Food Philosophy
Author Darren Goodwin -Head ChefSince taking over the hotel in 2007 owners Paul and Kathryn Roden have set about striving for quality, and as Losehill House is set in the glorious Derbyshire Peak District this has been a largely easy task with such glorious bounty on our door steps, our aim is to source locally the finest ingredients without compromising on quality or ethics, we have ensured that all our produce is free from genetic modification, many of our products are organic and will endeavour to increase the amount of organic produce as we continue to review the way in which we source produce.
Our meat comes from Richard Hobday at White Peak Farm Butchers at Tissington, Richard has his own farm and also only sources the best meat from the surrounding area, all chicken and pork is completely free range, White Peak has also gained Organic status from The Soil Association.
We are now completely free range! Thanks to our eggs farmer Richard Bennet who has increased his free range supply especially so our guests may eat with a clear conscience. Bennets farm is three miles down the road at Thornhill, Bamford.
Also in this particular area is our Dairy, Middleton’s supply our milk cream and yoghurt from local dairy herds,
Even our mushrooms are from Ashbourne, Tomson’s fruit and vegetable merchants are based in Buxton, and the family run business source as much as possible from the region.
Not much in the way of ‘local’ fish, however William Howe and sons at Sheffield do us proud with the finest that the boats bring in at Grimsby, we use predominately British Isles fish only going further a field if absolutely necessary (season and quality dependant)
Simon Bartholomew the proprietor of The Herb Table supplies our herbs and spices, also our organic Gojiberry muesli that makes you feel better just saying it! Simon has an extensive list of delights available to us from his amazing vanilla, saffron and quinoa to natural sea salt and almost every conceivable herb and salad leaf, many of his products are organic and local, also the more exotic of items that are not from these shores are ethically sourced and Fair Trade approved.
Our cheeses are sourced from the British Isles we firmly believe that these days Britain very much is in the ascendancy when it comes to quality cheese and whenever possible we find interesting artisan cheese from specific producers, see our cheese menu for details as this changes all the time.
The flour for our homemade breads comes from Cauldwells Mill Rowesly near Chatsworth a water powered working mill, with a tour available and gift shop, worth a look if you are nearby.
Even the store cupboard items are from Birchill Catering an independent family run company who help us with quality chocolate, sugars and fruit juices to name but a few, all non GM and as natural as it comes, and where possible we purchase fair trade.
The bottled water in the bedrooms and in the restaurant is Rockhead Spring Water from Buxton, from another one of our independent local suppliers Buxton Spring Water Limited who are producing a great range of water for us – we are also installing water coolers in the Spa with the same high quality local Buxton – Rockhead Spring Water. By the way all of our bottles are re-cycled by a local independent – as the council do not provide any recycling facilities!