Special Features
at The
Mill at Gordleton Hotel
Weddings at The Mill
 
All our weddings and civil partnerships at the Mill are individual and unique. Your own personal wedding planner will spend as much time as necessary with you to make sure everything is perfect. Because we are small and welcoming we would like you and your guests to feel the Hotel is more like your home.
We can accomodate for as few as 10 people in our intimate private dining room, up to 60 guests in the restaurant or a maximum 125 in a marquee of your choice.
We don't have a wedding pack as such but do offer a pricing structure to make it easier for everybody
(Please click on on link below)
Wedding Brochure
The Mill hosts a range of special events throughout the year, from the fabulous New Years Eve Party,
Gourmet evenings, Jazz in the Garden - to
Music at the Mill on Sunday evenings, usually rock and blues.
Take advantage of the wonderful setting and facilities at The Mill for
your
special event and sample the fabulous food and fine wines.
Keep an eye on this page or the local press for information on specific events.
Our Next Music Night - 24th August 2008 - Booking Essential!
The next music night is going to be rather special. We are hosting a charity evening on August Bank Holiday Sunday-24th August in memory of a unique young man called ‘Reza’. He died in May this year only 32 years of age of a virulent, inherited cancer.
His family are organising a night of Music, dancing , food and a charity auction on his behalf.
It would be great if we could all support them the website for more information and how to book is www.rezalution.org.
For the smokers amongst you we have a lovely new smoking area with a heater on the patio
with cushions – cosy!! – and we’ve also extended our terrace area to create even more
tables for alfresco dining.
The Mill Newsletter
News
Below is an article taken from Hampshire Society Magazine, May 2006.
Written by John Billington.
When my eldest daughter was just four I explained that she would be having a baby sitter as I was off to play bridge. She took the information on board and tootled off, only to return half an hour later with the query, “ Who’s going to be the troll?”
That little girl would have been entranced by the bridge leading to the Mill at Gordleton. There might even have been a nervous glance over the edge or a frightened dash for the far side. Not that she would have found a troll or any other type of monster at what has to be one of the most welcoming eateries in Hampshire.
As well as nine rooms for overnight guests and a cracking restaurant, the Mill has a splendid, old-fashioned bar serving Ringwood beer and boasting a darned good menu of it’s own. The locals have finally persuaded chef Karl Wiggins to offer beef burgers, and he is as uncompromising about the quality in the bar as he is with the restaurant; only the best Aberdeenshire beef goes into his burgers.
Quality and personal touch are watchwords around the Mill – having a barmaid with the surname Billington (no relation) is simply the final cherry on the cake.
Liz Cottingham has run the Mill for 3 years and it is her flair and knowledge the gives such a style to the décor and warmth to the welcome. Her wealth of experience in the restaurant world shines through; not many proprietors would recommend a less expensive wine because she knows it would better suit the dish!
In the bar we nibbled on tasty appetisers of mini bruschetta while savouring an excellent pint and choosing from an exemplary menu. There was much to recommence such a balanced and inventive selection, not least a demonstrable use of local and seasonal ingredients.
By the time we sat in the restaurant, we’d somehow just come to expect that everything would be absolutely spot on.
And it was. The service, the arrangement of tables, the level of lighting, the freshness of the bread, the temperature if the butter, all was as it should be and not a hint of pretension to be found. What a pleasure.
My wife, Tracie’s starter of pan-fried scallops with cauliflower puree and a truffle vinaigrette was a lesson in value-added cooking. The scallops were cooked simply, their quality allowed to speak for itself, while the cauliflower puree had an intensity that that captured the essence of the vegetable.
My pressed terrine of duck livers was a deep joy. Wrapped in pancetta, they were presented with a toasted brioche and a toothsome fig and balsamic chutney.
The wine list is unashamedly committed to quality and variety. Although there is nothing cheap, there are plenty of bargains when it comes to value for money and an impressive array of wines by the glass.
Tracie sampled a zingy Sancerre, Charles Dupuy 2003 with her scallops and then took a chance on my recommendation of a red wine with her unusual main course. She had a fillet of bass on a bed of sag aloo potatoes with homemade onion bhaji and an Asian spiced cream. We’d plumped for a Pinotage, but Liz steered us towards an Argentinian Malbec Sangiovese that had underlying spice perfect for a dish with so many Indian influences.
I’d had an old friend Rioja Gran Reseva, Conde de Valdemar 1997 to go with my duck terrine and happily stayed with it for my main course. The wine sang happily along with the pan-fried breast of guinea fowl, venison sausage, creamy mash, cassoulet beans and a red wind sauce.
Top tucker. Mention “cassoulet beans” and you’ve got a friend in me – provided they are as they should be. These were as creamy as the mash and replete with all the flavours of the deep red sauce. The meat was pretty darn good to.
Pudding saw a role reversal. Tracie had an Irish coffee bavarios – helpfully described as a light mousse – and served with shortbread. It was the type of dessert I’d usually plump for but this time I went for the rich dark chocolate fondant with grittiness cherries and sour cherry ice cream. The ten-minute wait while it was cooked was no hardship. There was more than one glance of envy as my eyes widened when the intensity of the chocolate burst on my palate. A feast for aficionados and a once in blue moon indulgence for me.
Take this good advice: trip-trap, trip-trap over the bridge to the Mill at Gordleton.
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