The Whitebrook

Hedge bedstraw, lamb’s sorrel, mugwort and estuary greens appear on the plate at Chris and Kirsty Harrod’s Michelin-starred ‘super, small restaurant-with-rooms’, on a single-track road in a Wye valley hamlet. ‘The concepts are brilliant,’ a reader enthused. ‘Mr Harrod forages for ingredients, he highlights the best of local produce’ with fruit and vegetables from the kitchen garden. The four years that he spent honing his skills in his hero Raymond Blanc’s kitchen at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Great Milton (see entry), instilled in him the love of food from the wild that is now his signature. His menus (including one for vegetarians) feature ‘absolutely delicious’ dishes such as squab pigeon, cauliflower, forced rhubarb, charred kale, wild chervil, and Cornish brill, mussel cream, purple sprouting brassica, three-cornered garlic. ‘We had the wine flight, which was a good choice.’ Four bedrooms have been refurbished, with a large double-ended bath and walk-in shower. Two have a sleigh bed and a seating area, one has a stone wet room. They are smart, but the food is the star. (DH)