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Frosts Garden Centre in Woburn Sands has launched a super fun dining experience for the festive season and into the new year. ‘The igloo experience’ means you can dine in your own little bubble (with your social bubble!) and enjoy a few hours away from the rest of the world. Frosts is a bit of a Milton Keynes institution and no one really does Christmas as they do, so it’s no surprise that these igloos are part of Frosts’ winter offering for 2020. In this blog post, I’ll be giving you the low down on all you need to know about visiting and sharing my own experience of dining in Frosts igloos.
What’s included in Frosts’ igloo experience?
The igloo experience at Frosts includes a private igloo for six people or less which is complete with a cosy heater and a Bluetooth speaker for your own music. Inside, you’ll also find a disco ball, festive touches and a mini-fridge which is stocked with whatever drinks you preorder!
You can choose from three sittings during the day – Breakfast, lunch or dinner.
How much does it cost?
Breakfast is £100 and lunch or afternoon tea is £150. This includes all your food for up to six people. Drinks packages are available at an additional cost. If you’re dining out with six people, that works out at £25 each for food (£16 for breakfast).
Do the igloos count as outdoor dining?
Unfortunately, the igloos count as indoor dining as they are totally enclosed. As Milton Keynes is in Tier 2, you won’t be able to go with anyone that isn’t in your household bubble or your support bubble. The experience is open until February, so hopefully by the new year, we might be able to dine out with another group of friends!
My experience at Frosts’ igloos
We visited Frosts’ igloos for a late lunch sitting which is 3:15pm – 6pm. There are different menus available throughout the period the igloos are open, so at the moment, the lunch menu is a festive one!
The igloos are located at the back of the main garden centre restaurant. They are surrounded by Christmas decorations and look quick spectacular when they are lit up in the dark! They are beautifully decorated inside with mistletoe surrounding the heater and festive decorations on the table. It really felt like a little alpine hut!
The igloos are heated, though I would recommend wearing something cosy, as your back and feet might get a little chilly as they face away from the heater.
There is a mini-fridge and ice bucket inside the igloo for your drinks. The fridge will be stocked with whatever drinks you preorder. We had the gin & tonic package (£25) which included a crate of garnishes to ‘pimp your drink.’ This was a nice touch. I love gin anyway, and love playing with different combinations!
Other packages include wine, beer or welcome drinks.
As I mentioned above, we had the Christmas menu which is being served until 3rd January. The menu featured a choice of three starters, meat or vegetarian Christmas dinner and a choice of three desserts.
To start, I opted for the prawn cocktail. A light, fresh, classic dish, succulent prawns sat atop bread and were accompanied by a salad. This was really delicious. I don’t usually go for a prawn cocktail (I’ve had a few bad ones!) but the ratio of sauce to prawn was excellent.
Dan chose the chicken and duck terrine to start. This was accompanied by red onion and port marmalade, crostini and salad leaves. This was equally delicious – The terrine was nice and chunky with a hearty richness to contrast with the marmalade.
And now for the main event! There was a choice of a vegan nut roast or turkey for Christmas dinner. Both of us opted for turkey which was well cooked and not dry at all. The roasts come with all the trimmings including clementine roasted root vegetables, brussels sprouts with maple butter & toasted almonds, braised red cabbage with pomegranate and oven-roasted potatoes.
The sides were really delicious. I am a fan of brussell sprouts anyway but the maple butter and the toasted almonds really added an extra dimension of flavour! I loved the red cabbage – although I only ever seem to eat it at Christmas. The root veg was also delicious with a delicate hint of citrus.
Neither of us is a fan of Christmas pudding, so for dessert, Dan had the plum and apricot crumble tart with citrus crème fraiche. This was a light, fruity crumble with a good hint of sharpness from the plum. Dan absolutely loves crumble, so this did go down a treat!
I had the pecan pie cheesecake with maple toffee sauce. This was a huge slice of cheesecake nad just about defeated me, but oh my goodness it was delicious. Sweet, creamy and rich, it was like sticky toffee pudding in a cheesecake.
We had such a lovely time at Frosts’ igloo experience! It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon in the lead up to Christmas. This would make a lovely way to celebrate in the lead up to Christmas with your household or social bubble. The igloos are so cosy and the food was really great!
To book an igloo at Frosts, email reservations@frostsgroup.com with the date you would like to book and your contact phone number so the reservations team can call you to process the booking. Find out more on Frosts’ website.
Have you been to Frosts’ igloos? Will you be booking this festive season?
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