Amesbury Restaurant Guide

In the Vale of Pewsey, north of Stonehenge, this 18th-century thatched pub has been run by Guy & Britt Manning since 2008 and it continues to inspire very high ratings from its fan club in our annual diners’ poll: “superb cooking, imaginative menu, relaxed impeccable service. What’s not to like?”

“Wessex meets India” at this smart curry house with a longstanding fan club – “I’ve been once or twice a year for two decades and it’s always a treat: the food is unchanged, although the style is now more casual”. For many it is “a go-to meal when round the corner at the theatre, and it always rounds out a great evening”.

2022 Review: “Consistently good and authentic street food” with “lots of extras” ensure a “very different Indian experience” at Muhammed Rasheed’s five-year-old, close to the cathedral. There’s a shaded patio out the back and craft beer available.

“Excellent and rather smart pub” on the River Test – a Mecca for fly fishing, where the Greyhound has its own ‘beat’ – with “an emphasis on fish, much of it (not surprisingly) from local rivers, on its really enjoyable menu”. Owner Lucy Townsend started her career as a pastry chef working for Marco Pierre White, Le Gavroche and Quo Vadis before setting up her own business.

“Outstandingly delicious French food” is “served by a talented duo in a comfortably quiet dining room” at this long-established outfit. Chef Maranda Jones and her maître d’ husband Garth worked under Gascon founder Germain Marquis at its original location in the old Leckford Hutt pub, before taking over the business and moving it into Stockbridge High Street.

“An urbane London-style restaurant out in the country” – “this is a pretty village and the hotel has been refurbished in recent times”; and fans say it is an “especially delightful place to eat outside in the good weather”. “Prices are fairly commensurate with London” and not everyone feels that it stacks up value-wise – “what is reliable food with willing and helpful service” to some is – to others – “pretty average”.

“A lovely traditional out-of-the-way pub with lovely traditional pub food”, this ancient thatched village inn is these days owned and run by Ben Maschler (son of restaurant critic Fay and a former operations director at Soho House) and long-term fans say “it never fails to please”, with a menu that offers hearty country dishes alongside more ‘pubby’ options.

“Recently refurbished to a very high standard”, with a “beautiful, airy restaurant and cosy bar”, this pub-with-rooms three miles from Stonehenge is part of the Great Durnford estate (owned by hedgie Ross Turner & his wife Gemma). Ex-Moor Hall chef Jordan Taylor prepares sustainable meals using “lovely local produce”, including foraged ingredients and game from the estate (although you won’t see the bird after which it is named on the menu: hunted to extinction in England by the 1830s, the great bustard has been successfully reintroduced here in the last few years).

This “lovely” red-brick gastroboozer in a New Forest village recently changed hands, and is now run by the same team as The Royal Oak at North Gorley. The menu offers British classics with a twist, and based on “really top-quality ingredients”, whether you go for the Sunday roasts or finer dining. There’s also a “garden with well-spaced tables for the summer and pleasant walks close by” – and, should you wish to overnight, you can stay in the dedicated ‘Desert Orchid’ room, which draws its name from the Grand National winner, whose former HQ, the Whitsbury Manor Stables, is just behind the building.