Ever heard of a restaurant that rustles up grub so fresh it
doesn’t have time for menus? Us neither, until we stumbled across
Osip. Slap-bang in the centre of Bruton’s handsome, honey-hued high street, this
pocket-sized space is fuelled by a talented group of farmers,
growers, hunters and gatherers – along with Devonshire-raised chef
Merlin Labron-Johnson, who was awarded a Michelin star when he was
just 24, nine months after opening his first restaurant, Portland.
Each morning, the kitchen team receives a doorstep delivery of
freshly picked produce (taken from their two nearby plots of land),
which they use to craft delicate dishes. For diners, the absence of
menus to pore over means anticipating a surprise of flavours –
dietary requirements can be accommodated with prior notice. Take a
seat amid a muted palette of pale linens, duck-egg blue banquets
and exposed-stone walls festooned with dried vegetables and
abstract prints and prepare to be impressed.

We’re glad that three Sussex brothers swapped the countryside
for the Big Smoke, because it resulted in the 2014-opened Rabbit, a
love letter to the Gladwin boys’ nature-filled childhood, which
beautifully fuses urban grit with countryside chic. Neon-pink LED
signs, scrap-metal ceilings, whitewashed brick walls, tractor doors
and jars stuffed with all sorts of outdoor finds are just a few of
the dramatic design details that we’re obsessed with. The
zero-waste menu comes courtesy of the family farm, Nutbourne, with
standouts including cod cheeks, red prawns and lamb rump. Visit on
a Sunday, when the famous Rabbit roast will cure any sore heads
from the night before. And if the Yorkshire puds don’t do the
trick, the caramelised apple tart sure will. Locals will know that
this isn’t the brothers’ first rodeo: head to their Notting Hill
outpost, The Shed, for more delicious dishes.

Grace & Savour, a five-bed restaurant with
rooms on the outskirts of Solihull, is paving the way for a foodie
renaissance in the West Midlands, one Cornish lobster tail, softly
smoky leek and kombucha brew at a time. Nestled within a Victorian
walled garden on the Hampton Manor estate, this light-filled,
26-seater restaurant offers a 15-course tasting menu – yep, you
read that right – helmed by chef David Taylor and his wife Anette.
A visit includes a garden tour with David, plus a stay in one of
the seriously snug bedrooms – think walk-in rainfall showers, side
tables made from tree trunks and playfully scalloped headboards.
Want to recreate the experience at home? Book onto a two-hour
cookery class that will teach you how to craft your own dish from
the spoils of the garden.

It’s a family affair at The Small Holding, which is headed up by
brothers and chefs Will and Matt Devlin, and offers a slice of
rural living for city dwellers. An hour’s drive from London, the
restaurant has a fresh, seasonal menu that celebrates the finest
ingredients from the region, seamlessly connecting the land to
table. Anything that hasn’t been foraged is handmade, from the
bread and butter to an expansive charcuterie selection. While there
is no traditional menu to browse, guests are offered a multi-course
dining experience with ingredients that have been harvested that
same day. Our picks from the autumn sample menu include the
Pitchfork cheddar, venison, and garlic-drizzled monkfish.

Inver is located on the banks of Scotland’s wild and untamed
Loch Fyne, overlooking the glistening Lachlan Bay. The restaurant
itself has been there since the 60s, but was reimagined in 2015,
when culinary couple Pam Brunton and Rob Latimer made it theirs.
The menu beats the drum for Scotland’s local larder, with many of
the ingredients sourced straight from the loch – dogfish, mackerel,
trout, crab and oyster to name but a few. As evening arrives, a
romantic air sweeps over the place, with open fires and candlelit
tables creating an intimate atmosphere. Bring your main squeeze and
work your way through the tasting menu, which comes in at
£79pp.

A working farm in the quiet Cornish village of Lewannick,
Coombeshead, run by chefs Tom Adams and April Bloomfield, is also a
five-bed guesthouse, restaurant and bakery. Spread across 27
hectares of dense woodland and fertile valley, the operation grows
all of its own produce on-site – minus citrus, olive oil and
coffee, which are impressively the only imports. A feast here
begins with a basket brimming with fresh-from-the-oven sourdough
loaves served with a creamy butter – which, in itself, is so divine
that you’ll be hard pressed not to lick the plate. Then, marinated
vegetables, homemade yoghurt and crispy duck will be rolled out,
followed by custard-drizzled strawberries. Be warned: rooms book up
faster than a Coldplay concert, so check dates in advance if you
want to bed down amid hand-dyed cushions, vases stuffed with fresh
flowers and organic homemade toiletries. Open from Wednesday to
Sunday.

Matt Powell has always had a close connection to the tide and
land that surrounds him, so it’s no surprise that he set up this
sustainable eatery on the Pembrokeshire coast. Keen to share his
knowledge on picking sensibly, Powell’s foraging courses, which
cost from £70pp, will take you from collecting humble acorn and
gorse flower to butchering mountain lamb and catching your own
lobster. Not your vibe? Make a dinner reservation to enjoy all the
delights, just minus the muddy bit. Order the egg in the woodland –
a slow-cooked duck egg yolk served with preserved chanterelles and
oxalis in a chanterelle sauce – the lobster and shoreline delights
is also a great choice. End on a sweet note with the chocolate
cockle shells – which is seriously up there among the best desserts
we’ve ever tasted.

If you told us to dream up a space that defined the word “cosy”,
we’d march straight to Heckfield Place and use it as our template. The
45-key Georgian hotel is home to two stellar in-house restaurants:
Marle and Hearth. We’re heading straight to Hearth, where guests
can watch their food being cooked over an open fire. Once the
estate’s stables, the space has retained much of its original
character, with bare-brick walls and arch-shaped windows
complementing by dark-wood tables and chairs dressed in fluffy
rugs. Stuck on what to order? The burrata with pickled squash and
leek draws crowds of hungry locals.

Not without very good reason has this neighbourhood restaurant
picked up three Michelin stars. L’Enclume is housed in a former
blacksmith’s, hence the anvil symbol you’ll see dotted about the
place. Chef-owner Simon Rogan was a pioneer in creating menus that
revolve around local sourcing and foraging, and today, much of the
restaurant’s produce comes from its nearby farm. The tasting menus
don’t come cheap, but are well worth it if you’re marking a special
occasion. For a more affordable but no less epicurean experience,
opt for a set lunch at Rogan and Co, a two-minute walk around the
corner.