Highfield Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: “A friendly, well-run pub” that's “owned by the Otter brewery, so the beer is always well kept”. On the food front, it “maintains a steady standard” (“tapas in the downstairs bar are always interesting and the full menu is served upstairs in a non-fancy environment”).

A “fabulous setting” in an Elizabethan mansion adds to the joys of this “always fun” and “friendly” Otter Valley piglet – part of a now ten-strong litter, whose most recent branch, in the Cotswolds, was born in September 2024. As per their wider MO, this venue starts with a “lovely country-house hotel”, then adds a dose of cool via a spa and trendy albeit expensive food. Also as per the rest of the chain, and continuing a recent trend of average reports, the “expensive” victuals here can disappoint, but “at its best it’s good” and “original” too.

2023 Review: Landlord James Garnham took over this lovely thatched pub in his boyhood village with his wife Charlie five years ago, building an excellent reputation for its food and hospitality. “We have now visited 3 times in as many weeks – which says it all!”.

It’s “well worth the journey along narrow Devon lanes” to this English-style agriturismo in a “stunning” setting (a Georgian vicarage overlooking the Coly Valley); co-owner Hugo Guest grew up on the property back when his parents ran it as a B&B and took over with wife Olivia in 2020, transforming it into a foodie haunt. Expect “original, inventive, wholesome” food (Italian-ish, but not just), with “Sunday lunch very good value, but better still stay the night and enjoy the full evening set menu” (overnight guests can also opt for more casual ‘Kitchen Suppers’); either way “you almost feel like you are a member of the family popping in for a bite to eat”.

It’s all change at this well-known Exeter pub and restaurant (handy for the M5) where, in April 2024, longtime owner Paul Parnell, who ran the venture with his wife Judy for over three decades, handed over the keys to young couple Craig & Miranda Griffin. Easing the transition, Craig was head chef under the former regime for several years (his wife serving as pub manager) so we’ve retained the venue’s rating despite the change of ownership. According to the new website, “pub grub classics are given a delicious kick up the backside”, and there’s also a £65 per person tasting menu.

2021 Review: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s TV tie-in kitchen – serving sharing boards and veggie tapas alongside more conventional starters and mains – is celebrating its twentieth anniversary, but feedback on it has seldom matched the hype, and is too limited last year for a rating. Such as we have says it’s OK value, but variable in performance.

“In an area where good food options are still surprisingly rare”, this “lovely” 16th-century gastroboozer on the Devon/Dorset/Somerset border (also handy for the delights of the Jurassic Coast) shines all the more. Mirroring reports in previous years from its very dedicated fan club, “the prices might be getting a bit high” these days, but when the service and modern British food with a Euro twist “are always so good”, absolutely nobody seems to mind.

It’s now part of the portfolio of the SW England-based St Austell Brewery group, but this thatched 14th-century inn has kept its charms (log fire, beamed ceilings) despite chain-ification. The pub classics on offer elicit solid ratings if muted commentary, with more unusual suspects like ‘crabby fries’ served alongside the usual burgers and steaks. A good choice for a staycation with your pooch, it’s an easy stroll to the equally dog-friendly Branscombe beach.

“As good as it gets in Taunton”, this “exceptional” French bistro (sleek, with a glass-walled extension) is a “gem of a place” that remains utterly “reliable” well into its awkward teenage phase (it was founded in 2011 by Richard Guest and FOH Cedric Chirrosel). It was praised this year for its “unhurried and relaxing atmosphere” and “wonderful food” – not least the prix fixe (“we were amazed when we saw the plates coming out…such generous portions and much more interesting than run-of-the-mill set menus”).

As the name suggests, “a great, intimate atmosphere” is found at this seventeenth-century village inn, which is “a cut above the usual for style and service”. Charlotte Vincent was crowned ‘pub chef of the year’ in the 2023 Great British Pub Awards – she sends out “a varied range of dishes, nearly all locally sourced and precisely cooked”, such as a bar snack of roasted marrow bone and Porlock Bay oyster with garlic butter and sourdough bread.

There are “lots of Barbour jackets and Hunter wellies on show” at this “upmarket” (albeit set in a barn) wood-fired restaurant in a “fantastic rural location” near Tiverton. If that posh sartorial prospect makes you want to run for the hills, one reporter who resisted flight “persevered and was rewarded with a decent brunch” (similarly stoic diners can also pick from light lunches, sourdough pizzas and dinners on Friday and Saturday nights).