Sustainability. Our hopes & good intentions…
Customer review July 2020:
“Very friendly service, gorgeous decor, and exceptional food! Some of the best food I’ve ever eaten and well worth the price. Sustainably and locally sourced so a completely guilt-free and super enjoyable lunch out. I already can’t wait until we’re back in this neck of the woods again so we can come again!”
Despite all the evolution The George has seen over the years, the spirit remains: it’s a place to kick back and enjoy its tranquillity, unhurried and understated elegance before stepping outside to soak up the atmosphere of our beautiful peak district.
All the dishes are made on the premises with ingredients sourced wherever possible within a 15mile radius. Having respect for our ingredients is integral to everything we do, and it’s important to us and our whole team that the food offering stays true to the environment which means maintaining a natural relationship to the produce we work with.
We regularly champion Derbyshire Gritstone Hogget bred by Mike down the road at Mayfield, who also rears Pedigree Saddleback pigs. We share the view that welfare and environmental conservation should be front of mind.
Opting for hogget (a lamb in its 2nd spring or summer) means you can enjoy a pasture fed, natural free range animal. Born in spring, hogget wastes less energy keeping warm and ewes need fewer supplementary feeds to help them produce milk, it’s just more in tune with the land and is better for you when raised this way, providing high levels of nutrition, is leaner and has lower saturated fats.
We use beef from cattle which grazes on land where sustainable management methods are practiced enabling farmers within our National Parks to be proactive environmental managers whilst, at the same time helping our rural economies to become more sustainable – win, win.
Fish of course must come from a little further afield! To this end, our fish is delivered daily from our UK coastline; Orkney to Cornwall. We use the same sustainable suppliers as some of our leading chefs at restaurants such as Moor Hall, Cornerstone Hackney, 12:51, Adams and Alchemilla.
Our own kitchen garden supplies our herbs and seasonal vegetables, supported by nearby allotment holders – all of which are grown to organic principles. Our eggs are the freshest; laid by our own hens. And our bees, well they crack on and pollenate the veg garden, supply us with incredible, floral honey and keep us all relatively sane. The kitchen waste goes back in to the composting, and that in turn goes back into the garden where we are trying out the no-dig method. So far, so good!
All of this of course enables our talented chefs to do what they do best; innovate and create.
The balance between seasonally led and creative cooking is a crucial part of the principles that we want to stick to as we develop The George into the unique destination we are so passionate about preserving.
“For bees, the flower is the fountain of life. For flowers, the bee is the messenger of love.”
-Kahlil Gibran
About us
The George is an unspoilt, award winning pub turned restaurant in the Peak District village of Alstonefield, above Dovedale and a stones throw from Mill Dale within the Peak National Park.
A green sward ripples in this remote limestone village, perched on a plateau between the gorges of the rivers Dove and Manifold.
Join us to enjoy our carefully selected wine list and exceptional food; a standard recognised in The Good Food Guide since 2009; Hardens, Michelin and AA – to name but a few.
As you walk into neat rooms of old beams, gleaming quarry tiles, a crackling log fire, you will know you’re in safe hands.
Our dining rooms have been restored to their original simplicity with lime plastered walls and farmhouse furniture. Candlelight and fresh flowers add a touch of elegance.
“ONE SIP FROM HEAVEN”
“It has rhubarb bellinis instead of brown ale, and home-roasted almonds rather than pork scratchings. But don’t be misled: the George has not lost touch with its roots. This 400-year-old coach house, has retained the lime-washed walls and photos of lugubrious locals, adding only fresh flowers, church candles and a mighty fine menu. Out front, you’ll find picnic sets right by the village green. The views hereabouts are straight from the I-spy book of the English countryside: tottering haystacks, tree-dappled meadows and (rather more surprisingly) Alstonefield’s resident T rex. Expect to share a table with hikers and horsewomen – it’s a short trot from here across dung-scented cow pasture to Dovedale, the prettiest valley in the peak district.”
THE SUNDAY TIMES 24TH JULY 2016
