The Haycock Hotel Showcase

The Haycock Hotel is a celebrated sixteenth century coaching inn, situated on the banks of the river Nene in the picturesque village of Wansford, Cambridgeshire. The prestigious hotel is set among five acres of grounds, complete with cricket pitch, walled formal gardens and river frontage. Known as one of the finest hotels in the area, with a reputation for the very highest standards, the Haycock also offers excellent private function and corporate hospitality facilities. Completing the picture is The Orchards, the hotel's highly regarded restaurant.

Titman Firth's graphic design relationship with the Haycock began with a direct mail campaign to promote a 'Business to Banquet' event. Local companies were invited to attend a morning or afternoon session where they could sample the hotel's facilities for themselves.

Following the success of the event, Titman Firth were asked to develop the hotel's menus throughout the restaurant and bars. Initially we visited the hotel anonymously to find out what it was like being a customer. We found the existing menus were confusing in places, so the new design took clarity as its benchmark.

A consistent layout from dish to dish with clear emboldening of key words was used. A distinctive design was chosen and accompanied by strong colour coding. Because menus change frequently, we created the menus as templates in Microsoft Word that the hotel could overprint onto pre-printed menu sheets. This meant that the hotel could produce professional-standard menus to match the high quality of their food.