Stapleford Park Country House Hotel and Sporting Estate

Neil and Louise Hitchen have been working in restaurants around the world together for 20 years, with their current venture set inside this pretty stone barn. There’s a rustic quality to the décor, which pairs nicely with the lovely warm welcome given by natural host Louise and her bright young team. Neil heads up the kitchen, producing well-priced, seasonal dishes that are so appealing you might struggle to choose – go for the banana panna cotta to finish and you won’t be disappointed. The wine list is as wallet-friendly as the food.

The Olive Branch is a picture-postcard village pub, with a fine stone exterior and rustic interior design that boasts the obligatory wooden beams and roaring fire which make country inns so inviting. Its cooking is comfortingly traditional in basis, with well-executed versions of confit duck leg, fish & chips and more hearty classics; local sourcing is key too, with suppliers proudly name-checked and vegetables coming from their garden. Over the road, you'll find Beech House, where guests can stay the night while exploring the surrounding countryside.

This rustic and rural restaurant in the Vale of Belvoir is located on the farmstead where Chef-Owner Richard grew up, divided across two buildings constructed using reclaimed materials from the farm. The menu takes a surprise tasting format, with an extended series of generous, heartily flavoured courses that often involve cooking over wood. Richard’s cuisine is informed by his surroundings, with game and kitchen-garden vegetables playing a particularly big role. The wine list has a similar ethos, with natural, organic and bio-dynamic options.

After a change of ownership, this fine rural inn has got a spring back in its step, while preserving some of the best elements from its historic past. The carved Jacobean fireplace in the bar, for example, is still in situ – along with a more formal dining room and suntrap terrace. The cooking draws on hearty pub fare like ham hock and piccalilli; as an alternative to dessert, why not order the local stilton? There are only six dairies in the world licensed to make this cheese, and one of them is right here in Colston Basset – so it would be rude not to!