Stathern Restaurant Guide

This “superb old-style country-house hotel” is “the best place in the area by a country mile”, and still at the top of its game under Lila Arora, whose late grandmother Imogen Skirving converted it from her family home. Exec chef Gary Booth oversees a “very good” menu with a focus on seasonal local produce from the nearby Belvoir estate – and “the private dining room is fantastic”.

In a converted barn on a farm near Plungar, 30 minutes’ drive from Nottingham, self-taught chef Rich and his wife Grace serve a 20-course tasting menu. In her November 2024 review, Charlotte Ivers of the Sunday Times was enthralled by the ‘magic’ of the kitchen.