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R ecently I discovered that there’s a hotel devoted to British puddings, where the rooms

are decorated in honour of various scrummy desserts. Minutes later I got on the blower to arrange a visit, like, immediately!

Three Ways House, built in 1871 in the Cotswolds village of Mickleton, has been visited by the likes of Michael Palin and is home to the Pudding Club, a society founded in 1985 aimed at keeping the Great British Pud alive (think jam roly-poly, spotted dick and sticky toffee pudding – then wipe that slobber off your chin!).

Twice a month the club have a meeting at the hotel in which participants scoff seven different delicious desserts and vote for their fave – no doubt a hard task. Taking part costs £28, which includes a main course and as many seconds as you can handle.

Unfortunately my boyfriend and I couldn’t make it to a meeting, so we consoled ourselves by booking a stay at one of the hotel’s seven pudding-themed rooms instead. We had a choice of: the Spotted Dick and Custard Room; the Oriental Ginger Room; the Summer Pudding Room; the Chocolate Room (most popular, naturally); the Syrup

Hot Hotel

Sponge Room; the Sticky Toffee and Date Room, and Lord Randall’s Bed Chamber (named after Lord Randall’s Pudding – a special marmalade and dried apricot treat).

We went for the Syrup Sponge Room, the decor for which is inspired by Lyle’s Golden Syrup and its trademark lion and bees logo. From the bed’s gold and brown satin canopy – cut to look like dripping syrup – to the lion ornaments and Lyle’s paraphernalia, including a framed advert and a Golden Syrup teapot, the room was as sweet as it could be. Even the wall above the ensuite’s bathtub-cum-shower featured a mural of a lion grasping a tin of Lyle’s. Other cute touches included a cuddly lion toy on the bed and a recipe for syrup sponge pudding painted on the bathroom door. In fact, all the Pudding Rooms feature relevant recipes on theirs. Bless!

And if the Pudding Rooms are too sickly sweet for your tastes there are 41 non-themed rooms, each individually decorated in a traditional country house-meets-contemporary style.

For dinner, the Boy and I visited the hotel restaurant, manned by award-winning chefs, where TV cooks Gary

Three Ways House,

can besweet

as sweet

The room was

Mickletonwords: laura godman

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Previous pages: the Syrup Sponge Room

(main picture); a choice chocolate pudding (inset)

Clockwise from above: Laura’s grilled mackerel

fillet; the Three Ways House Restaurant Im

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VITAL STATISTICSCheCk In: 2pm CheCk ouT: 12pm

RATeS PeR nIGhT Single with shower from £80Double for single occupation from £95Standard Double from £135Superior Double from £170Pudding Rooms from £190

FooD & DRInkBreakfast: served in restaurant, included in room rate; breakfast room service available from 7.30am to 9.30am weekdays and 8am to 10am weekends Randall’s Bar-Brasserie: open from 12.30pm to 2.30pm and from 7pm to 9pm. Wines start at £15.50 for a bottle. Starters begin at £4.95, mains are £10.50 and all desserts are £5.50 Restaurant: open from 7pm with last orders at 9.30pm. £33 per head for mixed set menu. Drinks as aboveFACILITIeS● Shower and/or bath● In-room tea/coffee-making facilities● Hairdryer● Towelling robes and Molton Brown toiletries in selected rooms● Free wi-fi in all rooms, plus internet portal in reception hallway● Bose CD player/radio and flat-screen TV in selected rooms

SmokInG PoLICyNo smoking throughout

Until 30 September Scarleteers can get a picnic hamper for two to take away when they book Standard, Superior or Theme rooms on a bed & breakfast rate (from £135 to £210 per night for two people). Hamper contains delicious home-baked cakes, Divine chocolate and scones with clotted cream and jam, plus a half-bottle of chilled champagne per couple. Who said romance was dead? Offer subject to availability, and not available in conjunction with any other offer.

Special offer – FREE champagne picnic worth £50 for Scarlet readers!

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❶ The Heart of England Way – a 100-mile walk through the West Midlands from Milford Common to Bourton-on-the-Water – goes right through the centre of Mickleton.

❷ Shakespeare was born nine miles away in Stratford-upon-Avon. Today you can tour the playwright’s haunts, from the house he was born in, to the last home he lived in. See Stratford-upon-Avon.co.uk for more details.

❸ Mickleton is overlooked by Meon Hill. It was here, on Valentine’s Day 1945, that a mysterious killing, later dubbed the ‘Witchcraft Murder’, took place. Charles Walton, a 74-year-old farm labourer, was found dead with a hook through his neck, his

body pinned to the ground with his own pitchfork and a cross-shape carved into his chest. The murder remains unsolved, but its paralells to witch killings in Anglo-Saxon times led people to believe that the murder was the work of the occult.

❹ The Battle of Mickleton Tunnel took place in 1851 and is thought to have been the last conflict fought by private armies on British soil. It started when engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel fell out with a constructor he’d employed to build a railway. The constructor reckoned he was owed £34,000, but Brunel disagreed and promptly set 3,000 men on the contractor and his chaps. Eventually, the constructor surrendered and matters were quietly resolved. Phew!

❺ For a different view of Mickleton you can take a hot air balloon trip over the village and surrounding areas. Prices start

at £130. See BallooningInTheCotswolds.co.uk for details.

ThInGS you PRoBABLy DIDn’T know ABouT mICkLeTon

Clockwise from above: Randall’s Bar-Brasserie; Laura’s room makes her roar with delight; Three

Ways House; truffle-style cushions in the

Chocolate Room

squidgy chocolateJam sponge,

cakeand sticky toffee pud:lovely!

Rhodes and Rick Stein have filmed in the past. Well-lit, with turquoise walls, space-enhancing mirrors and cutesy paintings of mugs, the restaurant was like a big, contemporary tearoom – elegant but relaxing at the same time.

The restaurant provides a mixed, set three-course meal, which changes weekly, for £33 per head. After ordering a bottle of house wine I lusted after

the Boy’s starter of crab tian with chilli coconut, served with rocket salad and lime dressing – one taster bite wasn’t enough – while for mains I kept it fishy with grilled mackerel fillet, watercress salad and citrus and basil marinade. He plumped for courgette and goat’s cheese risotto. For dessert, we pigged out on a trio of traditional puds: a divine jam and coconut sponge, squidgy

chocolate and nut cake and sticky toffee pudding, all served with custard. Lovely!

Afterwards we took our wine (and well-fed bellies) through to reception, where the original Edwardian flooring is in place, and into Randall’s Bar-Brasserie, which serves drinks and light dishes. Featuring an open fireplace, it’s styled like a soothing country house sitting room (but, er, with a bar) and we snuggled up on a

plump sofa to finish our plonk and muse on the calming countryside paintings. Later on, as we lay in our syrupy bed with our cuddly lion, the Boy and I agreed that we definitely fancied seconds on our visit. Three Ways House, Mickleton, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire GL55 6SB. To book call 01386 438429 or email Reception@PuddingClub.com. For more info visit PuddingClub.com