Winter Pudding Club in the Cotswolds: Seven Great British Puddings, Every Friday Since 1985

The nights are drawing in, the log fire is lit, and from 1 September the
Pudding Club at Three Ways House Hotel switches to its winter line-up — six hot puddings and one cold,
served with lashings of custard in the Cotswold village that has been protecting the Great British
Pudding for forty years.

What is the Pudding Club?

It is not a dessert menu and it is not a tasting plate. Seven whole puddings are carried into the
room, one round at a time, announced by the Pudding Master to a good deal of noise and ceremony. You
help yourself, you go back for more, and at the end of the evening you cast a vote. Everyone leaves
with a certificate.

You do not need to be a member of anything. There is no subscription, no waiting list and no secret
handshake — just a booking. What began as a private joke between two hotel owners in 1985 is now a
world-famous Cotswolds dining experience
that draws guests from across the UK and well beyond it.

How the Pudding Club began: a short history

In the mid-1980s the two owners of Three Ways House made a habit of eating at other hotels around
the county. What they kept finding on the dessert trolley was crème caramel, Black Forest gâteau and
variations on the same continental theme. Perfectly pleasant — but not, they felt, British puddings.

So they went home to Mickleton, walked into the kitchen with an armful of old recipes, handed them
to the chefs and asked them to make the lot. The chefs did exactly that.

Seven puddings came back. The owners invited eight friends into a room much like the one the
Pudding Club still meets in today, served them a light main course, and then brought out all seven,
one round after another. When the plates were finally cleared, somebody suggested a vote to settle
which pudding had been the best of the night.

Syrup Sponge won. It is still on the winter menu, and it still wins its share of
votes forty years later.

Why are there seven puddings?

C · U · S · T · A · R · D — seven letters, seven puddings, seven rounds.

It is the kind of detail that sounds invented until you are sitting there counting them off. The
Pudding Club’s mission since that first evening has been a simple one: to preserve the best of British
puddings for years to come. Four decades on, that mission is still the whole point of the exercise.

Summer Pudding Club vs Winter Pudding Club: what changes?

Banoffee Pie has a habit of running away with the summer vote. Come winter, the competition gets a
good deal more traditional — and a good deal more filling.

Christmas Pudding Club dates

Three times a year the Pudding Club puts on a Christmas edition, where the parade includes Three
Ways’ own Christmas pudding alongside a run of festive favourites. These evenings book up earliest of
anything in the calendar.

A Christmas Pudding Club also makes an unusually good work do. If you would rather have the room
to yourselves, we can host a private Pudding Club for larger groups — have a look at
celebrations and private events at Three Ways,
or get in touch and we will talk it through.

What happens on a Pudding Club evening

• From 6.45pm Guests arrive and are welcomed with a glass of Bucks Fizz. Seating is
  on large round tables of eight to ten, so you will almost certainly end up talking to strangers.
  That is rather the point.
• The introduction The Pudding Master opens proceedings with a jovial briefing on
  the rules, the history and the scoring.
• The light main course A deliberately restrained plate — a choice of salmon,
  chicken or a vegetarian option. Restraint is advisable.
• The Parade of Seven Puddings Puddings are carried in one round at a time, each
  announced with due ceremony. Custard is not optional.
• The vote Over coffee, everyone votes for their pudding of the night and the
  winner is announced.
• Around 10.30–11pm The evening winds up and guests leave, certificates in hand.

Behind the scenes on a Friday

While guests are having their Bucks Fizz, the kitchen has already done the heavy lifting. A typical
Friday means 28 puddings and 24 pints of custard — four of each pudding, because one
of each would not survive the second round.

Dietary requirements are catered for with advance notice, so tell us when you book and the kitchen
will plan around it.

Make a weekend of it in the North Cotswolds

The Pudding Club works best as the opening act. Three Ways House Hotel sits in Mickleton, ten
minutes from Chipping Campden and fifteen from Stratford-upon-Avon, which makes it an easy base for a
proper Cotswold weekend.

• Friday — check in, settle in, and join the Pudding Club at 6.45pm.
  Seven of our bedrooms are themed around the
  puddings themselves, which is either a delight or a warning, depending on your appetite.
• Saturday — Hidcote Manor Garden and Kiftsgate Court are within a couple of miles,
  and Chipping Campden, Broadway and Stratford-upon-Avon are all a short drive. See
  things to do near Chipping Campden for
  the full list. Come back for afternoon tea or dinner in the
  air-conditioned restaurant.
• Sunday — breakfast, a countryside walk on the Cotswold Way, then back for
  Sunday lunch before you head home.

Two-night stays that include a Pudding Club evening appear regularly on our
Cotswold weekend break offers.

Pudding Club gifts and merchandise

If somebody in your life is more interested in puddings than in anything you could reasonably wrap,
a Pudding Club gift voucher solves the
problem neatly. We also sell the Pudding Club range at the hotel:

• Pudding Club bears — Syrup Sponge, Sticky Toffee, Spotted Dick and friends
• Wooden jam spoons and chopping boards
• Aprons, caps and T-shirts
• Pudding Club bowls and mugs
• Water bottles

Pudding Club FAQs

Ready to join us? Head to The
Pudding Club for this season’s dates, or see
what else is on at Three Ways.