Coleford Restaurant Guide

“Set in fairy woods by a sparkling stream”, Chris & Kirsty Harrod’s restaurant with rooms sits peacefully in the beautiful Wye Valley and remains one of Wales’s foremost culinary destinations. “Known for their green credentials and sustainability”: “innovative foraged and locally sourced food is prepared by a chef who knows his onions and much else to create something unique and wonderful (if not for everyday)”. “Chris and his team always make you feel at home and are hugely knowledgeable”, while the “tasting menu and wine pairing are absolutely the best”. (“In a year of notable dinners at top restaurants – Gidleigh, Lympstone, Gravetye, Morston Hall & Kota – an overnight stay at Whitebrook proved to be the highlight. Chris Harrod’s imaginative and unusual menu was a joy from start to finish. Everything was well-balanced with confident cooking throughout. Service was informal, friendly and the atmosphere completely relaxing and unpretentious”).

Name-checking the two salmon-rich rivers between which it sits, Richard & Shirley Cook’s storied smokery may have an “unassuming location and exterior”, but that “belies the excellent goods within” – the kind of goods that make them in hot demand as a supplier to royals, Fortnum’s and so (impressively) forth. Mark Stinchcombe, winner of the 2015 MasterChef: The Professionals competition, oversees the formal-ish upstairs restaurant, which remains in demand for its “delicious seafood and shellfish dishes”, and is “always busy, so book ahead unless you want to eat in the deli café” downstairs – part of a wider package that also includes an “interesting” shop.

If it was good enough for Henry VIII’s honeymoon with Anne Boleyn… – wood panelling, mullioned windows, oil paintings and plush furnishings abound at this luxurious Relais & Chateaux property (built in the 1520s). It’s maintaining its standards despite a recent change of personnel: “it saw several key changes earlier this year with the departure of the hotel manager, sommelier and notably chef, Carl Cleghorn. A recent visit, however, showed the new chef very much rising to the occasion, with two dinners showing very good cooking continuing the high standards. Service was friendly and staff personable throughout. A very enjoyable experience in an astounding setting”.

This “relaxing” brasserie on one of England’s oldest vineyards (the first vines were planted in 1973) has expanded over the years and now includes romantic, glass-walled lodges among the vines as well as bedrooms handily placed for its brasserie. The latter enjoys “great views” of the grapes, and its “tapas/small plates concept works well despite the menu not seeming to change very much (if at all!)”, with charcuterie and cheese boards sitting alongside other “fantastic” fare to help you soak up the booze – many of their own wines, of course (also available to sample on wine tours) but also ‘guest wines’ they admire. Best bit: it’s all “fairly priced”.

This “innovative gastropub in a remote Welsh village, specialising in high-quality local produce” is “sensibly priced for cooking of such a high standard”. Josh & Hannah Byrne attracted some brickbats in the early days for their refusal to offer a traditional Sunday roast – but six years in nobody is complaining any more (and they’re likely to find venison on the menu anyway).