I have to say that their Marc chap, who’s frustrating me by hiding his truffles away in a truly Gallic fashion, really did do rather a good job of making my cake and putting my

image on it in icing. I nearly wept piggy tears, however, when Alison, the hotel general manager, stuck a knife into it. I’d hoped to run off with it all in tact, to show to all of my piggy pals!

The pigarazzi turned up to flash their cameras and capture my best side on camera and so did the North West Evening Mail and the Westmorland Gazette, which really made me squeal with delight, oink oink!

A pig got a little emotional when all the very well behaved children from Goodly Dale Primary School in Windermere and Little Rascals Daycare in Troutbeck sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to me. I also found a little kindred spirit who was sharing his birthday with me and he did the honours of blowing out my candles, which was a huge relief to me, as a pig can get a little out of puff after 100 years!

All of the Goodly Dale children were dressed up for World Book Day and my creator, Beatrix Potter, came along too, to read them my story – which has now reached the premier league of books by having a brand new gold cover for my centenary year! A load of my books, ‘The Tale of Pigling Bland’ were laid out on a table, along with little cuddly versions of me, just in time for the arrival of a coach full of Japanese tourists, who came in to help celebrate my birthday too. One doesn’t like to boast, but I did notice that they all looked rather admiringly at my lovely, shapely legs, which Beatrix says were modelled on her husband’s!!

All the cuddly pigs now have their own passport, as anyone buying one can take ‘me’ on their travels with them, popping me into a suitcase or bag (or preferably on a child’s lap, as I love a good cuddle) and then help raise a donation of 1p per mile that they have taken me. Each journey only counts once, but all the 1ps will add up to a big total that will help the good chaps at Nurture Lakeland help fund conservation projects in the Lake District.

Now for the real news of the day – the delicious afternoon tea that a pig was able to tuck in to on his 100th! What scram!! The scones with jam and cream just melted in my mouth, while the aroma of the chocolate cake tickled my snout and drove it wild. I soon took my trotters round to the sandwiches too …and those Lindeth Howe homemade crisps are just the best! I might have to unloosen my knickerbockers a little this evening!

Now, I must mention how the clever children of Goodly Dale recognised how talented Beatrix Potter was (and one might say very enlightened too) when she created me! One child wrote: “Beatrix Potter rocks; she is the best story writer. Rock ‘n’ Roll”. I’m not too sure what rock ‘n’ roll is, as I think the 60s passed me by, but it sounded very complimentary!

Finally, a pig was overjoyed to celebrate his 100th in the presence of Mr Doxford, whose parents bought Lindeth Howe from Beatrix Potter. He was only three years old when he first came to live here and that was 80 years ago this month – not quite as many years as I have knocked up, but still a good old age. It was lovely to have him here for my centenary and I hope he enjoyed the day as much as I did.

Now my trotters are killing me after all this standing up today and I need forty pig winks after all the excitement, so I will bid you adieu for today. If you want to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me though, please feel free. A pig rather likes that little ditty.

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The plan is that children from Goodly Dale Primary School, Windermere and the Little Rascals Nursery in Troutbeck will all arrive at Lindeth Howe, where there will be a fabulous afternoon tea created by Marc Guibert. He’s the chap who made the World’s Most Expensive Dessert, so I’m expecting something fabulous from him for my 100th Birthday tea! He makes some scrumptious desserts and chocolates, so I might well be piling on the piggy pounds and not able to squeeze into my waistcoat for a day or two!

At this point, as they take me into the dining room, I think I will have to act all surprised, as if I didn’t know a thing about it (oink, oink!) and then puff out my chest with pride and pretend to be overwhelmed by the surprise! I‘ve been practising my facial expressions in front of the mirror and I think I’ve got it down to a fine art, so I’m sure they won’t suspect a thing!

I expect there will be lots of my fans around with cameras and if the pig world has heard about it, there may even be a few pigarazzi around trying to catch me unawares.

I’ll keep you posted as to how it all goes, as I’m sure there will be lots of excitement to report, but in the meantime, I’m still in search of those truffles that I’m sure Marc has hidden somewhere … something’s making my snout twitch anyway!

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I was ‘born’ at Lindeth Howe, when my creator’s mother lived there. My creator was a very clever lady called Beatrix Potter, who owned Lindeth Howe and who wrote about me and drew illustrations of me from the house. These then featured in her ‘Tale of Pigling Bland’™ which celebrates its centenary this year, giving me my 100th birthday Celebration !

While I’ve been snuffling around the house over the last few days, tiptoeing on my trotters (looking for truffles that the executive chef, Marc Guibert, might have hidden somewhere), I’ve been hearing news of a birthday party that the hotel is throwing for me (but don’t tell anyone that I know about it, as it’s meant to be a surprise!).

I believe that the children of Goodly Dale Primary School in Windermere and Little Rascals Nursery in Troutbeck are going to arrive here at 1pm on Thursday March 7 (World Book Day) to have a big tea party with me. My centenary book will also be here on show and there will be a lady dressed up as Beatrix Potter! I’m beside myself with excitement (oink oink!).

Even better news is that the hotel is going to be selling lots of toys just like me and if a family or person takes me on their travels, and shows the hotel where they’ve been, Lindeth Howe will donate 1 penny per mile of their trip to Nurture Lakeland, which helps fund projects to conserve the Lake District landscape (a trip can only count once though!).

Imagine that! Little old me a globetrotter! When I ran away from that greedy farmer in my book, I never imagined that this would happen!

I can’t wait for Thursday to arrive now (oink oink) and to make sure that all those children have a great time here. I might even invite my friend Timmy Tiptoes along, as he was born here too, but is a couple of years older than I am!

I’ll keep you posted as to how it all went. In the meantime, if you visit Lindeth Howe and spot any truffles, please let me know! A pig can get a little bit hungry you know!

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Well the weather here is gorgeous, spring has sprung and the sun is shining bright. The buds are showing on the magnolia tree and we are about to celebrate the launch of Pigling Bland’s centenary year by holding our very own book launch on Thursday 7th March when Beatrix Potter aka Judith Notley will be reading the story of Pigling Bland to local school and nursery children whilst enjoying a sumptuous Lindeth Howe Afternoon Tea at our Windermere Hotel. Watch out for Pigling Bland’s blog as he enjoys his centenary year.

We are also celebrating Mother’s Day later this week with a special price for that special lady in your life to enjoy a real treat of a gourmet 5 道菜的晚餐, bed and breakfast on Sunday 10th March 2013.

Kindest Regards,

Alison.
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Wow, we did it!!!!!

The Dining Room is open and guests are dining in our 2 AA rosette restaurant as we speak.

The wallpaper, curtains (steamed), pictures, mirrors are all up and looking stunning we are really pleased with end result.  The new chairs arrived yesterday and we still have a few finishing touches to add, however the end result is excellent.

May I thank the hard working team of D H Parkinson decorators, Dave Woods electricians, SAP sound system engineers, Kendal Quality Carpets fitters, The Full Octave gentlemen for moving the piano back and forth, Northern Lights stained glass, Steve from Westmorland Furniture Company and Maureen & her team from Whitemore & Thwaytes Interior Design who came up with the design and re-made the curtains. But and its a big BUT – most of all I would like to thank ”The Lindeth Howe” hardworking team who have pulled out all the stops to ensure we were ready to open ready for the first guests to arrive.

I have a few taster photographs for you all to see now but I will leave the finished results for your all to see when you arrive.

We look forward to seeing you all soon.

Kindest Regards,
Alison.

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Just to update you, the Dining Room walls are lined, the ceiling and woodwork is painted ready for the wallpaper being hung.  Fingers crossed the decorators will start wallpapering today.  The new music / PA system is being installed as we speak.  The bar has been sanded down and sprayed so we are looking forward to a brand new look.

I have uploaded some photos so you can all see the progress we are making here at the hotel.

Keep watching and I will keep you updated on the refurbishment, but you will need to come and visit when we re-open to see the finished result.

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I come from a big family and always helped my Mum cook for my Dad and three sisters. I took a keen interest early on and always loved getting involved in the preparation of Sunday dinner, such as peeling potatoes and prepping sprouts. The aroma of a crisp turkey roasting in the oven takes me right back to those days.

I always liked to help out with the cooking, but roast dinners in particular became a time for me to really help my Mum. Each year my responsibilities progressed, from making the stuffing to learning to roast parsnips with different flavours, such as honey and rosemary. I enjoyed gaining new skills such as basting the turkey to keep the breast succulent and full of flavour. My Mum’s roast dinner has become the benchmark for all future roast dinners I made.

I always knew I wanted to become a Chef. This is my Mum’s profession too and seeing her at work only fuelled my interest to follow in her footsteps. We grew up with fresh, healthy food in the house and I loved devising new ways of making different things from it. My Mum soon realised how passionate I was about working with food and got me a summer job working in her kitchen.

Since then there has been no looking back. I’ve worked in restaurants in England, Wales and France and it is now my pleasure to cook for you here at Lindeth Howe.

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Around this time we will be launching our very own Pigling Bland Adventures which will be yours to enter once you purchase Pigling Bland from Lindeth Howe Hotel.  News of this will be coming soon and we will give you access to blog on our new website.  Keep an eye out on our website for events coming up to celebrate Pigling Bland’s centenary year in 2013 at Lindeth Howe.

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Well I thought I would update you as to what’s happening at Lindeth Howe.  The team are deeply involved in the preparation of Christmas.  It’s very festive here and we are looking forward to a magical Christmas and a celebratory New Year.

In the New Year we close the hotel for a couple of weeks and in this time we are going to have a new refurbished Dining Room which is quite exciting.   I am currently in the process of completing a project plan to ensure we complete the refurbishment before we re-open on the 16^日 January.  I will keep you updated as we get closer to January.

Keep an eye out on our website for up and coming offers and news on what’s happening soon.

by Alison Magee-Barker, General Manager

The post A Quick Update appeared first on Lindeth-Howe.co.uk.

Wow we are finally here with our brand new website that I have been working on for some months now.  It seems to have taken a while from the planning with our in house designer Michelle from I-Design to finally choosing a web designer to put thoughts and ideas into reality.

Dave Hassall from Prada Publishing took on the task of working with me to ensure each fine detail would materialise into the Lindeth Howe long awaited website to bring us into the future.  Here I am writing my very first blog and enjoying this new experience.  I hope you all like it and I would be really pleased if you write into us at marketing@lindeth-howe.co.uk to let me know what you think.

Alison Magee-Barker, General Manager

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