14 small towns across the UK that every foodie should visit

Totnes, Devon

The market town of Totnes in Devon has some of the most progressive organic restaurants in the country. The Bull Inn is driving the charge with its ecological and social impact pledges, including commitments to “field grown, not flown”, mindful meat, seasonality and supplier-led organic food. Its inventive menu includes such dishes as roasted courgettes, whipped tahini, preserved lemon, pumpkin seed picada and basque cheesecake with plums.

Eversfield organic farm shop & café has a menu of all-day brunch classics such as toasted banana bread with seasonal compote and Turkish eggs with warm chilli butter. The Totnes Sunday food market is the biggest in Devon offering up fine produce from local producers. For a taste of fine-dining, head to Gather which showcases locally sourced and wild foraged ingredients from Devon’s fields, shoreline, rivers and hedgerows.

Where to stay: not just a restaurant, you can also stay at The Bull Inn. There are nine chic, minimally-designed rooms to choose from plus a four-bed self catering apartment (with it's own private terrace) that is ideal for larger groups.

Doubles from £165, check availability at booking.com

Jersey, Channel Islands

A short hop from the UK (or France), Jersey, famous for its prized potatoes, oysters and rich custard-yellow cream – is having a gourmet revival. Restaurant pêtchi, from island-raised chef and Great British Menu finalist Joe Baker, is leading the charge. Its menu celebrates the abundance of the island’s local seafood with dishes such as Chancre crab and seaweed tarts, and a signature wood-roasted lobster rice. JEJE, housed in St Helier’s historic fish market, specialises in fresh sushi and Korean-inspired dishes made using the daily catch. Over on St Ouen’s Bay is SANDS, whose menu is inspired by Australasian and Californian coastal cuisine, with homemade tacos and sodas like its apricot/cardamom and lychee/vetiver. And for a nightcap head to The Porter’s Store, a stylish speakeasy with live music and cocktail masterclasses on offer.

Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire

Famous for its spirited community ethos which has attracted writers and artists for decades, Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire is now a hotbed for culinary creatives. At its heart is Kitchen 91, a micro-bakery and dining room in a converted weaver’s warehouse specialising in Italian cuisine with sustainability at its core. Independent cooperative Valley Organics sells ethically sourced ingredients from local producers, and Goo Cheese has a range of more than 100 British and continental cheeses with an emphasis on lesser known cheesemakers. Stylish contemporary restaurant Coin is the best spot for dinner, serving small plates such as Crown Prince squash, rocket, Loch Arthur yogurt and smoked almonds alongside an extensive list of natural wines. For a night cap, lively bottle shop Drink (open until 10pm) has a range of regional craft ales, fruit sours and cloudy gose beers from across the county.

Bruton, Somerset

Picturesque Bruton is nestled among Somerset's green rolling hills and has become a something of magnet for unconventional chefs and arty culinary creatives in recent years, turning the once quiet market town into a foodie hot spot. At the Chapel – a Grade II listed restaurant-gallery-hotel hybrid – takes pride of place in the centre of Bruton high street, serving a Mediterranean menu that heroes West Country produce and a wine store filled with organic, biodynamic vintages. Durslade Farm Shop showcases artisan makers and growers of Somerset in the chic Hauser & Wirth Gallery. The Newt country estate hosts seasonal gastronomic events such as foraging masterclasses and artisan cyder tasting in its orchard. And Michelin-starred restaurant Osip, fronted by chef Merlin Labron-Johnson, has removed all menus entirely – asking diners to put their faith in the hands of its masterful chefs.

Where to stay: Number One Bruton is a revamped Georgian townhouse that offers 12 bedrooms and a sense of playfulness behind the polish. In the Georgian townhouse itself, designers Frank & Faber have decorated the bedrooms with a tasteful riot of pattern on pattern, plus period fireplaces and gilt mirrors. For a more modern feel, a trio of cottages behind the main house (overlooking the courtyard garden) have simple white bathrooms, quarry-tiled floors and neutral colour schemes, reflecting their former status as workshops.

Breakfast, taken in Osip (see above), is totally unique in terms of its offerings. Try vanilla-spiked rice pudding topped with homemade granola and a spoonful of toffee-ish milk jam; still-warm boiled egg cradled in a little nest of hay; pheasant terrine and chutney on freshly baked sourdough; or a sliver of jammy pear and quince tart.

Check rates and availability at numberonebruton.com

Lyme Regis, Dorset

Affectionately known as the pearl of Dorset, thanks to its beautiful bay, the areas surrounding Lyme Regis are also rich in culinary delights. The Seaside Boarding House, overlooking Lyme Bay, champions local Dorset produce and has a guest series with a host of exciting chefs including Jeremy Lee, Rick Toogood and Abby Lee. The Parlour at Bredy Farm offers Italian small plates like Tuscan fish stew with Dorset clams and courgettes alla poverella. And Rachels in West Bay is a beach side hut with fresh local seafood platters, moules and chowder, plus it gets our vote for the best fish and chips in the area.

Aldeburgh, Suffolk

Aldeburgh, a small seaside town in Suffolk, is famous for its annual food and drink festival, and something of a hot gastronomic ticket. The Lighthouse serves simple home-cooked fare with a neighbourhood vibe – including its very own Lighthouse 77 gin, which includes botanicals such as heather and liquorice. Sea Spice is a beautiful restaurant that combines local Suffolk produce with flavourful Indian cooking. The beach is lined with shacks selling boxes of prawns and smoked fish from local artisans including Butley Oysterage. And, like all great coastal towns, there’s the iconic Aldeburgh Fish & Chips made the traditional Suffolk way – fried in beef dripping!

Be it colour palettes and decorative touches inspired by the Suffolk countryside or a guest pantry where you can pour yourself a complimentary cocktail, every detail of six-bedroom The Suffolk has been carefully considered. Enjoy the rooftop sea-view terrace, then head down to the restaurant, where chef Tom Payne makes impressive use of Suffolk produce, such as Gressingham duck or Dingley Dell pork. From Butley Creek oysters to lemon sole in Pernod garlic butter, seafood is prominent. Check rates and availability at the-suffolk.co.uk

Malton, Yorkshire

There’s so much going on in Yorkshire’s food capital of Malton right now. Those serious about their food won’t be disappointed.

Over a four year period, 26 food and drink businesses have set up shop here. Many cluster around Talbot Yard – a former stables – which now houses an artisan roaster, Roost, the Bluebird Bakery, the Groovy Moo gelateria, macaron-maker Florian Poirot, the Rare Bird Gin Distillery and a butcher, Food 2 Remember. Other dates for the diary include the Malton Harvest Food Festival in October, and the monthly food markets. These events bring together the wider area’s exceptional producers’ including Malton Cider, cheese from Botton Creamery, chutneys from Sloemotion and lots more.

Where to stay: Talbot Inn (owned – like much of Malton – by aristocrat Tom Naylor-Leyland and his glamorous wife and Vogue-contributor Alice) has relaxed décor, in a glamorous, playful sort of way. Ex-Lucky Onion stalwarts, Georgie and Sam Pearman, spruced up the 26-bedroomed Talbot, bringing a modern style to the imposing 17th-century coaching inn, resulting in oak-floored rooms where modern art and antique finds rub alongside ancestral portraits. Eating is when and where you want. Already savoured the views of the watermeadows from the plant-draped Garden Room? Curl up by the log fires in the Snug, or slouch into a leather armchair beneath the wall-mounted wild boar in the navy-walled Upper Bar. Wherever you sit, jeaned and Converse-sneakered waiting staff miraculously appear.

Doubles at Talbot Inn from £96 per night, check availability at booking.com

Moreton-in-Marsh, Cotswolds

In the Evenlode Valley, within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the market town of Moreton-in-Marsh makes an ideal base for a ‘foodie’ trip. A short hop from popular villages and towns such as Daylesford (famous for its organic farm, shop and restaurant), Chipping Norton and Stow-on-the-Wold, it benefits from good public transport links including direct trains to London. The main street is lined with handsome stone buildings dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, many of them shops, tea rooms, pubs and places to eat.

There are plenty of places to stay the night, including the White Hart Royal, a former manor house where King Charles I took refuge during the Civil War. The main public building is the Redesdale Hall which holds antiques and craft fairs, and there’s a weekly Tuesday street market. When it comes to eating out, Henne is highly regarded by the locals with its inventive and sustainably driven menu using hyper-local produce. If it’s artisan bread and patisserie you’re after, Otis & Belle bakery is exceptional and The Cotswold Cheese Company sells countless local cheeses. A short drive out of town is the Michelin-starred Royal Oak at Whatcote.

Tisbury, Wiltshire

In Wiltshire’s pretty Nadder Valley, Tisbury is more village than town yet still packs a punch when it comes to eating and drinking. On its edge the Grade I thatched Tithe Barn has been converted into Messum’s, a contemporary art gallery where the Mess Restaurant offers much more sophisticated fare than your standard museum café.

In the morning Genius Coffea, on the High Street, is the first port of call. For sustenance to go with it, continue on to Tisbury Deli where the shelves prop up goodies from croissants to pork pies. Pick up a bottle to go with your supplies from The Beckford Bottle Shop, where you can try-before-you-buy and get expert advice from staff.

Pythouse Kitchen Garden should be on everyone’s radar too; not only for the first-rate restaurant but because the company’s glamping village, tucked away in the orchard, is the perfect place to stay.

Where to stay: Pubs in the area are plentiful but few focus on food; the exception is The Beckford Arms where you’ll need to book to get ahead of the locals who come for a Beckford Bloody Mary and stay on for Sunday lunch.

Doubles from £91 per night, check availability at mrandmrssmith.com

North Berwick, Scotland

There’s a food revolution underway in the seaside town of North Berwick, just half an hour from Edinburgh by train along the East Lothian coast. Millennials priced out of the city have de-camped to the coast bringing with them a demand for flat whites and sourdough – which they get at Steampunk Coffee Roasters and the Bostock Bakery. The croissants at the latter are so good that NOMA’s René Redzepi sent his pastry chef from Copenhagen to learn from Bostock’s Ross Baxter.

For seafood, try Lobster Shack – a seasonal operation on the harbour that cooks its catch from the neighbouring Firth of Forth Lobster Hatchery between Easter and October; the lobster and crab bisque is exceptional and the Shack is licensed so you can order a glass of crisp white to go with it. A blustery and beautiful walk out of town brings you to shipping container turned coffee shop DRIFT, perched on an outcrop above Canty Bay; sit in and order the bacon and egg sandwich with herby aioli.

Where to stay: Stay just out of town, in Gullane, at The Bonnie Badger, Tom and Michaela Kitchin’s restaurant with rooms.

Doubles from £236 per night, check availability at booking.com or mrandmrssmith.com

Deal, Kent

Kent’s coastal towns are smartening up, luring in a hip London crowd who steer south on fast trains. Whilst foodies still love Whitstable, Deal is the buzzy new kid on the block. Find everything from Kent’s favourite chippie, Middle Street Fish Bar to date-night-dining at Victuals & Co. where the Raid the Larder menu on Sunday evenings is particularly good value.

The Deal Dining Club is an institution and its Friday and Saturday night set-menu feasts always sell out; typical events include a Taste of Kent, with a menu boasting Canterbury cheese puffs, Kentish brown shrimp, local pigeon, home-smoked haddock and rhubarb crème brulee. It’s BYOB so pick up a bottle beforehand at Le Pinardier, a French wine bar and shop with an array of predominantly natural wines.

Where to stay: Cross the road to The Rose where the seasonal cocktails are invented by local forager and chef, Lucia Stuart, who also runs excursions such as a Berry Bonanza Wilderness Picnic via The Wild Kitchen. As well as a bar, restaurant and pretty courtyard garden, The Rose has eight artfully-designed bedrooms. It’s worth staying for breakfast – the sourdough toast with pear and ginger jam is scrumptious.

Doubles from £167 per night, check availability at booking.com

Orford, Suffolk

The Suffolk town of Orford may have kick-started its foodie reputation with the opening of the renowned Pump Street Bakery (a visit to its Suffolk-pink premises for breakfast pastries is a must) but the business has done a pivot into artisan chocolate-making so save space to try one of their artisan bars too.

Proximity to the shingly coastline means the town is also home to two excellent seafood spots, fixtures since the 1950s – Butley Oysterage, a smart restaurant serving up plump oysters and griddled prawns dripping in garlic butter, and the sister shop, Pinney’s, where you can buy smoked fish, potted crab and angels on horseback to take away.

If you’re visiting in September, Orford also makes a great base for exploring Aldeburgh Food Festival – confusingly not in Aldeburgh town but, rather, at nearby Snape Maltings, the Victorian red-brick malt kilns turned world-famous concert halls that sit amongst the reedbeds on Suffolk’s river Alde. It’s a great setting to learn, among other things, how to make bread courtesy of Marriage’s Bakery Room.

Where to stay: Orford’s pub, the The Crown and Castle, promises smart bedrooms overlooking Orford’s 12th century castle, or there’s the Wash House Studio B&B – stay in a sweet shepherd’s hut or the converted wash house next to the coastguards cottages and wake up to find a breakfast hamper covered with a gingham cloth on your doorstep in the morning.

Doubles at The Crown and Castle from £122, check availability at booking.com

Abergavenny, Wales

Abergavenny Food Festival takes place each September and is one of the most creative and dynamic culinary gatherings in the UK, also one of the longest running. Regulars come for talks by Diana Henry and Bee Wilson, Dinner Party masterclasses with Rosie Birkett and Elly Pear, vegan BBQing tips from Matt Pritchard, debates on sustainable farming, a children’s cookery school and outdoor feasts based around wild cooking. Beyond the festival, you’ll find a quiet market town packed with independent shops like The Angel Bakery, which serves seasonal fruit pastries and perfect artisanal baguettes. Pair one of the latter with a ploughman’s hamper from The Marches Deli (it includes three Welsh cheeses, local chutney, Cradocs crackers and Welsh ale).

The top table in town for breakfast and lunch is at The Kitchen at The Chapel where soda bread is baked each morning and might be served with pumpkin, butter bean and olive oil soup and a local craft cider, while the Michelin-starred Walnut Tree Inn is just outside town.

Where to stay: Stay at Old Lands in one of three pretty holiday cottages set within converted stables and barns on an old family estate. There’s a walled garden and an on-site micro farm shop and guests can book children into Forest School, go on a nature walk or take a rowing boat out to an island on the estate’s lake.

Check rates and availability at old-lands.co.uk

Clitheroe, Lancashire

The Lancashire market town of Clitheroe, in the Forest of Bowland, is the hub of Lancashire’s Ribble Valley. You’ll find a heaving cheese counter at Holmes Mill, Clitheroe’s monumental new food hall, and regional produce galore at Booths. Dip into independent food shops, such as Cowman’s Famous Sausage Shop, which sells over 70 varieties. Then go for a walk on Pendle Hill, followed by lunch at the Assheton Arms in Downham.

Where to stay: Stay over at Freemasons At Wiswell, just south of town. As well as a chef’s table experience the dining pub has added bedrooms; enjoy Herdwick lamb with aubergine and miso purée, and a superlative vanilla slice, then stumble into bed. Or head half an hour out of town to remote Dale House, a 400-year-old farm. One of its owners used to work as a chef for the Roux brothers so expect standout breakfasts and sumptuous (zero-mile) dinners, such as venison haunch steak with blackberries followed by homemade eccles cakes.

Doubles from £160 per night, check availability at freemasonsatwiswell.com

Porthleven, Cornwall

Almost as far southwest as you can get in England, Porthleven is a pretty Cornish port that greets you with waving sailing flags and colourful buoys bobbing in the water (and a medley of carefully curated food stalls if you time a trip to tie in with the annual Porthleven Food Festival each spring). It may be a tiny town, but the food scene is growing at pace here – think Padstow thirty years ago.

Current highlights include Origin, a coffee roasters that started here but now has shops in Shoreditch, Edinburgh, the British Library and Southwark too. Next door is Kota Kai which serves Thai tapas and forms a more relaxed little sister to Kota restaurant, up the road. Run by half-Maori, half Chinese Malay chef, Jude Kereama, Kota (meaning ‘shellfish’ in Maori) serves Cornish seafood with Asian and Kiwi influences; think pan-fried hake, crab ravioli, Cornish mussels and tiger prawns in a vegetable dashi broth or Porthilly oyster tempura with wasabi tartare. Try the tasting menu and then stumble upstairs to bed.

Where to stay: Kota has two bedrooms above it so you don’t need to leave town. Alternatively rent a picture-perfect thatched cottage on the nearby Trelowarren Estate, also home to the excellent New Yard restaurant.

Bridport, Dorset

It’s over fifteen years since Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall turned the spotlight on field-to-fork dining in Dorset, with the River Cottage, and West Dorset is now a firmly foodie pocket of the UK. Exciting things are happening in the market town of Bridport. A vibey Asian street food joint might be the last thing you’d expect to stumble on up a small-town alley, but Dorshi is exactly that. The name (“Dorset-sushi”) stems from the founders’ days spent doing a roaring trade out of a food truck. Now in a bricks-and-mortar restaurant the menu is all about dumplings, buns, zingy salads and noodle bowls.

Likewise the Soulshine Café is on-the-button with superfood spirulina smoothies, oat milk lattes and a vegan full English on the menu – meat-eaters needn’t worry you’ll find sausage sarnies here too.

For a sweet treat visit Baboo Gelato where the ice cream is award-winning – try the plum sorbet. Just outside the town visit Washingpool Farm, home to one of the region’s best farm shops (it stocks its own veggies as well as other local produce, like North Perrott apple juice and Dorset Cereals.

Where to stay: Stay further up the sands at the Seaside Boarding House, a hip hotel with unrivalled views over Lyme Bay, elegant modern cooking and a grown-up line in cocktails.

Ashburton, Devon

Dartmouth and Salcome might get all the attention in Devon’s southernly corner, but look inland for fewer crowds and great food spots. Ashburton, on the edge of Dartmoor, is home to the famed Ashburton Cookery School where over 40 classes are offered from a five-day patisserie week to a three-hour Indian cook-to-go and a recently introduced range of Christmas classes, from festive breadmaking to party canapés and chocolate advent calendar workshops.

If you’d rather leave the hard work to the experts, the award-winning Ashburton Deli is the place to go, stocked with the best produce from across the West. Ten minutes’ out of town, meanwhile, brings you to Riverford, the organic farming champions – visit their home turf for lunch or supper at The Riverford Field Kitchen where the set veggie menu is about as close to farm-to-fork as can be.

Where to stay: Stay at the Live and Let Live pub where there’s excellent provenance-orientated food and three bright and airy bedrooms.

Kendal, Lake District

But for its eponymous mint cake, Kendal is not known for its food. It is overlooked entirely by many visitors who, alighting at Oxenholme station or racing past from the M6, head straight for the Lakes’ better-known hot spots. This is a mistake.

The food and drink scene in this handsome market town is on a flavour-packed roll at casual dining spots such as Comida, Marra 46, Pappy’s Texas BBQ, Baba Ganoush and exciting small plates restaurant, Ramble, run by wine-maker, Northern Wine. It is home to two mega breweries, Lakes Brew Co, which hosts street food traders at its monthly brew-tap, and Fell (check its bar and new arts venue, Glisky). Kendal also boasts award-winning butcher, Roast Mutton, a carefully curated, twice-monthly farmers’ and artisan-makers’ market (second/last Fridays), and, just outside town, one of Britain’s best bakeries, Lovingly Artisan – a neighbour to, among other food businesses, Plumgarths farm shop. Is Kendal Cumbria’s tastiest town? Quite possibly.

Where to stay: 20-minutes drive from Kendal, Gilpin Hotel & Country House in Windermere offres luxurious bedrooms with lakeside views, and an on-site Michelin-starred restaurant that puts an Asian twist on Cumbrian dining.

Doubles from £335 per night, check availability at booking.com or expedia.co.uk

Words by Daisy Allsup

Photographs by Clare Hargreaves, Weekend Journals, Rhiannon Batten, Helen Cathcart, Keiko Oikawa

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