Southleigh, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

Hugo Guest (ex-of London haunts Sorella and Marksman) grew up in this hilltop Georgian vicarage, when his parents ran it as a B&B; fast-forward to 2020, and he and wife Olive set out to create an English-style ‘agriturismo’ on this 15-acre smallholding in a “delightful location” overlooking the Coly Valley. The victuals are split between casual kitchen suppers (for guests only) and more formal four-course fixed dinners (for all), and both showcase a “high standard of cooking”; stay on for the night to profit from the “excellent” breakfast.

A “pretty setting” in a fourteenth-century thatched inn adds to the charms of this restaurant-with-rooms, which is run by the St Austell Brewery, and an easy walk from Branscombe beach. The pub classics and more ambitious dishes achieve “very high standards” (“the lunch menu is particularly good value”) and the “quirky” spot offers a warm welcome too (also to dogs).

A “great location” – an “interesting renovation” of an Elizabethan mansion – contributes to the atmosphere of this Otter Valley outpost of the trendy Pig empire. Increased reports this year of rather “average” cooking (“unmemorable apart from the price”, ouch), though fans insist that, albeit “slightly hit-and-miss”, it’s “generally hit”.