade”
The channel Islands are treated as one county, and guess what there were no suitable establishments in Jersey !!
For more information please contact: Claire Bowles of Good Pub Guide on 020 7840 8487. Claire@clairebowlespr.co.uk
SEPTEMBER 2007 MICHELIN ACHIEVEMENT
"The Fleur" is the ONLY entry in the "Michelin eating out in pubs guide" 2008 for Guernsey and one of only two in the whole of the Channel Islands. Contact Zoe Ash of the Guernsey Press for more details.
“TIMES ON LINE” REVIEW OF FLEUR DU JARDIN, GUERNSEY by CHRIS McCOOEY
There’s a picture of the Fleur du Jardin in the lounge. I order a pint of local cider, Rocquette, and sink into a leather chair to admire it. What a stunning cow … wonderful rounded rump, an udder full of milk dangling down deliciously, large languid eyes. She is the 12th Fleur in a long line of pedigree Guernseys who only had to flutter her eyelashes at the blokes in white coats between 1908 and 1920 to amble off with all the top prizes in the agricultural shows. How suitable, I thought, to name this country pub, which looks out over Vazon Bay on the island’s north coast, after a maker of cow juice. Especially as the main building - thick stone walls, beams and open log fires - was originally a farm house.
Some places I’ve stayed in I know straight away I’m going to enjoy. The Fleur was one of those. Lynn, the charming Scottish receptionist-cum-general manger, directed the Research Assistant and I to our room. We were told it was one of the attic rooms, so at the top of the building. Faint misgivings of being billeted in a pokey outpost as we climbed the steep spiral stairs were dispelled soon enough. A landing led to a lounge with a wet room off, then to a light and airy bedroom with bleached timber walls and white shutters and beyond a bathroom with sandstone floor and His and Her hand basins. The imaginative use of a potentially awkward space (I’m six feet and had to do some ducking) made it a delightful, quirky, place to stay. Not a loft room but one of the Loft Rooms.
Later I chatted with the owner of the Fleur, Ian Walker. He’s a serial entrepreneur, relishing the challenge of buying a dowdy place and revitalizing it. With his wife Amanda, who helps with the interior designs, they have three hotels on Guernsey. They bought the Fleur in 2006 and wanted to create a “good place to eat with rooms above, somewhere we would like to stay.” Clearly they’re good at what they do as in 2007 the Good Pub Guide named them the Pub of the Year (there is only one named in each UK county and the four main Channel Islands are grouped as if one). Again in the latest Michelin Guide to Eating Out the Fleur is the only place mentioned for Guernsey.
In the grounds of the pub are the Lavender Rooms, which provide beauty and relaxation treatments for men and women. Book direct on (01481) 258882. I had a full body massage and for an hour was in the very capable, yet utterly relaxing, hands of Sonya, while Becky gave the RA a facial, such that afterwards she positively glowed.
Before dinner we had a drink sitting outside on rattan chairs with tables made from old railway sleepers. Some were left unplaned making the surface uneven so I was careful not to unbalance my pint of London Pride, served by Hannah from Leicester, whose laconic humour I enjoyed. Our taxi driver that day had told us that the Fleur was a good place to eat but complained to us about the size of the portions. By the size of him, I took this to mean they would leave the stomachs of trencher men grumbling. However as far as the RA and I were concerned they were more than adequate; indeed the RA, by the time it came to choose pudding, was “blown out”, as opposed to “up” (fortunately).
Starters were under a fiver – for me it was sliced smoked chicken breast with pine nut and orange salad and a most pleasing blue cheese dressing. For the RA, it was Roquaine Bay mussels – size rather disappointing, edibly tasty white wine sauce but not very exciting.
Mains were around the ten pound mark. My grilled trout fillet with almond and prawn butter was lip-smackingly good. The RA, having kept them in the past and knowing a thing or two about how they should taste, went for the pig – not a whole one, just a loin – which, in due course, was pronounced “very good”. I don’t think the colour of the meat you’re eating should dictate the colour of the wine that accompanies it, so we had a bottle of False Bay shiraz from South Africa, good value at £15.95. I had homemade sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream and treacle sauce to round off. Despite my protestations, the RA nicked some of the wonderful golden creamy ice cream made from Guernsey milk high in protein and rich in butterfat and beta carotene.
Breakfast in front of the log fire, a nice touch that. Kipper that filled the nine inch plate, succulent, fiddly, swimming in butter for me and scrambled eggs for the RA, efficiently served by the East European staff, all clad in black like stage hands. Time to amble around and check out the owners’ collections of samplers, currencies and model yachts for sailing on ponds which are displayed throughout the eating and drinking areas of the Fleur. Both the Walkers like to go to sales and auctions and if something catches their eye they are prepared to pay a fair price for excellent value – which just about sums up the Fleur.
WHAT OTHERS SAY There are seven reviews on TripAdvisor with mostly 4s and 5s on their scale of 1 to 5. The one poor review is a guest who stayed in a room awaiting refurbishment. One enthused about the Attic Room we stayed in describing it “top class”. Other comments included “good parking; large sunny terrace; rooms at front may suffer from traffic noise; service, whether in dining room or reception, was always with a smile and polite.”
BOTTOM LINE Prices from £45 per person for B&B based on two sharing.
SAMPLING THE FAR The head chef is David Hayden who oversees all the menus in the three pub hotels owned by the Walkers. “Seasonal and local” is the mantra and, accordingly, the menus, given to you on clip boards, are changed daily.
WHAT WE THINK A gem.
WORST THING The roads on Guernsey are narrow and the one through the little village of King’s Mills is right in front of the hotel so it can be a bit noisy at the front. For some reason the hot setting in the loft wet room was cold and the cold setting hot and the lead to the room kettle was too short.
ACCESS ALL AREAS The Loft Rooms are unsuitable but some of the newly refurbished Garden Rooms will be suitable for wheelchair users.
ROOM 10
FOOD 8
SERVICE 8
VALUE 9
The Fleur du Jardin, 01481-257996 King’s Mills, Castel, Geurnsey GY5 7JT email info@fleurdujardin.com www.fleurdujardin.com
www.visitguernsey.com