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The Griffin Hotel at
Toddington Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel |
2, Station Road Toddington LU5 6BN Tel 01525 872030 info@thegriffinattoddington.com Fax 01525 875020 |
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At Toddington 2, Station Road, Toddington LU5 6BN,Tel 01525 872030, Fax 01525 875030 |
The Griffin at Toddington is a village pub offering food, accommodation and a wide variety of beverages.
Situated in Bedfordshire with excellent links to road, rail and air (close to M1, Luton Airport and Thameslink trains)
All functions catered for. The Griffin provides
. The saloon bar is the main public area of the pub. It comfortable accommodates around 70 people and is popular with regulars in Toddington.
The Games Room contains a pool table, fruit machine and video machine. Our pool team has enjoyed no small measure of success and riding high in our local league.
The Griffin is a Greene King house and their brews are available all year round: Greene King IPA and Abbott Ale. We also serve guest bitters throughout the year
The Griffin serves a delicious range of traditional English, American and Mexican food. From traditional Sunday lunch - always a favourite with our regulars - to fajitas, jambalaya, echiladas, cajun, and a range of English favourites. Everything is prepared fresh on the premises by our kitchen team
A more recent addition to our restaurant calendar has been the St George's Day buffet. Each year on 24th April the whole pub is decorated in red and white and we celebrate the besting of the Dragon and the best of British. This fun occasion is popular with visitors and locals alike.
Over the summer months, barbecues are a feature at The Griffin. Once a month during the warm months of the year our chef fires up the barbie and much food and drink is consumed.
The Griffin has six rooms available for let throughout the year:
Each room is equipped with its own remote control colour television, tea and coffee making equipment and hair dryer. Other facilities are available upon request.
Breakfast, served from 0730 to 0900 weekdays and 0800 to 1000 at weekends is a traditional Full English Breakfast with a choice of any or all of bacon, sausage, eggs, tomato, mushrooms and beans; plentiful toast; and tea and coffee.
Well-behaved dogs are welcome by arrangement, please call in advance.
Breakfast is included in the price.
Bookings can be arranged by telephone (01525 872030), fax (01525 875030) or email (info@thegriffinattoddington.com)
We have in the past catered for:
But we're happy to turn our hand to any function. If your event doesn't appear on the list above, then give us a call on 01525 872030 to discuss. We're sure to have something to accommodate your needs.
The Griffin is in Toddington, a beautiful country village in the heart of Bedfordshire. Conveniently situated between Luton and Milton Keynes it has excellent local amenities and has ready access to London
Toddington is easily reached by road, rail or air.
Toddington is easily reached via the M1. Only half an hour from London, or 15 minutes from Luton Airport.
Leave the M1 at junction 12, where it meets the A5120,Harlington Road. Toddington is well signposted from the top of the slip-road, but you'll need to turn left if approaching from the south, or right from the north. Follow the A5120 into Toddington, about 1 mile.
You might find it useful to consult one of the online route planners to arrange a route.
Harlington is the nearest station - 2 miles away. It's served by trains direct trains to London's Kings Cross Thameslink station and Brighton every 15 minutes during the week (30 minutes at weekends). Trains also run regularly into the small hours of the morning. The journey time to central London is approximately 45 minutes.
You can find detailed timetable information at the National Railways website
Let is know if you're planning to leave early in the morning and we will arrange for a taxi to take you to the station. The journey takes less than 5 minutes.
The nearest airport is London Luton, only 15-20 minutes away by car. If you're flying from Luton we will arrange for a taxi to take you to your flight.
Heathrow airport is around 45 minutes by car, Birmingham International and Gatwick are both a little over and hour away
Nb: Journey times are dependent on local traffic conditions
Approximate distances from The Griffin are given in brackets.
Set in 10 acres of wildflower haymeadows, the Bedford Butterfly Park offers visitors the chance to see a range of British inscets in their natural habitats. The Park also offers the opportunity to walk their Explorers' Trail through some beautiful countryside. Bedford Butterfly Park also has a petting zoo for children and demonstrations of traditional crafts throughout the high season.
The Cecil Higgins Art Gallery is an unusual combination of recreated Victorian Mansion (originally the home of the Higgins family, wealthy Bedford Brewers) and adjoining modern gallery housing an internationally renowned collection of watercolours, prints and drawings, ceramics, glass and lace.
Conger Hill is an ancient British fortification ,thought to date from the Bronze Age. It can be found in Toddington about a 3 minute walk from The Griffin.
The fort can be clearly seen from this aerial photograph (The Griffin can be seen just above and to the left of the fort, adjoining the main road)
The Leighton Buzzard Railway is one of the few narrow-gauge light railways to survive in England. Built in 1919 to transport sand, the line has carried a steam-hauled passenger train service since 1968, and now houses the largest collection of narrow-gauge locomotives in the United Kingdom.
The railway operates a passenger service on a 65-minute round trip for most of the year.
The Mead Open Farm has over 200 animals to see, and lots to make a visit a great day out for all the children. There's an adventure log play area, ride on pedal tractors, large sandpit and plenty of space for energetic children to unleash their energy in a safe environment. A Heated Indoor Playbarn with Ballpool, Ride on Toys, Soft Play Area, Spiral Tube Slide, Motion sphere, Inflatable and Country Cottage Activity House
With the Forest of Marston Vale on the doorstep of thousands of people, the opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors are widespread and increasing. With improved networks of footpaths and bridleways, new cycle routes, wildlife havens and places of interest, the Vale has something to offer everybody.
A number of circular walks are within the Forest of Marston Vale area. Look out for the easy to follow circular waymarking; blue on public bridleways, yellow on public footpaths, and white on permissive footpaths.
The Swiss Garden, Old Warden, Bedfordshire, created in the 1820s by Lord Ongley, is the outstanding example of the Swiss picturesque. The Swiss chalet is the main feature amongst a number of contrived vistas. The unusually smooth hill on which it stands is suggestive of the work of the architect John Buonarotti Papworth (1775-1847) who lived nearby; he recommended the use of unpeeled bark for the rustic buildings in the Swiss manner and may have designed this chalet with its pillar and thatch and interior decoration of bark and fir-cones. The garden includes a grotto-fernery, a thatched tree shelter, a stream and fine specimen conifers.
Whipsnade is the sister of London Zoo in Regents Park. It opened in 1931 with the remit to "keep and study large animals in more natural surroundings." A beautiful estate of some 200 acres, Whipsnade was voted Zoo of the Year 2002 by the Good Britain Guide.
Woburn Safari Park is home to lions, tigers and a host of other wild animals - from antelope to zebra! You can see them all from the comfort of your car on the safari drive. But more than big mammals, Woburn also has penguins and birds of prey.
The history of the house begins in 1145. Hugh de Bolebec founded a religious house for a group of Cistercian monks, with the monastic buildings following the usual Cistercian pattern.
Thus, the north wing is on the site of the monastic church and the present courtyard is on the site of the great cloister and garth. In 1538 the Abbot, Robert Hobbes, was found guilty of treason and the monastery confiscated. Legend states that he was hanged from an oak tree at the Abbey's gate.
Edward VI granted Woburn Abbey to Sir John Russell in 1547, though it did not become a family home until 1619. In 1747, the Fourth Duke commissioned Henry Flitcroft to rebuild the west range, including the grand series of staterooms. In 1802, Humphry Repton landscaped the park as it appears today.
Located just of the M1 in the quiet village of Woodside, Woodside Farm is set in 7 acres of countryside and is home to all manner of creatures. There are hundreds of animals to see and feed, children are encouraged to get "touchy-feely" with many of them including goats, rabbits and even chicks and ducklings, over 100 different breeds of poultry and waterfowl.
Children can wear themselves out in one of the many play areas that have swings, slides, a Tarzan trail, swing bridges, a fort and & farm tractors. If the weather turns a bit cold the there's a brand new indoor play area. There's also a new 18 hole crazy golf course. With holes such as "Chicken Run", "Tractor Stop" and "Woodside Falls", budding Tiger Woods will be entertained for hours. Also on site are two bouncy castles and trampolines. In the summer there's also a ball pond especially for the very small children and a sand pit and paddling pool.
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The Griffin Inn History
This was taken in 1911 the Griffin Inn is on the far left and as you can see it has not changed much
The History of the Griffin Inn
The Griffin Inn has been around for well over 300 years although the building we have today is not the original one as the Griffin was rebuilt in 1904 after it was tragically burnt down (I am still trying to find out how it burnt down, any knowledge of the local history would be appreciated via E-mail) The Griffin Inn has great connections with the Earl of Strafford, the Wentworth family, on whose armorial bearings appears the griffin itself. No doubt it was flourishing on another great day for Toddington When in 1608 James 1st arrived to stay at the manor. Un-daunted by atrocious, un-surfaced, un-drained roads, and without sign-posts or milestones, sight-seers and travellers once again poured into the town. Whilst royalty and nobility debated affairs of state at the manor, the regulars chewed over the latest gossip in the bar-parlour of the Griffin.
The Choicest tit-bit of scandal they had had for many a long day was when the
young and beautiful Henrietta, Baroness Wentworth, sheltered the Duke of
Monmouth at the manor, which once stood in the "Old Park". An old plan shows
that Henrietta and the Duke had adjoining rooms. Heigh-ho, what gossip! And -
since the Duke, on the scaffold, is supposed to have declared his love and
admitted that they had lived together as man and wife - with some substance to
it. But gossip died when those same regulars saw, too, the death of poor
Henrietta; of a broken heart, they avowed. Her mother erected for her an
expensive tomb (it cost £2,000) in the church 263 years ago.
An occasion, this, for much mournful drinking, with the Inn right next door to
the church, a very convenient arrangement. Convenient indeed, for the 1725 it
was being used as a meeting-place for parish affairs. Convivial gatherings they
must have been; perhaps they grew too convivial, for the churchwardens' accounts
for 1843 record that is was 'resolved with one dissentient voice' (bless him!)
that the footpath leading from the church to the Griffin Inn be closed'.
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Ye Olde WellAt the Griffin today the old well that used to supply the Inn can be seen inside the restaurant area. it was un-earthed when an extension was built and was dually incorporated in the design. It is now a proud part of The Griffin Inn and Toddington History which should be treasured.
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