Feversham Arms Hotel celebrates reopening by launching its own gin

The Feversham Arms Hotel & Verbena Spa in Helmsley has teamed up with artisan producer Hooting Owl to create the bespoke Feversham Arms Gin with botanicals and flavours from the area.

Alex Stainsby, restaurant manager of the luxury hotel, said it was something they had wanted to do for some time and began the development with Hooting Owl during lockdown.

"They have a great reputation for creating signature flavours using botanicals found in local areas such as seaweed in coastal regions and heather from the North York Moors.

“We’re delighted that we have created a gin specifically for the Feversham Arms Hotel, using fragrant local botanicals to create a smooth, flavoursome and ‘fruity’ gin.

"We’ll be using it as the base note for a number of exciting cocktails we’re creating, ready to welcome back guests for a poolside cocktail and al fresco dining. It will also create a lovely gift to take home for guests of their stay with us.”

Within the current guidance, the hotel and spa is open for day spa treatments and al fresco dining (weather permitting) on Thursday to Sunday only. Subject to Government guidance, the hotel will reopen fully for overnight stays from May 17.

Hooting Owl distillery is the brainchild of Dominic M’Benga and his partner Sarah, who acquired Barmby Moor House, York in 2017 and embarked on a major restoration.

As they were refurbishing the scullery, they discovered a hidden safe belonging to former resident, Sir Owlfred Tyton Hodgins.

In that safe was a single remaining bottle of Sir Owlfred’s Hooting Owl Signature Gin and a book of botanical recipes and flavours from a ‘Tour of Yorkshire’.

The rest is history as they began creating their own gin using Sir Owlfred’s old recipes as inspirations and continued his journey of creating delicious and refreshing gins, ‘forged by nature’ influenced by the Yorkshire landscape. Working with the Feversham team they have created a bespoke gin, that reflects the local landscape

Dominic said: “The Feversham Gin is all about North Yorkshire with a recipe similar to The Hooting Owl Distillery North Yorkshire Gin. The botanical List is made up of classic London dry botanicals with the addition of some Hooting Owl specific ingredients.

“We start with juniper, coriander seed, cardamom, liquorice roots, orris root, Angelica root, dandelion root, burdock root. We add citrus notes with bitter orange peel, red grapefruit and kafir lime leaves, then a nod to the North York Moors with bilberries and lemon thyme with the addition of Silver Birch Tree Bark, similar to the birch trees around the Feversham outdoor pool, and bay taken from the bay trees at the front entrance of the hotel.”

The bottles are of a distinctive design, by local graphic designer and wildlife artist, Codie Linton.

The bottle design is unique to the Feversham Arms and etching removes the need for plastic labels and allows the bottles to be repurposed.