Restaurants in Rutland: Hambleton Hall
Fresh awards and the prospect of Aaron Patterson’s spring menus ensure there is a sufficient justification for a return visit to one of Britain’s best country house hotels
There are many compelling reasons to visit Hambleton Hall, but if you needed any additional inducement, we’re happy to oblige. Each year the country house hotel participates in Rutland’s Lunch for Even Less promotion, offering great value dining, this year from Monday 13th January to Friday 28th February.
You can enjoy two courses for £48.50 from Monday to Friday and a reminder of why the hotel enjoys a reputation for comfort, consistency and cuisine that other hotels and restaurants across Britain can only dream of.
On Monday 10th February at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Michelin will reveal the restaurants and hotel awarded the organisation’s stars and special awards for 2025. We’ve no reason to believe that Hambleton Hall’s status as a starred restaurant won’t be reaffirmed as the place has retained its star consecutively for a longer period than any other restaurant or hotel in Britain, having first gained the accolade in 1982, retaining it ever since.
That’s not to say, however, that there’s any sense of complacency among the Hambleton Hall team, including Chef Director Aaron Patterson, General Manager Chris Hurst, Restaurant Manager Graeme Matheson and Sommelier Dominique Baduel. Together, the team works as hard as ever to earn every compliment, every time, and to ensure that their diners and guests enjoy not only lovely dining and comfortable accommodation but also an experience that’s warm and relaxing, never too formal.
This is a country house hotel whose success is founded not on its reputation but on a genuine desire to ensure its guests enjoy every single dish, every single sip and every single good night of sleep.
Speaking of which, as well as a first class dining room, Hambleton Hall was recognised in October with a two-key rating in the Michelin Guide’s new rating scheme for hotel accommodation.
Judges considered each hotel’s architecture and interior design; the quality and consistency of the service on offer; overall personality and character of the venue; value for the price and whether the team are deemed to have made a significant contribution to the overall guest experience.
In addition, Hambleton Hall was given the César Award for Best Hotel in the East Midlands and named Country House Hotel’s Editor’s Choice.
That’s in addition to a long-standing affiliation with Relais & Châteaux, a group of 850 luxury hotels worldwide, and membership of Pride of Britain, a collection of Britain’s 50 finest city, countryside and coastal hotels.
Accolades pertaining to Hambleton Hall’s dining include four AA rosettes and commendations in The Good Food Guide and Hardens, as well as regular recognition in Rutland Pride’s own Good Food Awards as Restaurant of the Year and Best Restaurant with Rooms, most recently for our 2024 awards.
Set in 17 acres of beautiful grounds (Tim has a special interest in gardening) and with classically-styled interiors (Stefa is a talented interior designer), the hotel’s appearance is commensurate with the welcome it offers and the standard of its accommodation and dining.
Aaron leads a team of 16 chefs who recognise that as well as creative flair, technical chefcraft and consistency are the bedrock of a kitchen’s reputation. Having joined Hambleton Hall in its early days and returning after a stint working with Raymond Blanc at La Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Aaron has since trained countless proteges.
Those chefs have benefitted not only from Aaron’s patience and willingness to teach the next generation of chefs, but also from their boss’s insistence on the best ingredients, including those from Hambleton Hall’s own kitchen garden.
Just a couple of minutes down the road, too, is Julian Carter of Hambleton Bakery. Julian’s successful career started in the family Bakery in Liverpool, he then joined the RAF as a chef and later cooked for three years for John Major, when he was Prime Minister in Downing Street and at Chequers.
He joined the brigade at Hambleton Hall, cooking Michelin starred meals and quickly became second chef, where he remained for nine years, before establishing Hambleton Bakery with Tim in 2008.
Dining at Hambleton Hall is by way of a lunchtime menu – including this season’s Lunch for Even Less promotion – or a dinner menu offering three courses for £125/person. Sunday dining is also available, and there’s a vast cellar of wine – somewhere in the region of 400 bins – with recommended pairings.
We also recommend that you keep an eye on Hambleton Hall’s calendar of events. An annual programme of highlights include wine-themed lunches and dinners with tasting events, foraging events and even collaborations with PalmerSport for motor racing events and Nevill Holt for events combining dinner with performances by up-and-coming stars of the Leicestershire estate’s opera festival.
Special guests are a regular feature of Hambleton Hall’s calendar too from garden designer and broadcaster Bunny Guinness to Alicia Kearns MP, who delivers an after-dinner talk as Pride goes to press.
With much to enjoy and a warm welcome too, revisiting Hambleton Hall is a must in 2025 to remind yourself just how wonderful the place remains, 45 years on.
For images of Hambleton Hall’s dishes and sample menus, see our February edition at https://issuu.com/pridemagazines/docs/rutland_pride_february_2025
Hambleton Hall, Ketton Road, Oakham, Rutland LE15 8TH. Call 01572 756991 or see www.hambletonhall.com.