National Pie Day

Saturday 23rd January 2016 is National Pie Day and what better way to celebrate than sharing the recipe of a Lancashire favourite - the Butter Pie!
Butter Pie is also known as Catholic pie or Friday pie, and is an age-old dish, from around the Chorley and Preston area or, for the non-Lancastrians, a potato pie.

Details
Cooking Time: 30-60 mins
Cuisine: Other
Main Ingredient: Potato
Preparation Time: 30-60 mins
Serves: 4+

Ingredients
For the pastry:
225g/8oz Plain flour
50g/2oz Butter, salted or unsalted, you can adjust to taste at the table
50g/2oz Lard, vegetable fat, or dripping
A pinch of salt, if used, and white pepper
Ice cold water
For the filling:
3 Large potatoes - a King Edward/Maris Piper type
1 Large onion
50g/8oz Butter, plus 100g/4oz for softening the onions

Method
1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and stir in the butter and lard (I tried with all butter and found this microwaved really well, about 30 seconds to a minute, depending on the wattage, for each quarter of a pie).
Using your fingertips, or a fork, incorporate in the butter until it resembles fine crumbs, then drizzle in just enough cold water to make the pastry form a ball, pop into a plastic bag, press out the air, and leave in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, peel the three large potatoes and the onion, cut the potato into thick slices, a little thicker than a pound coin, and the onion in to half rings. Parboil the potatoes until they are just soft but still holding their shape, about 8-10 minutes. Saute the onions, over a low heat, in the butter until soft, but not browned, as this will spoil the end flavour.
3. Roll out about two thirds of the pastry, to line a pie dish, and trim the edges.
4. Drain the potatoes, let the steam leave the pan, then, in the lined pie dish, layer the potatoes, onions and butter flakes, season with salt and pepper and top off with the rolled remains of the pastry, 'stab' the top to make air vents.
5. Bake at 180 degrees for about half an hour until golden, and serve immediately, with pickled red cabbage.

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North West Air Ambulance Charity

For over 15 years the North West Air Ambulance Charity has provided the rapid pre-hospital care needed to make a life changing difference. They operate three helicopters, flying 365 days a year with doctors and paramedics on board providing emergency medical treatment when time is critical.

Anyone, of any age, anywhere may one day need their care. Because they can avoid problems of distance and congestion, they're never further than 10 minutes to the nearest hospital in the region. However, it is the speed in which they can travel to the region's specialist trauma hospitals that can make a life changing difference. Trauma patients need to receive treatment quickly in order to prevent death or long-term disability.

In the cases of major trauma, minutes can make a difference in terms of survival and early recovery. Working closely with the North West Ambulance Service, their advanced trauma team of doctors and paramedics can provide effective treatment within the vital minutes after an injury or severe illness.

This often requires their doctors and paramedics to stabilise a patient's condition, undertaking an initial assessment and often delivering early lifesaving treatment. Information then can be fed directly to the designated trauma hospital, saving seconds when you or a loved one need it the most.

Whether flying to the North West's busy motorways, remote countryside or city centres, they cover 5,500 square miles and provide an urgent lifesaving service to the 8 million people of the North West and its visitors each year.

You never know when you will need them, and as a charity they are reliant on the generosity of the people like you, to keep their helicopters flying.

As a hotel, we are proud to support The North West Air Ambulance Charity and have recently made a donation of £145.00 from selling North West Air Ambulance Bears. These bears are available from reception.

For all the latest news, visit our Website, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Golf

The breath taking backdrop of the Ribble Valley and Pendle Hill makes playing our 18 hole par 70 course an unforgettable experience. The course is laid into the hillside above the hotel and the reward of the game is to enjoy the stunning views over the Ribble Valley from all over the course. This is the icing on the cake to a great round of golf at Mytton Fold.

A new fleet of buggies will help to make your golf more relaxing and with their on board, innovative and exciting GPS satellite range-finder facility, you can see the distances to the front, middle and back of the greens, Our all-weather buggy tacks around the course, mean they are never out of play!

The 19th hole is a relaxing lounge bar serving wholesome bar meals, drinks and snacks - with a wide choice of options so you can mix and match as you wish.

With a great three star hotel as part of the complex, it's a perfect time to get together with friends and colleagues for a couple of games of golf, a convivial dinner in the restaurant and a relaxing overnight stay with breakfast.

Mytton Fold Wedding Fair

Our annual Wedding Fair was held on Sunday 10th January 2016 and even the overnight flooding didn't put anyone off. Our wonderful recommended suppliers arrived from 9am and ensured their stalls looked too tempting to miss.

There was:

Andrew's Carriage Masters

Andrew Whalley Photographer

Happy Days

Your Dream Dress

Love Sweet Things

Hayley Louise Photography

Victoria Flower Shop

Fresh Perspective Brides

Roland Hailwood

All-Track DJ Promotions

Coach House Limousines

Gavin Young

Winstanley's Morning Wear

Abbey Promotions

Stems Floral Design

Whalley The Chocolatiers

Grande Touche by Guy Porteous

Cooljoolz

Our Abbey Suite looked fantastic and we were ready to go when the doors opened at 11am. Each couple received a goody bag which was filled with special offers and even chocolate! 

We had lots of lovely couples join us for the day along with their bridal parties, family and friends. It was lovely to see everyone and there was certainly a buzz around Mytton Fold. But, before we knew it, time had reached 3pm and it was time for us to close our doors and reflect on such a great day.

If you were unable to make our wedding fair and see our stunning, award-winning, family run hotel you can book a show-round appointment with our wedding co-ordinators at any time.

For more information, please visit our website and Facebook.

Happy New Year!

A double celebration was held at Mytton Fold Golf Club on the 31st. As well as bringing in the New Year with fellow members, we also celebrated Jim Bridge's 70th Birthday. A fantastic night was had by all, continuing into the early hours for those that could keep up, meaning the course was nearly empty on New Years Day. Credit and many thanks go to Jan Van Boeckel, Carole Maher, Nigel Fairhurst, Dave Griffiths and especially Lady Captain Elect, Brenda Griffiths for organising a superb night.

Lady Captain Elect, Brenda said: ''On behalf of myself, Jan, Carole and Nigel, a big thank you to everyone who supported the New Year's Eve party. Without that support the night would not have been such a success. I personally would like to thank my husband, Dave, for all this efforts in making the props and 'propping me up' all the way. I am overwhelmed by the feedback and can't thank you all enough for coming along and joining in with the fun.

Happy New Year to you and yours, let's hope 2016 is kind to us all!''

Tourists Predicted Spend in 2016

Visit Britain have predicted that tourism spend will hit a record high in 2016 and forecasts that overseas visitors will spend £23 billion this year, which is a 4.2% increase on last year. 2015 finished with a spend of £22 billion by overseas visitors.

2015 saw 35.4 million visitors to Britain, and they expect this to rise to 36.7 million this year. It looks like we are back on track to reach 42 million visitors by 2020.

Sally Balcombe, Chief Executive of Visit Britain said: ''Everything we do it motivated by the goal to add value to the tourism industry by building our competitive tourism offer and driving economic growth and jobs across all our nations and regions, so that the benefits of tourism are felt across the whole of Britain. We are competing in a tough international environment and these results highlight how strongly the tourism sector, one of the UK's fastest growing export industries, has performed and how the Government's tourism strategy, supported by the 'Great' campaign, is producing results.''

Visit Britain claims to have generated an extra £2.5 billion in visitor spends over the last four years through it's marketing campaigns.

The main focus for Visit Britain this year is to promote England's natural beauty through its Year of the Great English Garden, promote Wales' Year of Adventure, and showcase Northern Ireland's cuisine with the Year of Food and Drink, while Scotland celebrates a Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design.

I wonder how many visitors we will get to the beautiful Ribble Valley this year.

To find our more, visit our Website and Facebook pages.

Obsession Food Festival 16

Each January, Northcote holds its annual food festival - Obsession. It has become a homage to the finest food and wine since it was established in 2001, and is now renowned as one of Europe's premier gastronomic events where guest chefs, travel from around the world to host an evening.

Each chef has an evening to take over the Northcote kitchen and challenge themselves to produce a unique Obsession menu for that evening's guests, which is a showcase for great chefs, a celebration of great food and wine, and a meeting of friends. A must for all Obsession chefs is to create a dish that is meticulous in construction and a feast for all the senses.

Obsession, now in its 16th year, grows and grows each year. Not only does it see guest chefs from around the world, it also brings guests to the Ribble Valley from far and wide and we just love showing them what we have to offer.

Obsession 16 looks set to top last year with a total of 16 evenings planned and a wide range of cuisines to please all taste buds including, Modern French, British, Italian, Indian, South African and Polish, Japanese Haute, Peruvian and Mexican with flavours from Asia and the Mediterranean.