If you’d told me at the start of the year that I’d be sat as the ‘Ben’ to my daughter’s homemade costumed character of ‘Bill’ dining out in a greenhouse, having not eaten out for the past 16 weeks, I would have said you were, of course, crazy.

But low and behold! There are pictures to prove it.

During quarantine we’d been enjoying some family themed dinners at home and they had caught the attention of some of our local friends online; the reward for providing such apparently much-needed entertainment (the costumes did get more attention than our food) we were invited to hold our ‘finale’ themed dinner within one of the beautiful new features of The North Hill Hotel and Green Room restaurant. When I was sent the pictures of the newly built greenhouses it was an easy yes! What is the catch I asked? Obviously you must dress as ‘Bill and Ben the flowerpot men’. Oh ok….(didn’t even need our arms twisted to be honest)… but can I bring the dog ? We own a bishon frise who was gaining a starring role in her own right throughout the lockdown process for her willingness to participate in our madness and shenanigans.

These new 4-person greenhouses were indeed a marvel! We chose the blue one to sit ourselves in and it became immediately obvious that the tree coverings of  the whole outdoor terrace were hugely assistive in natural temperature control. Handy! As we were served, the real ‘experience’ element of dining within the greenhouse became more and more apparent and we thoroughly enjoyed the passing dishes and surprisingly roomy ambiance and background music.

Chatting to the lovely owners Rob and Helen, I understood why they had created this new outdoor space and how it would aid social distancing and group dining, alongside their longer term thought-processes of why you’d want to book one for your lunch or dinner anyway. I can confirm all the reasons why it seemed a good idea were a good idea in the reality too – we had such a wonderful time and it was hard to prise ourselves out of the miniature ‘home’ we had so happily moved in!

I can imagine thoroughly enjoying many an evening meal in all weathers out the back of this secluded central space and we will most definitely be back. I would imagine it will also attract a younger demographic of visitors to this much-loved town centre restaurant too.

We find it very difficult to find local outdoor places to eat with such appeal and the fact that our small dog was also allowed in situ provided yet another different dynamic to our evening out.

Myself, and the KAT Marketing team, will most certainly be back to visit the greenhouses at The Green Room…but next time I will not necessarily be dressed as a flowerpot…