The best places for farm-to-table meals in the UK

Fancy an alfresco feast in the wild — but not too wild? The latest culinary hotspots are down on the farm, and we’ve found some of the best ones. They’re set in chic rustic barns or at long dining tables outside, lit up by festoon lights and with beautiful views of the countryside.
Supper clubs in farmyards led by some of the country’s leading chefs and farm-to-fork restaurants are cropping up all over the UK, making the most of the freshest of produce. Whether you’re hosted on a working family smallholding or being cooked dinner by Mitch Tonks, enjoying food whipped up at Skye Gyngell’s kitchen garden or being led and fed on a pre-dinner tour of Simon Rogan’s farm, top-notch food is guaranteed (no wellies required).
The Farm Table restaurant on this family-run working farm has just been voted one of the top 100 local restaurants by The Good Food Guide. You can book lunch or dinner on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and enjoy a range of foods grown metres away from you, such as sourdough bread and homemade black garlic butter (£4.50) and Dart’s rare breed saddleback chop (£23.75); or further afield from from local producers, such as hand-dived Lyme Bay scallops (£14) or Brixham hake (£24). The restaurant hosts guest chef events — Mark Hix and Mitch Tonks are cooking up a five-course seasonal menu on September 26 (£129pp). For great views and drinks, head to the Terrace bar, which looks out over the Exe Estuary.Details dartsfarm.co.uk
The family behind Nancarrow have been running this 100-acre farm for nine generations, raising cattle and sheep and growing fruit and vegetables. You can visit for a “courtyard lunch” (about £30pp), where food is cooked in an open kitchen surrounded by orchards and farmland, or a farm supper in a large, Scandi-chic barn (£50pp). Four-course feast nights (also £50) run until September. Menus change regularly but might include ricotta and pea agnolotti to start, followed by wood-roasted beef rump with chimichurri and whipped elderflower custard to finish. There are chic shepherd’s huts and converted barns should you want to spend the night.Details nancarrowfarm.co.uk
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Oxmoor Farm lies in the beautiful Chiltern Hills and is hosting a series of “wild feast” dinners until December, featuring a different chef each time. The supper club host Sophie Wyburd and the chefs Tom Censi and Amy Poon will be serving up dishes using only the finest local produce in the recently renovated Barn restaurant, which has views over the farm and surrounding ancient woodlands. When not in use for feasting you can come here for lunch or dinner, when it serves Neopolitan-style pizzas (from £10) and small plates such as Badger’s garden salad for £6.Details £76.90pp; oxmoorfarm.co.uk
If you want to treat yourself or a friend, this rural foodie experience at the Michelin-starred chef’s Lake District farm will take you on a grand tour (with snacks along the way) before heading for an alfresco meal, overlooking the kitchen garden. The “farm feasts” take place on selected Monday evenings and Tuesday lunchtimes, when Liam Fitzpatrick, the head chef, will be cooking from an open fire, and serving up dishes such as braised lamb shoulder over coals and grilled baby turnip with bacon fat and roasted garlic.Details £150pp, September 9 and 10. Or for £500 on September 9 two people can stay for one night, and have dinner and a breakfast box; simonrogan.co.uk
Set in a converted milking barn at the heart of a working farm, the rustic but chic restaurant is tucked away down a winding country lane in the depths of lush Welsh countryside. It is open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, serving a set menu of homegrown produce (£48pp). Dishes might include courgette flower stuffed with ricotta, mint and Paternoster’s own honey, or fritto misto of Pembrokeshire grey mullet. The farm often hosts live music outside and has a cracking cocktail and wine list too — its mezcal negroni is excellent.Details @paternoster_farm on Instagram
For a feast on the wildest farm in the Cotswolds, head to Worton Kitchen Garden, which sits on a ten-acre no-dig regenerative farm, a 20-minute drive from Oxford. Held on the first Friday of each month in a rustic conservatory overlooking tulip fields, farmer Simon Spence hosts seasonal supper clubs showcasing the best produce from the land that month, from pigs reared down the track to free-ranging poultry and vegetables grown in the greenhouses. Go early to nose around the farm shop, which stocks honey from the farm’s bees, eggs from the coop and cakes baked by Spence, before leaving with an ingredient box and recipe card so you can make one of the dishes at home. Details Michaelmas Goose Supper Club £80pp (September 27); wortonkitchengarden.com
Sandy Lane Farm is south Oxfordshire’s best-kept secret. Surrounded by banks of wildflowers and grasses, this 100-acre family farm grows more than 300 varieties of vegetables and hosts regular open days for locals. Book a place for a talk on the benefits of organic farming, followed by a light farm-to fork supper paired with local ale and organic wine. Details £27.50pp. The next open day is September 6; sandylanefarm.co.uk
A rare chance to experience top-notch dining from the renowned chef Skye Gyngell and her team at the popular English countryside hotel — without having to stay the night. As part of its summer centenary celebrations, Heckfield Place is hosting a series of Home Farm Suppers, set in beautiful locations throughout the Market Garden, Home Farm and estate. Sit at a long communal table with other guests and enjoy the excellent local produce, such as chalk stream trout and fresh garden vegetables.Details £145pp, September 22; heckfieldplace.com
Surrounded by wildflower meadows, rolling fields and a sprawling kitchen garden, Crocadon Farm holds both a Michelin star and a green Michelin star for sustainability. A five-course “Dinner on the farm” menu might include dishes such as brown crab with lemongrass miso followed by roe deer, juniper and salted plum (£105pp), or you can choose the (slightly lighter) four-course “Taste of the farm” option (£75pp). The restaurant is open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as on Sundays for a lunchtime “feasting” menu. There’s also a bakery on site selling its sourdough loaves and flaky pastries to take away or enjoy at the outdoor dining area. Details crocadon.farm
The owners of this 80-acre farm have recently renovated their 150-year-old barn and are holding dinners there every couple of weeks, including throughout the winter, with stunning views over the Mendip Hills and Glastonbury. Vegetables come from the no-dig market garden and surrounding hedgerows, while their own pigs provide charcuterie. The set menu at present features rump tartare and roast sirloin with celeriac gratin, with spiced rye and fennel cake to finish. You can also stay the night in one of several self-catering cottages and glamping spots.Details £55; pennardhillfarm.co.uk
“Farm to Fork” BYOB supper clubs take place here every month in a renovated barn, with guests seated together at long feasting tables. All ingredients used in the dishes are sourced from the farm, including wild game, vegetables from the kitchen garden and edible flowers. Dishes might include spicy summer nasturtium salads to start followed by grass-fed rose veal with a selection of farm vegetables. The farm is just three miles from a beautiful stretch of the North Antrim coastline should you feel like working up an appetite before dinner, and the next supper club will run on August 31 at 7pm (£49 per person).Details broughgammon.com
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Before your dinner in the old cow barn, you can walk around the fields and gardens and even poke your head into the working polytunnels with your welcome aperitivo. Fruit and veg come from the kitchen garden of this smallholding, while the food is cooked in the specially built open-fire kitchen. Dishes might include slow-cooked lamb with salsa verde and saffron-poached pears with vanilla panna cotta. There’s a Sunday roast option too, complete with bloody mary on arrival. Details Three evenings a week,£55pp, BYOB no corkage; horrellandhorrell.co.uk
Best known as a supplier of organic fruit and veg to homes and restaurants across the UK, you can also visit Riverford Farm for lunch or dinner in its glass-fronted, airy restaurant, or on the terrace beside the herb garden. Using ingredients are often grown just metres away, dishes are “veg-centred”, and might include aubergine with miso, sesame and coriander to start, or chicken with braised celery and saffron aioli (£34pp for lunch; £37pp for dinner). The farm has recently also started serving a Saturday brunch menu (£24pp) — a four-course vegetarian set menu of farm-grown fruits and grains, freshly baked sourdough with toppings including mushrooms and kale pesto, a main dish such as wild garlic panisse, and a blueberry compote crumpet “breakfast pudding” to end.Details riverford.co.uk
Tibbs farm hosts fortnightly Friday “farm feasts” in an alfresco dining area looking out over the Tillingham valley and Romney sheep grazing the marshland. Start with canapés in front of the open-fire kitchen, then enjoy a dinner of sharing boards of slow-cooked, home-reared lamb, hogget and beef. There’s a traditional Bramley orchard at the farm and you can sample a boozy punch made with homegrown fruits, as well as locally brewed beer and sparkling Sussex wine from neighbouring vineyards.Details £45pp, September 6 and 20; beyonk.com
There are monthly feasts at this eco-friendly, regenerative farm perched on the edge of the Trossachs National Park. Food is served at long banqueting tables in the barn using ingredients gathered from the farm, fields and nearby surrounding forests, including dishes such as salt-baked celeriac with wild greens, home-baked sourdough and pearl barley risotto with wild herbs and lemon. Details £60pp; September 14 and October 19; fodderandfarm.com
If you want something a little more exclusive, you can organise your own farm-to-table private feast at Harewood Farm, on the banks of the winding River Tamar. Available for up to 12 people between April and October. Visitors start with a tour of the farm, foraging and picking armfuls of produce for your supper from the land under the expert guidance of the grower and chef Jo Tytherleigh, before heading over to the farm’s kitchen, where together you transform it all into a bespoke seasonal feast.Details Prices available on request; harewoodfarm.co.uk