Farewell to Irene Kershaw


Here at The Pheasant we regard many of our regular guests as family, and many of you will already have heard the very sad news that Irene, the matriarch of the Kershaw family and one of the three partners in The Pheasant Inn, passed away recently.
 
Irene and her husband Walter ran the very successful Copper Kettle Tearoom on Front Street in Bamburgh for many years, and when the couple bought The Pheasant Inn in 1985 it had a chequered history and was badly in need of some TLC.
 
True to character and never one to retreat from a challenge, Irene rolled up her sleeves and got to work alongside Walter and their son Robin to transform The Pheasant Inn into an award-winning country pub serving simple, unpretentious food with good wine and real ales, alongside comfortable bed and breakfast accommodation that every year welcomes hundreds of visitors to our beautiful county of Northumberland.
 
Irene passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, February 5th, 2017 aged 80 years, after several months of illness, bravely borne. Family and friends gathered together to attend a thanksgiving service at St Peter's Church in Falstone to celebrate her life, and we think she would have been both touched and pleased that so many people turned out, and made kind donations in her memory, totalling £660 divided equally between Tynedale Hospice at Home and Macmillan Cancer Support.
 
Her influence and her unwavering instinct for providing warm and welcoming hospitality will always be with us and she is very much missed by the family and the Pheasant’s team of staff.
 
Walter, Robin and Angela would like to pass on their thanks to everyone for their kind words and for their support over the last few months.

Eipcurean event at Gleneagles proves a hit for The Pheasant Inn Kielder

Epicurean event at Gleneagles

 

We were very excited to receive an invitation from our Scotland-based Wine Merchant, Wine Importers Ltd, to an ‘Epicurean event of Food and Wine Pairing’ at the world famous Gleneagles hotel in Perthshire recently.

Here at The Pheasant we like to constantly refresh our wine list, as well as adding to our range of over 50 fine whiskies, so this was an event not to be missed and Robin and Angela took a rare break together to attend. And to those of you thinking Robin struck lucky with a very tax-effective treat for Angela’s recent milestone birthday, shame on you, nothing was further from his thoughts!

Wine Importers Ltd enjoy a great reputation for quality and the beautifully printed invitation promised wonderful wines and tasty dishes, to allow guests to sample an array of food styles combined with 250 wines from the best producers in the world. The promise certainly lived up to expectations and sparked lots of ideas for interesting new flavours and dishes among the audience.

Those of you familiar with the beautiful county of Northumberland know it’s a fair distance from Stannersburn to Gleneagles, so Robin and Angela took advantage and stayed over for a couple of nights.  One of the highlights of the trip was tucking into the hotel’s famous breakfast the following morning.  A great trip and all in the name of research you understand, there is nothing we won’t do for our guests! 

Au revoir and hello

Our staff become part of the family here at the Pheasant Inn Kielder, and we are sad to bid farewell to our lovely team of John and Natalie, who leave us shortly. The couple are eventually returning to Natalie’s home city of Melbourne in Australia, but before that Natalie is having a complete change and will be working at Go Ape, the zip line & treetop adventure course  experts. 

John and Natalie will have been with us for 12 months when they leave in March, which is a first for what were traditionally seasonal jobs for our bar and restaurant staff.  

Running a Northumberland country pub with bed and breakfast has in previous years been very much a seasonal affair, peaking in summer and allowing us a little bit of breathing space during the winter months to allow us to get all our annual refurbishments done. But in recent years attractions like the Kielder Observatory, the Alnwick Garden and Northumberlandia have added to the castles, countryside and heritage attractions of our beautiful county of Northumberland, making business equally buoyant all year round.

The Kielder Observatory in particular draws hundreds of visitors, and we’re pleased to be on its list of recommended places to stay nearby. Northumberland being granted dark-sky status by The International Dark Skies Association really boosted visitor numbers, not just from the UK but further afield and we are always happy to welcome our stargazing visitors.    

Anyway, back to John and Natalie, who have been a pleasure to work with over the last year. We are very sorry to see them leave but wish them all the very best for the future, whatever it holds for them. Stepping into their shoes are Arran and Agne who have been working in Malta and hail respectively from Scotland and Lithuania. We look forward to them joining the hard working team who give our customers a warm welcome and great service.


Awards and reviews

"Good people, good place, good food, good beer."

visitor from London

"An old English pub with modern accommodation in an idyllic spot. Good food, friendly staff ...need I say more? Fitness Centre? The great outdoors!"

visitor from Somerset

"The Kershaws' cooking is fresh, generous and flavoursome, producing wholesome traditional English fare."

The Pub Guide

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  • Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence
  • Trip Advisor Hall of Fame
  • Visit England Four Star Award
  • Visit England Silver Award
  • Visit England Breakfast Award
  • AA Gold Award 2018
  • AA Breakfast Award 2018
  • AA Dinner Award 2018
  • Alistair Scwdays
  • Walker Welcome
  • Families Welcome
  • Cyclists Welcome