My wife Gynette and I own the Springfield following many years working for larger corporate chain Hotels. In 2004 we took the plunge and bought our own place and have since worked on our vision of taking all the best bits of the chain-owned Hotels (organisation and professionalism) and marrying them with traditional, friendly hospitality (and great food but I’ll come back to that).

So for example, when you arrive for a stay at the Springfield, instead of asking you 20 questions about which newspaper you want, when you want your early morning call, your dinner reservation and what your inside leg measurement is, we’ll show you round the Hotel and the Health Club, have a chat to you about what sights you might be taking in over the next couple of days and generally make you feel welcome. And if you would like to pop to the Bar for a drink or book a table for dinner, then you’re most welcome….

So to food. It’s a big, big theme here and I’ll be putting up some recipes and ideas on the blog, from our Head Chef John Rae and Sous Chef Scott. Both are very keen to hear what customers think (don’t believe what you see on the telly! Chefs are sensitive souls and they love a nice compliment. You can get an idea of what our guests are saying about our food here ). I’ll leave you with this, made with pork reared on a wonderful farm only a few miles away. It’s beautifully crispy and tasty…

Roast Belly of locally reared Pork (from Pentreisglas Farm in Whitford) on an Asian Salad of Spring Onion, Cucumber, Peanut, Soy and Ginger

Sound good? Well, accompanied by a chilled Sauvignon Blanc, it tastes great!

I’ll post up some recipes soon. In the meantime you can join us on Facebook at ‘SpringfieldHotel’ and on Twitter at ‘springfieldhot’ for more news.