You’ll find great restaurants in the Cotswolds scattered throughout the rural and hilly area. Some can be found in historic country pubs, where you’ll walk over worn, centuries-old flagstones to your table. Others are smart city affairs, sophisticated and stylish, or more humble family-run restaurants bringing decades of experience that allows the food to take centre stage.
What this eclectic mix of establishments has in common is their commitment to using fresh, local produce, which is often sustainably and seasonably sourced. The results will delight your tastebuds and sate your appetite. Read on to find out where to eat in the Cotswolds and what to try.
- 1
The Potting Shed
An authentic Cotswolds country pub
- Families
- Food
- Group
The Potting Shed is a gastropub within easy reach of Tetbury, Malmesbury and Cirencester. The place has a rustic charm, with exposed brick, characterful beams and agricultural-themed decor. Outside, there’s plenty of additional seating in a lovely garden with a mature weeping willow tree.
The dishes on the menu elevate classic English pub fare. Start with twice-baked double Gloucester soufflé, with spinach and wholegrain mustard, for instance. Follow with dry-aged ribeye, pan-fried sea bream and pork chops with fennel, which supplement more common pub dishes such as beer-battered fish and chips.
Location: The Street, Crudwell, Malmesbury SN16 9EW, UK
Open: Daily from 11 am to midnight
Phone: +44 (0)1666 577833
Map - 2
The Wild Rabbit
Modern British cuisine in the heart of Chipping Norton
- Couples
- Food
- Luxury
The Wild Rabbit occupies an elegant, characterful inn with original fireplaces and exposed Cotswold stone. It was extensively renovated in 2013. The restaurant’s name references Conygree Farm (Conygree is Anglo-Saxon for ‘rabbit enclosure’), while wall art displaying tolls is a nod to the old Tollgate Inn that was here before.
Ingredients are sourced locally where possible, many picked daily from the Wild Rabbit’s market garden at Daylesford Farm. They emerge from the kitchen as exciting fine-dining dishes, such as slow-cooked Daylesford egg, with nasturtium velouté, Morteau sausage and peas, or herb-crusted Daylesford organic lamb saddle with wet garlic, chervil-glazed carrot and aged balsamic.
Location: Church St, Kingham, Chipping Norton OX7 6YA, UK
Open: Wednesday–Saturday from noon to 2 pm and 7 pm to 9 pm, Sunday from noon to 2.30 pm and 7 pm to 9 pm
Phone: +44 (0)1608 658389
Map - 3
The Old Butchers
A former butcher's shop turned restaurant
- Food
- Group
- Luxury
The Old Butchers is an English restaurant located in the charming village of Stow-on-the-Wold. A family business, it was set up in 2005 by a chef and his partner who each take responsibility for the kitchen and front of house respectively.
They promote what they call a ‘nose-to-tail’ ethos, meaning that no part of the animal or plant that’s edible will go to waste. On the menu, you’ll find plenty of seafood alongside the meat. Share a whole grilled Dover sole with Béarnaise sauce and new potatoes, or keep it local with Gloucester Old Spots pork chop, accompanied by black pudding and apple and Calvados sauce.
Location: 7 Park St, Stow-on-the-Wold, Cheltenham GL54 1AQ, UK
Open: Tuesday–Saturday from noon to 2 pm and 6 pm to 9 pm (closed on Sundays)
Phone: +44 (0)1451 831700
Map - 4
Le Champignon Sauvage
Sophisticated French dining in a stylish setting
- Couples
- Food
- Luxury
Le Champignon Sauvage is a critically-acclaimed fine-dining restaurant in Cheltenham. The talent of its chef and owner has earned it a Michelin star and 4 AA Rosettes. His wife has also played a crucial role since they opened in 1987 – warm, welcoming and efficient at front of house.
The set menu changes regularly, but you might start with pigeon served with a black pudding and chocolate ganache, cherries and radicchio. Move on to roast Cotswold lamb chump, accompanied by romaine lettuce, peas and sheep's curd. Round off the meal with blueberry cannelloni, wood sorrel cream and yoghurt sorbet.
Location: 24-28 Suffolk Rd, Cheltenham GL50 2AQ, UK
Open: Tuesday–Saturday from 12.30 pm to 1.15 pm and 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm
Phone: +44 (0)1242 573449
Mapphoto by Ross Bruniges (CC BY 2.0) modified
- 5
The Rose Tree Restaurant
Riverside dining with pub-style food
- Couples
- Food
- History
The Rose Tree Restaurant enjoys an enviable location on the bank of the River Windrush in Bourton-on-the-Water, one of the Cotswolds’ prettiest villages. It occupies a Grade II-listed cottage and if you’re lucky enough to be seated in the garden on a summer’s day, it’s hard to imagine a more bucolic setting for a meal.
The menu reads like that of a typical British pub, featuring classics such as slow-cooked pork belly, steak and kidney pie, pan-fried sea bass and lamb shank. Round off your meal in a similar fashion with panna cotta or sticky toffee pudding.
Location: Riverside, Victoria St, Bourton-on-the-Water, Cheltenham GL54 2BX, UK
Open: Daily from 11.30 am to 3 pm and 6 pm to 8.30 pm
Phone: +44 (0)1451 820635
Mapphoto by Elliott Brown (CC BY-SA 2.0) modified
- 6
Toro Lounge
A casual, welcoming eatery in central Cirencester
- Families
- Food
- Group
Toro Lounge is part of the Lounges chain – its name references Cirencester’s old cattle market. Independently run by 3 friends, the business began in Bristol and spread across the south-west. The restaurants are characterised by their quirky decor, though that’s pared back a little here to some interesting wall art and mismatched furniture colours.
Dog- and kid-friendly, Toro Lounge is a good choice for families looking for variety. The menu is heavily influenced by the USA and you’ll find brisket, buttermilk fried chicken and a good selection of burgers. Ask for a table on the 1st-floor terrace when the weather’s fine.
Location: 34 Cricklade St, Cirencester GL7 1JH, UK
Open: Sunday–Thursday from 9 am to 11 pm, Friday and Saturday from 9 am to midnight
Phone: +44 (0)1285 656551
Map - 7
Wilder
A fine spot to dine in Stroud
- Couples
- Food
- Luxury
Wilder is a fine-dining restaurant catering to discerning foodies in Stroud. The 8-course tasting menu changes with the seasons and imaginatively combines the best local, fresh ingredients. Bold flavours, contrasting textures and beautiful presentation ensure that what’s on the plate is a treat for all the senses.
The menu will be a surprise on the night. But you can expect playful and well-executed dishes such as venison served with Jerusalem artichoke, celeriac, blue cheese and prunes, or smoked eel accompanied by crispy chicken skin and beetroot.
Location: Market St, Nailsworth, Stroud GL6 0BX, UK
Open: Wednesday–Saturday from 7 pm to 11.30 pm (closed Sunday–Tuesday)
Phone: +44 (0)1453 835483
Map - 8
Tierra and Mar
Authentic Spanish cuisine in Cirencester
- Couples
- Food
Tierra and Mar is a restaurant in Cirencester with a name that means ‘land and sea’ in Spanish. That’s a clue to the kind of tapas it serves. Owned by a husband-and-wife team, it’s heavily influenced by the family’s smallholding in the Cotswold countryside and the wife’s Mediterranean roots.
The dining room interiors are blue-hued and the menu is creative and imaginative. Order a selection of dishes to share, such as pineapple gazpacho, goat cheese mousse, pan-fried octopus or the Iberian platter with Manchego cheese, chorizo, salchichon (a Spanish summer sausage), sobrasada (raw, cured Balearic sausage), and more.
Location: 29 Sheep St, Cirencester GL7 1QW, UK
Open: Tuesday–Saturday from noon to 2 pm and 6 pm to 8.30 pm
Phone: +44 (0)1285 642777
Map - 9
5 North Street
Exceptional modern British cuisine with French influences
- Couples
- Food
- Luxury
5 North Street is a Winchcombe gem of a restaurant serving Anglo-French dishes. Its husband-and-wife team work to their strengths, taking what they learnt under the tutelage of the late French chef and restaurateur Michel Roux Sr. at the Waterside Inn in Bray, Berkshire. The couple has run their successful restaurant since 2003.
With just 26 covers, dining here is an intimate affair. 5 North Street offers a regularly changing menu with dishes that can be enjoyed separately or as a 7-course tasting menu. Typical dishes include chicken liver parfait, Orkney scallops, wild sea bass and free-range duck breast.
Location: 5 North St, Winchcombe, Cheltenham GL54 5LH, UK
Open: Tuesday–Saturday from noon to 10 pm, Sunday from noon to 5 pm (closed on Mondays)
Phone: +44 (0)1242 604566
Mapphoto by Jaggery (CC BY-SA 2.0) modified
- 10
Purslane
An upscale and elegant Cheltenham restaurant specialising in seafood
- Couples
- Food
- Luxury
Purslane is an independently-owned fine-dining restaurant in Cheltenham. Its head chef grew up in a family of butchers, so his passion for seafood is perhaps an understandable reaction to being served fish as a rare treat when he was a child.
Though meat is also served at Purslane, the majority of the dishes on the menu showcase sustainably-caught fresh seafood. The chef’s techniques include sous vide, barbecued and salt-baked. There’s an a la carte menu which changes twice a month, or if preferred, the whole table can opt for a fixed, multi-course tasting experience.
Location: 16 Rodney Rd, Cheltenham GL50 1JJ, UK
Open: Thursday–Saturday from noon to 2.15 pm and 6 pm to 9 pm
Phone: +44 (0)1242 321639
Map