Lower Swell Restaurant Guide

A “strong fish menu” – despite its name and inland setting – is one reason why the Robinson family’s venture is likely to be “full on a wet mid-week February night”. Ex-Bibendum head chef Peter and his wife Louise launched it 20 years ago this year, and their daughter Millie is now part of the front-of-house team – “there’s always a friendly welcome from all of the staff, and the food’s amazing – I absolutely love it here”.

This “beautiful” honey-coloured Cotswolds country hotel with grand gardens dates back to 1649 and is a regular fixture on round-ups of romantic UK getaways. On the food front, there are two options: fine-diner Atrium, offering a “flawless” tasting menu (one sitting only at 18.45), and more casual spot The Dining Room, where reporters “could not fault the quality of the food” (and where, profiting from the hotel’s canine-friendly ethos, you can “eat with our dog at dinner and breakfast”).

This “wonderful old Cotswold inn” has been “beautifully renovated by the Daylesford owners” who took over in mid-2021, and now features stately equine paintings and lemon trees in the foreground of its mullioned windows. While it’s “larger and a bit more of a machine since becoming part of the Bamford empire”, the atmosphere is “lovely” (not least in the courtyard garden) and on the food front it is seen as “reliable”, with much sourcing from its famed sibling Daylesford Organic, and a crowd-pleasing menu of pub classics, wood-fired pizzas and fancier seasonal dishes.

The original farm shop and café in Lady Bamford’s organic mini-empire celebrated its 20th birthday in 2022, and now contains three dining spaces: the Michelin Green Star ‘Trough Restaurant’, ‘The Old Spot’ for sharing plates and wood-fired pizzas, and the more casual ‘The Legbar’ – all of which showcase an aesthetic that’s “quite Nordic but still warm”. The “child-friendly” (and Chipping Norton set-friendly) spot was praised this year as a “perfect location for a late breakfast” – and, while there are still those for whom the “high prices are not justified”, more sanguine reporters feel that they’re “not so shocking now that other restaurants have caught up!”

“In a beautiful Cotswold village with stunning views” (over the Evenlode valley), this converted malthouse has won renown for its “exciting” cuisine over the years, and you can eat here à la carte or go for the six-course tasting menu, which comes in at £85 per person. (Reports were fractionally more up-and-down this year, perhaps reflecting the switchover of chefs, with Renemar Pinedo taking over from Matt Weedon in early 2024).

“The cooking is really excellent here” – “the best I have ever had in a pub” – says a Putney-based fan of this Cotswolds inn from former Simpsons head chef Nathan Eades and Liam Goff. “The decor could do with a bit of money, but at least the focus is on good food and pleasant local service” – “and it isn’t yet full of Londoners like us, despite Giles Coren’s efforts!” Top Menu Tips – “the amazing celeriac pie” and the “ham hock for two”.