The best sites to grab lunch in the English countryside
BIBURY COURT HOTEL
In this Jacobean residence situated on the outskirts of quaint town Bibury, a brief drive from Cirencester, the Bibury Court diner has won a few awards and praise for its revolutionary fine menu. Head chef Anthony Ely was brought in from The Clarence Hotel in Dublin (famously financed by Bono and The Edge from U2) in 2005, and manages food like crisp Bibury trout with butternut squash, ragout of wild Fowey mussels and herb gnocchi and linguini with oxtail, red wine and root vegetables. Bibury Court is also an inn.
THE FOX AND HOUNDS
You simply won't track down a cosier pub than this. The tavern is a niche framed with dried hops, and it provides a vast choice of local beer. The foodstuff is fantastic but it's the experience of a wholesome village bar that is the driving attraction.
THE FOX INN
A skilfully-run pub with a splendid back garden and a menu that is under no circumstances less than exceptional. If you have time, request directions to the XII century St Nicholas Church, a brisk stroll away. It's a enchanting, secret place with Norman wall paintings that was truly tucked away for many years in shrubbery.
THE KINGHAM PLOUGH
Run by Emily Watkins, formerly known for Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck. Watkins delivers straightforward dishes of regional origin prepared with great accuracy. Test the Hereford beef or the crisp, breaded goose egg. They also grate fresh horseradish root into their Bloody Mary's and supply you with snacks for your pet dog for one pound.
THE OLD BUTCHER'S
Formerly a Butcher's, which closed down after a Tesco supermarket was built, it's at this point probably the most well-known bistros in the neighbourhood.
THE WILD RABBIT
Lady Carole Bamford's brand new pub with rooms, in tranquil Kingham, is rather clearly the culinary sibling of her day spa at Daylesford. As you go inside, you see a bright wooden bar, light flagstones and pale uncovered-brick walls. Behind the bar, Oxford University students are serving artisan ales. Eccentric furnishings are placed close to a log fire, or looking out on to the commune.
WHATLEY MANOR
A Relais & Chateaux associate, Whatley Manor has two bistros - Michelin-recognised The Dining Room and Swiss brasserie Le Mazot. Both are run by head chef Martin Burge, who has won quite a few accolades for his cutting-edge reinvention of traditional French fine menus. Needlessly to say, Burge did time at both Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons and Pied a Terre before relocating to Wiltshire. Whatley Manor is also a hotelan .
THE ROYAL WELL TAVERN
Chef Humphrey Fletcher has been hired with the River Café and Kensington Place and cooks up fantastic steak frites and braised sea trout with samphire and brown shrimp. Proprietor Sam Pearman spent his formative years in Gloucestershire and used to be employed at Langan's Brasserie in the capital. He not too long ago acquired The Wheatsheaf in the British countryside and the indications are encouraging.
