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 In 2009 our Garden Café received two significant awards. After a series of inspections, the local council recognised our achievements in meeting Food Standards Agency criteria and promoting healthy eating with the Recipe 4 Health Award. Later in the year, after a “mystery shopper’s visit” we also received the Taste Lancashire Quality Award for our catering staff’s efforts to produce high quality food that is locally sourced and promotes Lancashire’s rich food heritage.
 Nonetheless, despite our achievements, we are committed to improving the catering facilities and customer service experience yet more. We have plans to open a new facility and to make radical improvements to the garden restaurant especially. Accordingly in June we will enter into a partnership with Carringtons Catering to help us develop the catering menu and service. Darren and Helen Wynn, Carringtons’ owners, both have several years’ professional experience in catering and have been running events such as the Liverpool Cotton Association annual dinner. They will be using this expertise to train our staff and improve the standard of cuisine. Darren is a member of the Master Chefs of Great Britain and you are thus likely to see him preparing a few delicious surprises.
Elaine Lee and Sue Steadman are in charge of our catering facilities in the Garden Café. Before joining us in October 2007 Elaine had run her own catering business and managed several large catering establishments whilst working for the catering contractors Aramark. Elaine is a regular attendee at her local gym and a qualified Boxercise instructor. She also enjoys making and decorating cakes in her free time. Sue had also worked in a variety of catering establishments before joining our team. She is an enthusiast visitor to the Lake District and Scotland, a keen equestrian and regularly conducts market research on other tea rooms and garden centres.
The licensed Garden Café was expanded in late 2007 to accommodate up to 90 customers.  Housed in the yellow bungalow adjacent to the main centre, the style of décor and menu is very contemporary. The interior is fitted out in beech, chrome and black granite whilst outside there is an enclosed patio garden and fully enclosed children’s play area. A full range of our own blend of coffees including latté and cappuccino and speciality teas are on offer, as well as a wide array of handmade cakes and cookies. We have tried to source most of the produce locally or from other areas of the North West. We are particularly proud of our award winning cold chicken (smoked near Penrith) and salmon (smoked in Harrogate). Other dishes include hand made pies, pannini, scrambled egg on muffins, locally made quiches and a large selection of traditional favourites such as soup, sandwiches and jacket potatoes. Many of the ingredients of the menu are available for sale from the Café or garden centre. We also sell a selection of good quality wines, beers and spirits, several of which can be bought by the glass or by the bottle to take away.
 Our menu is continually evolving and changes on a regular basis. We also have a “Specials Board” which have a variety of interesting and tempting dishes and this again changes daily. An example of our menu is shown below, however this will be changing in the near future.
Click here to see a recent example of our Garden Café menu
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