On Good Friday Penshurst Place opens a new café – The Porcupine Pantry* – to the public.
Open daily all year The Pantry is located outside the main house and grounds ticketed area and also accessible via the Gift Shop. It has seating inside and out for up to 82 people.
Serving a selection of hot and cold drinks from 9am – 6pm – it will provide a simple breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea menu including bacon rolls and a selection of freshly-baked savoury and sweet pastries cooked on the premises.
Lord De L’Isle, owner of Penshurst Place, says about the project:
“Our new ‘place to eat’ will add to the visitor experience here at Penshurst Place and has been built in response to customer comments received. We will now be welcoming visitors to Penshurst Place all year round – whatever the weather.”
General Manager of Penshurst Place Estate, Ben Thomas who developed and has overseen this exciting new project, says
“We are delighted to get the Pantry project off the ground. After several years of getting customer feedback about the need for a place serving refreshments that is open all year, and outside the ticketed area, we will now be able to service our local community and customers more effectively and manage the high demand for our good quality catering, that we have encountered at peak times over the past few seasons at Penshurst Place.”
The architectural consultants were a local firm Madgwick and Dottridge and the caterer will be Leith’s at Penshurst Place, who successfully manage Penshurst Place’s Garden Restaurant to a high standard and their high end private events and functions catering.
Garry James, Leith’s General Manager at Penshurst Place, who will be running the new café, says,
“We are thrilled to be part of this exciting new venture for Penshurst Place. We will be offering a good quality offer that visitors will really enjoy and come back for more!’
Located opposite the regional cycle route no 12 and close to the Penshurst estate parkland walk routes, it also provides a new place for passing walkers and cyclists, Travel Trade/Group visitors, season ticket holders, local residents and others passing by to eat out.
The official opening event will take place in April after the Easter Holidays.
More information at www.penshurstplace.com/pantry
Why is it called the Porcupine Pantry?
The Sidney family that own Penshurst Place have a coat of arms – and part of their arms is a Porcupine. A pantry goes back to medieval times, and was a room located next to the main kitchen where the utensils and food was stored – it is believed the word derives from the french word for bread – pain.