Our first Chilli festival took place, as planned, on 6th & 7th May.  The weather was not ideal, and one of our normal car parks was waterlogged, so we used another field across the road in the park.  On the day, that too proved to be softer than expected, but our visitors found harder ground nearby and cheerfully, in most cases, walked the extra distance to the house.

There was an amazing selection of stalls, selling hot sauces and chutneys, curries and chilly-flavoured vodka and chocolate as well as Welsh cheeses, Herefordshire cider and perry and traditional potato chips.  We hired an entertainer, who walked about on stilts and juggled around the courtyard: he also did a great job amusing the queue at the main entrance. T here was a trail for children and a DVD showing in our exhibition room describing the building of the house, which started 200 years ago.

We attracted about 4500 visitors over the two days, most of whom went round the house where we had a fire blazing in the Great Hall.  It was quite a job to get people to move along at times as they were so glad of the extra warmth.  The feedback was good, and the stallholders were happy too, especially as we allowed them to drive right up to their stands and because they were placed right in front of the main entrance.

We plan to hold another Chilli Festival at the same time next year.  It was hard work for us as our office ran the event, but it was worth it.  I even got a compliment for emptying some rubbish bins!

JH-B   11th May 2012

‘“Chilly” is an adjective that was long associated with Eastnor Castle before we restored the central heating system.  We kept the word association going with the “Big Chill”, which last year celebrated its tenth anniversary at Eastnor.  We will miss the festival this year as it is having a rest while many of its faithful customers will be watching the Olympics or going abroad to avoid them, but we look forward keenly to its return in 2013.  In the meantime, we are organising our own Chilli Festival, not as much to keep the theme going, but because we think it will be an excellent new event for our visitors to the Castle. 

We have seen the success of the chilli festivals at Levens Hall through our membership of the Historic Houses Association and felt the distance between Cumbria and Herefordshire was enough to allow us to follow their example without competing, so now we look forward to having 40 exhibitors set up their stalls in the Courtyard.  Visitors will be able taste and buy curry sauces and pastes, pickles and jams, chilli chocolate, cheese and vodka.  There will be specialist hot food suppliers selling curries and other spicy food.

Local suppliers will include Monkhide Wines,  The Velvet Bean and Ambalama Spices, Rayeesa, a curry expert will lead cookery demonstrations in a covered area, Los Squideros, a Hereford-based Mexican band, will provide live entertainment, and for children there will be a Chilli Trail, stilt walker and fire juggler.

We have had a lot of interest so far, I hope it will be a great success… and also that someone will be selling bananas to absorb the heat!!

JH-B     22nd April 2012

As we prepare for Easter opening, Easter egg hunts etc, the new Burma Bridge connecting our playground to a nearby redwood tree nears completion. It replaces a rather unslippery slide and a wooden tower with a climbing net for access, and should be as much, if not more fun. The image shows it under light test by two of my daughters, but we are confident it will take as many children as there is room for.

It has been built by Motiva who have an excellent rope walk in the trees of the Forest of Dean. They have used special soft wood, specified for this type of use and grown in the Baltic republics, where the cold weather ensures slower growth and a better quality of timber. All ropes and nets are safety approved, and the destination tree has survived many storms and winds, not to mention the 1976 hurricane. If it ever started to move, I am confident that the Burma Bridge would hold it in place. It will be free of charge to visitors to the castle and grounds, and that includes parents and grandparents.

My older children used to think it was quite cool to live in a house with its own playground. As they grew older, however, they were less keen on shared access. My younger children luckily are still at the thinking it cool stage. We hope lots of visitors will too!

JH-B   2nd April 2012