What the Press say about us
WINTER LUXURY AT HEART-WARMING PRICES
Romantic city break or weekend in the country, there are some great deals to be found in the run-up to Christmas, says BEVERLEY FEARIS...FARMHOUSE FOR FOODIES IN THE YORKSHIRE MOORS
Tuck into a hearty breakfast at Low Penhowe, in Burythorpe, a remote, traditional stone-built farmhouse. Its owners have won countless awards for their delicious and healthy Aga-cooked breakfasts. You can feast on homemade marmalade and jams, home-baked bread and honey from village farms, followed by black pudding, home-roasted York ham, sausages and kippers. Then take a bracing walk on the Moors.
Village pub the Bay Horse, or the Stone Trough Inn at Kirkham serve posh nosh, while The Jolly Farmers in Leavening guarantees good old pub grub.
* Low Penhowe (01653 658336/ www.bedandbreakfastyorkshire.co.uk) offers B&B from £80 per night, (two sharing).
'Make Yorkshire Yours’, the official magazine of Yorkshire Tourist Board
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Winners epitomise what’s best about Yorkshire food
FG | 10 November, 2006
By Angela Calvert
THE winners of the second annual Deliciouslyorkshire Awards, organised by the Regional Food Group for Yorkshire and the Humber, all use a combination of tradition and innovation, mixed with commercial sense and a passion for what they do.
The Deliciously Yorkshire Breakfast scheme member winners were Phillipa and Christopher Turner, who run a bed and breakfast at Low Penhow, Burythorpe, near Malton. This scheme aims at promoting and celebrating Yorkshire produce to all visitors.
Great Beginnings - International Breakfast Praise for Low Penhowe
If you can get pampered Americans to say your B&B is ‘magical’ and ‘the best we’ve stayed in since we began visiting Britain in 1972’; if sweet-toothed Belgians praise your ‘divine chocolate milk’; well-organised Swedes proclaim the place as ‘perfect’ and proud Spaniards go home and learn English just so they can chat with you the next time they visit, you must be doing something right. Low Penhowe has enjoyed more than its fair share of positive press coverage, both locally and nationally, since joining the Deliciouslyorkshire Breakfast initiative.
Philippa and Christopher Turner have only been running Low Penhowe in Burythorpe, near Malton, for a couple of years, but they’ve certainly got the recipe right. And on the subject of recipes, how do you fancy a breakfast of their own free range eggs, kippers from Bridlington, home-roasted York ham, muesli from an organic farm in Driffield, bacon from Elvington, sausages made in the next village from meat sourced from Brompton by Sawdon, home-baked bread (made from flour from the same organic farm), butter from the Dales, jam made by friends and relatives and home-grown tomatoes? All cooked on the Aga in the kitchen of their traditional Yorkshire stone-built farmhouse, with stunning views across the Howardian Hills, the Yorkshire Wolds and across to the North Yorkshire Moors.
Yes, the Turners take their breakfasts very seriously. And their commitment to sourcing ingredients locally has paid dividends for the business. They recently won the title of Breakfast Champion of the UK and they proudly display their Deliciouslyorkshire Breakfast scheme credentials on their award-winning website.
Low Penhowe was nominated for the Breakfast Champion award by Deliciouslyorkshire for their commitment to the breakfast initiative. Christopher says: ‘If you come here and breathe the air and take in the landscapes you might as well eat the food.
'We started out with the aim of sourcing most of our food locally. Then we got the opportunity to join the Deliciouslyorkshire scheme and we didn't hesitate. If you believe in sourcing locally, you'd better make sure you belong to Deliciouslyorkshire too. 'As well as the marketing advantages of being part of the Deliciouslyorkshire Breakfast scheme, joining it gave us extra focus. We now source everything from Yorkshire, with the exception of cornflakes and bran flakes and we do buy those from Morrisons, which is a Yorkshire supermarket!'
Christopher, a former sales and marketing expert and Philippa, who used to work in retail, have applied their business skills directly to the B&a,p;B. It's an approach that has won them the English Tourist Council's five diamonds and a gold award. And one that means they never shirk from going that extra mile for their guests.
But one element that certainly doesn’t go the extra mile is the food. And judging by the long list of accolades in the Low Penhowe guestbook, setting up their guests with the very best of Yorkshire food has been an important ingredient in the success of this outstanding North Yorkshire B&B.
For more information about the Deliciouslyorkshire Breakfast scheme or to receive an application form, please contact Lynda Davis at the Yorkshire Tourist Board on 01904 773371 or email at ldavis@ytb.org.uk
Bedding in to real success
The owners of a bed and breakfast have claimed their fifth award of the year. Christopher, 60, and Philippa Turner, 59, of Low Penhowe, Burythorpe, claimed the Best Yorkshire Breakfast in the second annual Deliciouslyorkshire Awards in York.
The couple put their success down to hard work and the quality of their produce, which is all bought locally, and then cooked on the Aga in their traditional Yorkshire stone-built farmhouse.
Their food includes eggs from their free-range chickens, sausages bought from a butcher in Westow and jams made by friends and relatives.
Mr Turner, a former marketing director in the IT industry, said: “For us it’s great news that people will see that and say they want to stay. It’s very good to be mentioned and receive an award for the hard work we have put in.” He estimates the B&B, which as been given five stars by the English Tourist Board, has helped to bring in around £500,000 to the local tourist industry through customers visiting local attractions and restaurants.
The couple have also been praised for their web site which has been named Tourism Website of the Year 2005 by the Yorkshire Tourist Board and a twice finalist in Guest Accommodation of the Year. Mr Turner said: “We said if we were going to do it we were going to do it full on.”
Malton & Pickering Mercury
Wednesday 15th November 2006
Breakfast is a winner in awards
A bed and breakfast farmhouse at Malton won an award in the second annual Deliciouslyorkshire Awards organised by the Regional Food Group for Yorkshire and Humber.
Low Penhowe, at Burythorpe, won the breakfast category sponsored by Askham Bryan College.
Their breakfasts can involve free range eggs from the garden, kippers from Bridlington, home-roasted York ham, muesli from an organic farm at Driffield, bacon from Elvington, sausages from a nearby village, home-baked bread, jams made by friends and relatives and home-grown tomatoes. The food is cooked on an Aga in the traditional Yorkshire stone-built farmhouse run by Philippa and Christopher Turner which has views across the Howardian Hills, the Yorkshire Wolds and the North Yorkshire Moors.
Green’s of Whitby were the runners-up in the best use of a regional produce in a menu.
Scarborough Evening News
Friday 10th November 2006
Breakfast of champions
To make a champion English breakfast, it helps if you have seen the world first. Chris Berry reports on a Yorkshire couple who think internationally to get it right locally.
WHEN holidaying in Yorkshire, one of the great pleasures, and traditions, is to enjoy a cooked breakfast. "Sets you up for the day" is one of the maxims that has long been associated with what we know as the "full English".You'd think that, in today's nanny-state-orientated society, this might by now have been outlawed, either by some over-hyped, healthy-living celebrity chef or fitness guru, but it remains an institution that has a special place in the nation's heart. So much so that there is now an official Farmhouse Breakfast Week, organised by the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA), and it starts tomorrow.
There is also the prestigious title of Farmhouse Breakfast Champion, and this year, the national crown has come to Yorkshire. Philippa and Christopher Turner are not farmers, although they do have some Highland cattle and chickens (for their eggs), and they do live in a farmhouse, between Burythorpe and Westow, just on the north side of the beautiful Yorkshire Wolds.
They have been here for 20 years and two years ago established a bed and breakfast business from their home at Low Penhowe. Christopher had retired early from a sales and marketing career that saw him travel the world, and Philippa believes that his globe-trotting has contributed to their breakfast success.
"Christopher's the artist when it comes to the breakfasts for our guests. He has travelled a good deal and has always appreciated a nicely-presented breakfast, so it's largely down to him over what we provide because of what he has experienced elsewhere."
Every element of the breakfast is listed on the menu, with acknowledgments showing everything is sourced locally, from local butchers to honey suppliers.
"Christopher's also the egg man," says Philippa. "I cook all the breakfasts but he takes care of the eggs – scrambling, poaching or frying."
Of course, it would have been rude of me not to try one of the Turners' creations, so I duly partook, for the sake of research, you understand.
I have to say that Christopher's poached eggs were fabulous, as was everything else, although I did cop out on the black pudding. Never been able to take that.
Kippers make an appearance on the menu, too, caught off Bridlington and supplied by the Turners' local fish man, Chris Rudd, and they certainly caught the eye of one Oriental guest who visited Low Penhowe.
"We had a Chinese gentleman staying with us and he said that he'd read the menu and had seen that we offered kippers," says Philippa. "He told me he liked his really well done, really crispy, like eating crispy duck, so that he could eat the whole thing, except for the head, and that's exactly what he did. He ate the lot, bones and all. I had to leave them in the oven for 20 minutes to get them just right, but he thought they were terrific."
There is little doubt that the judges of the competition will have also sampled the terrific views from the dining room, which looks out right across to the North York Moors and Howardian Hills.
"We're on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds here, although we're actually not far above sea level, probably only about 120 feet above, but you can see Castle Howard and the White Horse at Kilburn, as well as Sutton Bank. It really is a stunning view," says Chris.
"Philippa had once played with the idea of B&B when our boys were at school, but when I retired, we decided we would go into it properly and achieve the highest possible rating we could in terms of quality rating from the Tourist Board. We began marketing ourselves, not through the traditional manner but through the internet. So we don't have a brochure. The only printed material is a business card."
Perhaps that's why they seem to have had more than their fair share of overseas visitors, with guests from as far afield as Japan, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, as well as the kipper-loving Chinaman.
Once again, Christopher's business background seems to have brought about another winning idea. "We decided to invest in our own website using words that I felt people would use when looking for places to stay.
"One of the most important lessons I ever learned was to never look at anything through your own or your company's eyes but to turn it all around and think of your customers.
"Amazingly, within 15 minutes or so of looking, I found that www.bedandbreakfastyorkshire.co.uk was available, so I duly picked it up, and then I found that www.countryholiday cottages.co.uk was available, too, so I had that as well."
As a mark of how successful that has been, the Turners picked up the title of Tourism Website of the Year in the White Rose Awards.
They also care about looking after their guests. "We invest a lot of time and energy in getting to know our guests, without being overbearing. When people come here we always invite them into the drawing room and provide them with tea and coffee, and Yorkshire biscuits, from Boothams in Whitby.
"We sit and have a chat, talking about where they have come from, where they might like to visit and offering advice on where they might want to go for their evening meal, as we have four great hostelries within easy reach."
The Turners also have two holiday cottages which they have run for the past 20 years.
At first glance you might be tempted to dismiss their operation as being on the small side, but Christopher gives it a different spin. "With the B&B and the holiday cottages, as well as the spending elsewhere around here from those who stay, we probably generate about £500,000 a year for the local economy with what we do."
Low Penhowe is situated on the road to Burythorpe, just four miles from Malton and 14 miles from Pocklington.
Do you reckon your Farmhouse breakfast is the best? Let us know. Email: chris.berry@ypn.co.uk or write to Chris Berry, Country Week, Yorkshire Post, Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 1RF.
28 January 2006
Case Studies
Philippa and Christopher Turner have only been running Low Penhowe in Burythorpe, near Malton, for a couple of years, but they’ve certainly got the recipe right.
Yes, the Turners take their breakfasts very seriously. And their commitment to sourcing ingredients locally has paid dividends for the business.
They recently won the title of “Breakfast Champion of the UK” and they proudly display their Deliciouslyorkshire Breakfast scheme credentials on their award-winning website at www.bedandbreakfastyorkshire.co.uk. Low Penhowe was nominated for the Breakfast Champion award by Deliciouslyorkshire for their commitment to the breakfast initiative.
And on the subject of recipes, how do you fancy a breakfast of their own free range eggs, kippers from Bridlington, home roasted York ham, muesli from an organic farm in Driffield, bacon from Elvington, sausages made in the next village from meat sourced from Brompton by Sawdon, home-baked bread (made from flour from the same organic farm), butter from the Dales, jam made by friends and relatives and home-grown tomatoes? All cooked on the Aga in the kitchen of their traditional Yorkshire stone-built farmhouse, with stunning views across the Howardian Hills, the Yorkshire Wolds and across to the North Yorkshire Moors.
Firms earn top awards
By Ron Godfrey
"North Yorkshire was the most successful region in the Deliciously Yorkshire Awards, taking seven of the ten category titles at the event in York's Merchant Adventurers' Hall.
Among the top winners were:
Low Penhowe, of Burythorpe, near Malton, won the breakfast category with its locally-sourced ingredients"
8:46am Wednesday 8th November 2006
Farm fresh
After Blackpool's giddy lights, how will our two city boys cope with a rural Yorkshire B&B? Brilliantly, says Gwyn Topham: some barnstorming local produce helps
Tuesday May 17, 2005
Green and pleasant ... Jonathan Curtoys (left) and Christopher Turner stroll across Manor Farm, with Lowe Penhowe in the distance.
Day two of our road trip and Yorkshire is going to have a tough gig. Not only does it need to impress after we've spent a blinding 24 hours in Blackpool, but my urbanite friend Andy and I are going to be stuck in the middle of the countryside in a B&B, traditionally not the coolest of accommodation. And to make things interesting, the owners of Low Penhowe have erected a huge "Vote Conservative" sign at the entrance to their driveway.
"I was saying to Philippa we should take it down before the Guardian arrives," claims Christopher Turner, the husband half of our hosts, but he's not shy about his politics. Coffee-table reading here includes Countryside Illustrated (cover story: The Menace of the Greens, by Lord someone or other) and the souvenir edition of Hello! magazine, featuring Charles and Camilla's wedding.
The Tory sign is the story of urban versus rural Britain: an unthinkable appendage to most middle-class properties in town, as natural as a Barbour jacket here. And yet there turn out to be some shared values, not least concerns about food, and good local produce.
We notice this as soon as we get into Yorkshire, stopping for lunch en route to Lowe Penhowe at East Marton, just over the county line: stone-walled, rolling, Dales territory, the roads already up and down and winding. Chalked across the timber beams at the Cross Keys pub is "All our food is cooked from fresh produce and sourced from local suppliers", and it showed. For a random stop, we've struck lucky.
Walking off lunch, we head down through fields towards the canal, past an old church where sheep are grazing among the gravestones. Along the canal, narrowboats are moored; pheasants and rabbits are out in the sunshine beyond the hedgerows. It's idyllic. A sign tells us that we've just walked the Pennine Way, or at least a tiny bit of it.
By the time we're back in the car and driving across the North Yorkshire Moors, sun has turned to hail. Black clouds loom as we drive past Harrogate and York, turning off by the ruins of the 12th-century Kirkham priory, via the impeccable stone village of Westow and up through fields to the former farmhouse of Low Penhowe, where Christopher is standing outside to greet us.
It's lovely and convivial inside, and after tea and biscuits we decide to walk the three miles to the pub Christopher recommends back in Kirkham. Low Penhowe sits on the crest of rolling countryside, and in the evening sun, the views extend across the moors in the distance, past the appropriately named local landmark, Castle Howard. We wander through country lanes that make us think, blimey, England really is a green and pleasant land, and even catch ourselves humming along to Jerusalem. Reaching the Stone Trough just in time to escape the latest incoming rainstorm, we settle down opposite a large, framed, blow-up photo of a hunt, all horsemen and hounds. Are we in the wrong pub? A few horsey blond women walk in and Andy starts rehearsing a line - posh drawl, "Hello, the name's Hunter. Fox Hunter ..." - but doesn't try it out.
Christopher comes to pick us up, which he says he does for any of his guests, and cracks open a bottle of red, which he says he doesn't. Though judging from the comments in the guestbook about the Turners' generous hospitality, I suspect that Philippa and he may have shared a glass with quite a few visitors.
In the morning, we breakfast with a couple who stayed here once before and have returned as refugees from the kind of B&B that sounds more the stereotype: freezing rooms, dodgy mushrooms, surly landlady. There's none of that here: we eat like kings, including a lovely round tower of scrambled egg straight from the Turner's chickens. They do think, says Christopher, that it's important to serve scrambled eggs in an attractive way. This dish needs a name: Andy dubs them eggs à la Tory. Breakfast is virtually all local produce, Yorkshire down to the tomatoes and mushrooms. As Christopher says: "If you come here and breathe the air and take in the landscapes you might as well eat the food."
They are hoping to source even more from the neighbouring Manor Farm, whose fields are open for guests to ramble in. The farm has changed over recent years with wildlife in mind: hedgerows that were traditionally cut every year are left to grow, as are more and more strips of uncultivated long grass - now yellow with cowslips - and rough ground around the wheat fields.
"Most farmers would roll their eyes at this but it's actually a great resource for wildlife," Jonathan Curtoys of Manor Farm explains. The fruit on the hedgerows attracts more birds; the long grass and wild flowers attracts bees and butterflies, and a whole food chain develops. Walking around we see lapwings and skylarks that now nest here; sparrowhawks, barn owls and badgers are also common sights, says Jonathan.
One spin-off from the farm's wildlife policies was an unexpected harvest of sloes from the growing blackthorn hedges. Picked by hand, the berries are used in their own-brand Sloe Motion gin and, once pressed, to make luxury chocolates. Jonathan is interrupted by a phone call and goes into discussion about apple juice; they are developing their own breakfast cereals, which he hopes will one day feature at Low Penhowe.
We've slept like babies, breakfasted royally, and back at the Turners' there's still time to go and pat a pony and feed the chickens before we go. And all for just £30 a head. Now, if only all Tories were like this ...
Election 2005: Conservative, with an increased majority from the Lib Dems
Miles driven from London: 361
Way to go
Gwyn Topham stayed at Low Penhowe (tel 01653 658 336).
Click here to view the 'Observer Explore England' article (pdf document)
Diamond reward for Ryedale B & B couple
A Ryedale bed and breakfast business has proved itself to be a bit special, winning one of the industry's highest accolades only one year after opening. Christopher and Philippa Turner opened Low Penhowe B & B after successfully developing two holiday cottages converted from the old granary at Low Penhowe, between Westow and Burythorpe, 19 years ago. VisitBritain, formally known as the English Tourist Board, has awarded the business five diamonds and a gold award for quality accommodation and attentive hospitality. The couple, who have two sons, Nicholas, 30 and Andrew, 27, who both live and work in London, are now mostly retired. Christopher was a sales and marketing director at a Leeds based IT company and prior to that was with IBM for 20 years. Philippa worked in the retail industry and runs the couple's holiday cottage business.They opened the B & B last Easter. "It took off like a rocket and at the end of the year we had achieved over 400 bed nights," said Christopher. This year they are looking to increase that to around 500.The couple say 20 per cent of their guests are from abroad, arriving from France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, India, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. "With our combined B & B and holiday cottage business we estimate that our guests will spend around £220,000 in Ryedale. This would include eating out, shopping, tourist attractions and what they spend on the accommodation," said Philippa. "We work hard to look after our guests from the moment we receive their initial enquiry to the time we wave them goodbye," said Christopher. Philippa added: "Our breakfasts are a highlight of their stay with us. All our food is locally bought and sourced. Our bacon comes from Elvington, our sausages are made in Westow, kippers from Bridlington and our eggs are from our own chicken and are really free range! ``We serve a fruit compot made from an old traditional family recipe, home baked bread, homemade marmalade and jams, and we offer rhubarb, strawberries and raspberries when in season." They also welcome those on horseback exploring the Yorkshire Wolds Bridal Ways, and have linked up with the Bridle Rides organisation, which offers a package holiday for riders exploring the Yorkshire Wolds bridleways.
For more information on this visit www.bridlerides.co.uk/whatsnew.html or for the business in general www.BedandBreakfastYorkshire.co.uk or call (01653) 658 336.
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“We have stayed at many B&B’s in the UK and aboard. We can say without doubt that this is the best B&B we have ever stayed in. The Breakfast menu and the service is 5 star. Many thanks for a most enjoyable stay. ”
John and Barbara Cook, Storrington, West Sussex,
October 2007