News and Features

Where Chocolat Meets Cider

an unusual Cheddar partnership

At first glance, Cheddar businesses Spa Chocolat and The White Hart seem further apart than the literal mile that separates them.

Spa Chocolat aims to ‘nurture health, re-shape the body, pamper the mind and indulge the senses’, whilst the White Hart promises a warm welcome in a traditional country pub, at the foot of Cheddar Gorge.

English pubs with their unique ales and in Somerset, traditional ciders, have restored weary travellers and given locals a place to relax and unwind for hundreds of years and of course still do today.

In different ways, both Spa Chocolat and The White Hart improve the wellbeing of their customers, whether through a personally tailored programme of beauty treatments, health screening and holistic therapies at Spa Chocolat, or simply through a relaxing pint and friendly chat in the White Hart’s cosy bar or wholesome meal in the spacious garden overlooking the Mendip Hills.

Both the spa and the pub are run by inspiring women; Wendy Langley and Tracey Chidzey respectively.  They have been working together to adapt the White Hart’s menu to provide a range of clear and delicious choices for customers with a range of food intolerances.

Wendy Langley had been a dancer since the age of 3 and was principal of a Dance Academy in Kent, but lost her career overnight due to a serious illness which her doctors were unable to diagnose.  “I went to a nutritionist out of desperation” she says “I was told my adrenal glands were not working correctly, and from that day on I set about getting well naturally.  I studied nutrition as part of this and one thing led to another.”

Since then Wendy has qualified in MSAS health screening, Nutritional Therapy Personal Fitness, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Life Coaching. Driven by a desire to help others, she worked from a clinic at Cheddar Medical Centre before setting up Spa Chocolat 6 months ago.

Spa Chocolat offers health screening, using the Meridian Stress Assessment System, alongside specialist fitness programmes and beauty treatments, from facials to pedicures and massages, including the trademark chocolate facial. 

Landlady at The White Hart, Tracey Chidzey, pays tribute to former boss, Huw Davies at The Riverside, but couldn’t resist the challenge of running her own business and seized the opportunity to run The White Hart.  Since taking the reins three years ago Tracey has put together a menu of fresh homemade dishes, with ingredients sourced from local providers wherever possible.  The menu ranges from light bites such as crusty artisan baguettes, to ‘Harty’ Ploughman’s, local steaks and Sunday roasts with ‘gravy like Mum and Dad’s’.   The ‘build your own pizzas’ are a hit with guests young and old, but of course you’ll have to be over 18 to enjoy the wonderful range of Thatcher’s and guest ciders and real ales from Butcombe, alongside guest ales such as Tribute and Abbott Ale.   

Tracey says that she is often asked if a meal is gluten free, dairy free or vegetarian. “I wanted to cater for people with special dietary requirements” she says “but I needed to be sure that I what I was doing was right, and that’s where I looked to Wendy for advice. Together we’ve adapted the menu to offer gluten free alternatives to main menu items, for example in the All Day Brunch we’ve replaced the sausages with gluten free ones made by a butcher in Weston-super-Mare.  Our chicken breast topped with cheese, can be adapted to chicken breast topped with ‘Sheese’, a vegan soya-based alternative to cheese.

 More about The White Hart, plus contact details and links

Spa Chocolat website