Littleton Restaurant Guide

This “lovely family-run hotel” in Thomas Hardy’s ‘Vale of the little dairies’ is “personal and exquisite” – host Richard Prideaux-Brune inherited the family‘s Jacobean manor at the age of 21, opening it as a restaurant with rooms with his wife Alison 51 years ago, brother Brian in the kitchen and daughter Katharine these days part of the team. The “excellent” dinner menu is notably “affordable” at £45 per person for two courses and £55 per person for three, “complemented by wines at sensible prices”. Top Tip – don’t forget to pronounce the B in ‘Plumber’.

“A gorgeous, sunny room attached to a medieval priory on the banks of the River Frome” is the “delightful setting” for “always interesting and very good” cooking from Loire Valley-bred Stephan Guinebault, head chef for the best part of two decades at this independently owned hotel which oozes “old-world charm”.

Michael Trawicki’s “popular thatched pub” serves particularly “good pub food in a nice sunny dining room” and there’s also a beautiful garden in summer. It’s not an especially ‘foodie’ operation but attracts consistent praise in our annual diners’ poll as one of the area’s better eateries.

“Big meals” made from prime British ingredients cooked in classical French style, “friendly staff” and a “lovely, sensibly priced wine list” is the winning recipe at ex-Four Seasons exec chef Jamie Jones’s restaurant with rooms – a spacious (much extended) former shepherd’s cottage in the heart of Hardy country (the village of Lower Bockhampton is called Mellstock in ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’). This may be about to be a case of ‘all change’, however – the business was put on the market in 2024 as a going concern.

“The view overlooking Poole Harbour makes this a romantic location” for an Italian meal – although it’s “very much a good-weather venue”. The hotel is at the heart of a long-running planning dispute, with vocal locals opposing a plan to convert it into an ‘aparthotel’ under a £300m redevelopment of Sandbanks.

An “absolutely amazing” view over Poole Bay and Brownsea Island elevates a visit to this Rick Stein group outpost. This is a much commented-on destination, and we’ve rated it positively on the good volume of praise for its fish and seafood, which hails “food so consistently good, without frills from excellent ingredients in delicious combinations”. Given the “aspirations and expectations linked to the name” not everyone is convinced, though, and it’s more recommended as a good all-rounder for a fish supper with fab view attached than it is for next-level cooking.

With its “excellent range of fish in an idyllic setting”, this “cavernous shack on the Studland side of the chain ferry” solves the perennial problem of “somewhere to eat in Poole” – the “honest and simple local fish dishes” are “very nicely done”, and are accompanied by “great views” over Poole Harbour and Brownsea Island.

Darren Brown’s paradisiacal Wiltshire kitchen (est. 2016) is “a magical place” that “perfectly celebrates the unique local produce” which is sourced from its own three-acre plot and then cooked up in the fire pit to “sublime” results. Alongside serving lunch from Wednesday to Saturday, they’re now open for dinner on Saturday evenings from November to February, and there are also long-table ‘Savour the Season’ suppers around each Equinox and Solstice, plus Sunday lunches, where individual joints of meat are cooked to order and brought to the table to avoid wastage. If you’re keen to linger, beyond the orchard at the bottom of the garden is a glamping village with six bell tents.

This restaurant just up the hill from the town’s main shopping strip literally “stands out in the dining desert of Bournemouth” with its crimson-coloured façade and compact but convivial interior fitted with booth-style seating. Alongside “authentic” Spanish tapas (tostadas, tortillas), you’ll find more exotic dishes like deep-fried aubergine with honey, a perennial favourite among fans.