Stamford, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

Fern is a seasonal restaurant rooted in Rutland, serving small plates, organic wines and British aperitifs with quiet confidence. Our menu is led by ingredients — not trends — and shaped entirely by what’s growing, reared or landed nearby. Our drinks reflect ...

“Been going for over 25 years” – this “quintessential English gastropub with rooms, just off the A1, never fails to please” and “delivers excellent hospitality to the lovely Rutland village which it serves and passing travellers” in the “noisy and fun”, “warm, welcoming interior, or – in the summer months – the beautiful small garden”. Back in the day, co-owner Ben Jones and his team blazed a trail with the contemporary style of the place, and it retains “great attention to detail from a highly professional team”. Quibbles – some locals consider it “rather dear” (“those who love it, love it but glitches are not unknown and opinion in the area is rather mixed”), but more striking is the consistent support for “well-cooked seasonal food” that’s long made it one of the top-100 most commented on destinations in our annual diners’ poll outside London. Top Tip – “an amazing wine list”.

The “calm and generally quiet dining room” of this 450-year-old townhouse in the old part of this cute town – now a “slightly old-fashioned (which we love) and tremendously good value” restaurant-with-rooms that takes its name from a poem by WB Yeats – serves “excellent food: fine dining without Michelin-style fussiness” from chef Stuart Mead, who has run the kitchen for more than 20 years. (“We had our wedding breakfast here and have returned every year since – it gets better and better”). Top Tip – vegetables undergo “especially thoughtful treatment, which will satisfy the vegan in your family”.

“Everything a country house hotel should be with the added bonus of an award-winning restaurant” – Tim & Steffa Hart’s long-established destination is the epitome of a successful classic formula that’s increasingly an extinct breed. They’ve owned this fine old house since 1979, a former home purchased from a scion of the Hoare banking dynasty, and it sits in “exquisite grounds” with an “unmissable view of Rutland Water” (the 1970s reservoir that is much younger than the house itself). “In some ways it’s rather old-fashioned, but that’s intended as a compliment – it’s a return to a more formal style that makes dining seem special”. Chef Aaron Patterson has been in-post since 1992 and his classical food is likewise “very good, albeit in an old-fashioned mould” and “never fails but to deliver a top gastronomic experience”. And it’s backed up by one of “the most extensive and detailed wine lists ever seen”. Service is “exemplary” too and – for traditionalists – this is “a perfect experience if you have something to celebrate”.

“Superior pub food” (as well as burger or fish ’n’ chips on the menu you might see Sea bass fillet or a Lentil Wellington) is “well executed, and in generous portions” at this attractive 18th-century Cambridgeshire pub, which has been run by Will & Kelly Frankgate since 2013. You also get “a warm welcome and variety of seating choices from gazebo to snug”.