Keythorpe Hall Autumn Itinerary
Autumn is a fantastic time a year to visit the English Country Side. Autumn colours will fill the view from Keythorpe’s floor to ceiling windows, the first pumpkins are being harvested from the Walled Garden and evenings can be spent in front of the wood burning fire with a good glass of wine. Please see below a suggested 5-night itinerary for the whole family, which can be fully customised to make your stay extra special.
Arrival Day - Arrival from 3pm with Afternoon Tea
Day 1
Wild Mushrooms with our Head gardener and Ethnobotanist Claudio Bincoletto
Claudio Bincoletto is Keythorpe Hall’s Head Gardener and Ethnobotanist. Once the forager for the Italian army, Claudio has a wealth of experience teaching at Petersham Nurseries, as a speaker for the RHS, as a chef in top London restaurants and holding wild food cooking demonstrations at food & country shows across the UK.
Claudio will take you around the grounds of Keythorpe Hall to explore the wild foods growing around us. What to pick, what not to pick and more importantly why not to pick! His greatest passion and speciality is the wild mushroom so be ready to learn how to identify, sustainably pick & cook them! We will finish the walk with a tour of the 2-acre Victorian Walled Garden, which has been in restoration for the past 10 years.
After the walk, Claudio will demonstrate how you can propagate mushrooms yourself.
Read a Conde Nast Traveller article about a walk with Claudio here.
Design Masterclass with Rediscovered By
Charlotte Krone (Rediscovered By) is a textile designer and screen-printer based in Rutland, UK. Trained at Goldsmiths University and the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, Charlotte rediscovers historical and traditional textile techniques and applies these in unexpected ways to diverse range of interiors, from historic homes to contemporary spaces.
At Keythorpe Hall, Charlotte has designed various prints with flowers from the garden, used her foxgloves print for a dreamy bed head in one of the bedrooms and has created amazing printed table linen for Keythorpe’s dining room.
One of Charlotte’s new prints is inspired by butterflies and in this workshop she will reveal the tips and tricks on creating a fantastic butterfly print yourself. The result can be turned into a lampshade and/or tote bag to take home. A fantastic workshop for the kids to get involved in too.
Day 2
Bushcraft Day with Steven Hanton.
Steven Hanton has been practicing bushcraft over 20 years. He has travelled widely in search of traditional skills and credits much of his experience to the many indigenous cultures from whom he has been fortunate to learn. With a varied wealth of remote expedition experience in Arctic, Desert and Jungle climes, Steven continues to keep alive the practical nature of bushcraft to keep these ancient skills relevant today.
You’ll start the day with a hands-on fire lighting session to ensure there is a fire to cook lunch on! Steven and his team will teach you various carving techniques to make your own butter knife and adjustable pot hanger for over the fire and show you how to ponass a fish– a special trick where you fillet a fish a certain way and then carve the sticks required to cook it over fire. You’ll finish the day by combining all your new skills, cooking a complete meal over the campfire (with a few added extra’s from Keythorpe’s chef.)
Day 3
Falconry
Full falconry experience both thrilling and educational with up to 6 different birds of prey (owls, falcons, eagles and hawks). Great activity for the kids to get involved in too!
Pop-up Theatre Show by Little Angels Theatre (for the children)
Little Angels Theatre produces high quality theatrical performances for children, using puppetry. In this pop-up show called Masterchef Mo and the Missing Cake, world famous chef Mo has lost the recipe for their most scrumptious cake. Join him on this adventure to help find the missing ingredients. With delightful puppets, magic tricks and games, time is running out to bake it till you make it…
Day 4
Beekeeping & honey tasting
Join our head gardener Claudio when he inspects the Keythorpe hives and learn more about bees, how honey is produced and how we prepare our hives for winter. Claudio will collect fresh honey from the hives for a tasting session afterwards. He will explain the flavour profile of different plants the bees foraged on and seasonality in honey, and more importantly – let you taste for yourself!
Cooking Masterclass with Keythorpe Hall’s chefs
Have you always wanted to make your own sourdough? Are you interested in fermentation? Or fancy perfecting your overall cooking skills? Spend a few hours with our chefs in the professional kitchen for a tailor-made cooking masterclass, all with seasonal ingredients of course.
Day 5 - Departure after brunch
