6 minute read
Restaurants with a view
from THE HANDLE 2024
The chef’s cooking and the setting make dining at the following hotel restaurants so memorable. Take a seat and enjoy not only some of the loveliest food but also some of the loveliest scenery found in Britain too.
Best For Shipmates
Step below deck to dine and you will see that the galley is really rather grand on this floating hotel that is permanently berthed in Edinburgh’s Leith Docks. Fingal offers fivestar accommodation with a difference and a restaurant that affords waterfront views from its floor-to-ceiling windows. A seat at The Lighthouse promises fine dining in an Art-Deco-inspired space, with ingredients that include the ship’s own smoked salmon, cured on deck. Guests can enjoy nautical cocktails at the bar while watching the boats pass by, and afternoon teas are also available. It’s a stay to leave you feeling shipshape in no time.
Best For Afternoon Tea
Set on a bank beside the River Frome in Dorset, The Priory is a classic country house hotel that offers a picturesque afternoon-tea experience. Pretty tiers of delicate cakes and savouries are presented on crisply laid tables in the John Turner Restaurant, where traditional stone windows open onto the hotel gardens. Adding to the atmosphere is a large period fireplace. The Garden Room is the hotel’s main restaurant. A contemporary glass space, it has views past stone arches, colourful flower beds and immaculate lawns, down to the river. The kitchen’s cooking reveals a focus on local provenance with a French influence.
Best For Families
Calcot Manor is a calming country house retreat with sophisticated interiors that is set within a rewilded Cotswolds landscape. It is also fabulous for families, offering free childcare to guests, as well as a listening service in rooms, so that parents can dine worry free. The brasserie takes in splendid views of the hotel’s gardens and meadows which, thanks to a rewilding project, are fast becoming home to an increasing array of wildlife. Children are served a kids’ tea before 6pm, so that adults can enjoy a finely crafted meal in peace later on. Little ones can use the spa at certain times too and will love making a splash in the heated outdoor pool in summer.
Best For Mountains
For spectacular vistas of mist rolling down the mountains, visit The Torridon, a five-star boutique hotel with a modern, glass-walled restaurant in the Scottish Highlands. Menus at the 1887 finedining restaurant aim for low food miles and change with the seasons (as do the views, with the peaks receiving a dusting of snow in winter). Dishes make full use of ingredients from the hotel’s kitchen garden. The Whisky Bar is a popular spot for a nightcap and it also serves the hotel’s own Arcturus gin. The Torridon has stables too, allowing guests to ride out into the wilderness.
Best For Live Music
Summer comes with its own soundtrack at Grantley Hall, an imposing manor house with a cutting-edge spa and formal gardens in Yorkshire. Foodies will love trying out each of the hotel’s five restaurants, one of which is the Michelin-starred Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall. The Orchard is more suited to relaxed dining and has a marquee with garden views over the West Lawn. When the weather warms up, between April and September, musicians regularly play live acoustic sets as part of the hotel’s Summer Sessions. The Orchard’s menu features regionally inspired plates of whole grilled Whitby lobster or Warrendale Wagyu burgers.
Best For Romance
With views across tranquil Rutland Water to the countryside beyond, Hambleton Hall is a quiet and appealing country house hotel that ticks every box for a luxurious, romantic break. It has only 17 rooms, so is small and intimate, and has been owned by the same husband-and-wife team for four decades. Couples looking to spend quality time together can therefore expect thoughtful and personal service. The Dining Room restaurant has held a Michelin star for the longest time of any in the UK, offering elegant cooking from chef Aaron Patterson that embraces the seasons, together with a wine list that favours smaller producers.
Best For Alfresco Dining
Get to know the heart of Constable country at this small but lovely hotel on the banks of the River Stour in Dedham. The Talbooth has 12 plush rooms and a spa with a heated outdoor pool and hot tub, but it is the riverside terrace that impresses most. Sit outside (while under cover) for lunch or dinner at the 3-AArosette Talbooth Restaurant and you can admire the landscapes that so inspired the painter. The menu showcases local produce through dishes such as Mersea crab tartlet with avocado or dry-aged Dedham Vale beef and short rib.
Best For Lake Views
In the Lake District, Armathwaite Hall has 43 comfortable rooms plus a spoiling spa and is set in a 400-acre deer park beside Bassenthwaite Lake. Guests who dine in the oak-panelled Lake View Restaurant can gaze out to the still water, which is surrounded by woodland and has fells rising behind it. The kitchen presents Cumbrian specialities, with both British and French influences, and there is a highceilinged cocktail bar within the hotel for aperitifs. Smart dress is required for dinner, with more relaxed dining available in the Courtyard Brasserie. Sunday lunch is a popular affair.
Best For For Sea Views
Occupying a dramatic position on a rugged peninsula in North Cornwall, The Headland hotel has sea views for miles. It also has a new flagship eatery, Restaurant RenMor, which means ‘restaurant by the sea’ in Cornish. Through expansive glass windows, diners can gaze from the cliffs down at the pounding surf. RenMor’s open-plan kitchen plates up food that celebrates local produce, be it sustainable seafood, prime steaks or whole fish brought in from the dayboats. The Terrace is the place to be in summer for a cream tea or a sundowner, with tables facing both south and west across Fistral Bay.
Words | Natalie Paris
