Best farm stays for food lovers

Best farm stays for food lovers

Fowlscombe Farm, South Devon

Tucked in the foothills of Dartmoor, Fowlescombe Farm is a quietly luxurious rural retreat where regenerative organic farming and contemporary comfort meet with a fork-to-table food ethos. Dating back to 1537, the estate’s original Victorian farmhouse and timeworn stone barns have been thoughtfully restored by director Caitlin Owens and her team. The result is an intimate and relaxed atmosphere, with just 10 suites spread across four distinct buildings. Daily menus are shaped by the land and seasons. The Refectory’s kitchen table seats 10 with a view of the chef at work, where you can expect dishes such as silky courgette and apple velouté, sirloin of shorthorn beef with tomato confit and strawberry parfait with elderflower. Garden-to-glass gin and cocktail pairings add to the sense of place. The Meadow Suite offers uninterrupted views over wildflower fields and woodland from its private living room and vast bathroom. A weekly calendar of activities can be dipped into, with bespoke experiences on request. Guided yoga in the garden and sea swimming with a post-dip croissant and flask of tea will leave you feeling grounded. Cookery courses, guided farm tours and animal feeding deepen the connection to land and food.

Check rates and availability at fowlescombe.com, booking.com or mrandmrssmith.com

Higher Farm, Somerset

When the sun is shining, Higher Farm feels like a little corner of heaven. Founded by brothers Giacomo and Matteo Grasso on a former dairy farm, this ambitious regenerative project combines sustainable agriculture with hyper-seasonal, produce-led dining. Guests can wander the fifty-acre farm freely, meeting friendly pigs, cows, goats, horses and over a hundred ducks at the so-called Ducklingham Palace. Polytunnels and vegetable beds yield spinach, lettuces, herbs, tomatoes, sweet peas, broccoli and beetroot, much of which finds its way onto plates at the on-site farm cafe or into the farm’s veg box scheme, which you can pick your own and purchase for £18 a box. The airy barn-turned-café and restaurant seats 35, with open beams, stone walls and views over wildflower meadows and the lake, where guests can take a dip. From Thursday to Sunday, the farm partners with Rambling Hearth Sauna for a lakeside spa experience. Chef George Barson, formerly at River Cottage and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, champions vegetables alongside meat and fish. Signature dishes include tomato and ricotta salad, panisse, ham with buttery mash and parsley, and their famously indulgent slow-cooked layered chips. Desserts are light and seasonal, from roasted apricot sorbet to a decadent clotted cream cheesecake. Visitors can stay in one of two cosy en-suite nature cabins, waking to unparalleled views across the farm and surrounding countryside.

Check rates and availability at higher-farm.co.uk

Tewinbury Farm, Herefordshire

Only half an hour from London by train, Tewinbury Farm is the mother of all luxury farmstays. The 700-acre working farm is dotted with cosy woodland huts and shepherds’ lodges alongside the grand family house, where lakeside tubs make lazy mornings and sunset soaks feel indulgent. Each en-suite room comes fully equipped with hobs and tea and coffee-making facilities, making self-catering a pleasure and pets are most welcome. The Cowshed restaurant champions the farm’s own produce, embracing a “yards-not-miles” ethos and working with local makers and creators. Seasonal menus feature everything from farm-reared steaks to cauliflower shawarma, while the cookery school, launched in 2022, lets guests get hands-on with the freshest ingredients. Three generations of the Williams family keep the farm running. The grandfather, who founded the farm in 1931, father Vaughn and uncle Ivor (who still lives on the farm) oversee daily life, and the estate is now in the hands of brothers Jack, Tom and Sam, with youngest son Jack, cooking since he was 15, leading a team of 25 in the kitchen. Former farm buildings and outbuildings have been converted into 60 rooms, a granary kitchen, a chill-out tented area and an outdoor pizza oven. Add a flower farm, a lively wine bar with live music, special outdoor Roots lunches and dinners right on the allotment gardens, and wandering sheep, pigs and llamas, and it’s a serene escape with endless things to do and where food, nature and family run the show.

Check rates and availability at tewinbury.co.uk or booking.com

River Cottage, Axminster

Pioneered by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in 1990, River Cottage has long championed food that inspires change. From seasonal feasts and weddings to private events and food workshops, the ethos follows the slow food movement, celebrating seasonal, organic and wild ingredients. At the on-site café and farm shop, chefs put vegetables centre stage with dishes such as confit garlic mushrooms with wilted greens on sourdough toast and courgette and basil bruschetta with Westcombe ricotta. The cookery school offers a hands-on way for visitors to connect with food and learn new skills. Accommodation is set in the three-bedroom farmhouse and annexe, right on the land. Guests can book individual rooms, the entire cottage or a one-bedroom cabin for a memorable, off-grid experience closer to nature. Each room features beamed ceilings, roll-top freestanding baths, fluffy robes and access to a cosy living space with a wood-burning stove. Visitors can enjoy unlimited tea and coffee, sweet treats from the chefs and a fully equipped AGA kitchen to cook their own feasts. Look out over the barn and the farmer’s garden, making it the perfect spot to sip coffee, watch the plants sway in the wind and see the bees at work.

Check rates and availability at rivercottage.net or booking.com

Pennard Hill Farm, Glastonbury

Nestled in the rolling Mendip Hills, Pennard Hill Farm is a boutique farmstay where rustic charm meets thoughtful luxury. Guests can choose from cosy en-suite rooms with a warm farmhouse feel, complete with an open-plan AGA kitchen, living space and natural brick walls, or opt for the Tree Tent, a suspended spherical glamping pod strung between trees that offers panoramic views and a magical, intimate connection to the outdoors. A dreamy place to curl up with a book, unwind, reconnect with nature and watch the cows wandering around in the next-door field. The farm itself is a working regenerative haven. Guests can wander past Herdwick sheep, Mangalitza pigs and rare Bresse chickens, or explore the extensive no-dig vegetable gardens. Seasonal feasts run throughout autumn and winter; they’re dictated entirely by what is grown and reared on-site, from cured meats and garden vegetables to pasta, risotto and wild game. Ingredients are chosen for flavour, welfare and sustainability, using methods inspired by Mediterranean preservation techniques. At Pennard Hill, every detail – from the rooms and interiors to the food and farm life – is considered with care.

Check rates and availability at pennardhillfarm.co.uk

Paradise Farm, Norwich

Paradise Farm lives up to its name, offering postcard-perfect countryside escapes just outside Norwich. Part of Restaries, the luxury retreats created by founders Gem Boner and Thom Scherdel, it sits on the grounds of a 16th-century Suffolk farm once home to cider production and New World Music distribution. Spread across 10 acres, the farm is a wonderland to explore. Magical woodland paths, wild meadows, vegetable and fruit cages, lavender gardens, ponds and manicured lawns provide endless nooks to wander. For those who’d rather soak and swim, there’s a 15-metre heated pool with an infinity swim machine that offers a serene escape. Guests may spot resident muntjac, ducklings paddling in the ponds, Herdwick sheep, Mangalitza pigs, Bresse chickens, pygmy goats and Valais Blacknose sheep, while ducks and geese roam freely. The Cider Store, a converted barn and the first Restaries space, features three beautifully styled bedrooms with king and super-king beds and sleek en-suite bathrooms. Open-plan living spaces include log burners, bespoke sofas and a designer kitchen. Outside, the private terrace is fully equipped for the ultimate pizza or barbecue party, with a Gozney Arc XL pizza oven and Kamado Joe grill, all overlooking paddocks where seasonal florals and greenery blossom and curious animals pop their heads in.

Check rates and availability at restaries.com or booking.com

The Farm at Avebury, Wiltshire

In the shadow of Silbury Hill, The Farm at Avebury is where Neolithic landscape meets modern farm-to-fork living. Known as Galteemore Farm since the 1890s and in the Hues family for four generations, this working farm has been reimagined with six luxury self-catering homes — beautifully converted stables and barns stocked with homely touches (local guidebooks, still-warm brownies, freshly made sourdough) to ground you in Wiltshire. Food is at the heart of the stay. Hosts and owners, Alice and Rob, who live here with their three daughters, bring a passion for provenance to everything they do. Their woodland-grazed Oxford Sandy Black pigs roam freely in the woods, while Hereford and Angus cattle graze the water meadows before overwintering on hay and barley grown on-site. The result? Pork, beef and lamb with depth of flavour, alongside golden cold-pressed rapeseed oil, charcuterie and homemade ready meals sold under their ABVRY label. The on-site farm shop brims with local produce — apple juice, rapeseed oil, milk, sourdough and butter — while this year’s proudest launch is nitrate-free sausages, blushing pink with beetroot powder. Guests can also feast at The Farmhouse Table, join butchery or sourdough workshops, or unwind at yoga retreat days.

Check rates and availability thefarmatavebury.co.uk or booking.com

Coombeshead Farm, Cornwall

Set across 66 acres of rolling meadows, ancient woodland and oak-lined streams, Coombeshead Farm in Lewannick offers both glorious isolation and rustic comfort. Its nine cosy bedrooms and two-bedroom cottage feel homely and unpretentious, but the real star here is the food. Chef Tom Adams co-owns the farm and restaurant, which opens Thursday to Sunday in summer with a set menu that tells the story of the land. A small no-dig garden supplies the kitchen with fruit and vegetables, grown without chemicals and in harmony with the soil. Dexter beef, Mangalitza pork, guinea fowl and chickens are all reared on site and butchered in-house. The pork is transformed into silky air-dried hams, plump sausages and rich charcuterie, while monthly Farm Boxes deliver a little of Coombeshead’s spirit to kitchens across the country. The bakery, run by Ben Glazer, fills the courtyard with the warm scent of sourdough. Heritage grains, stone-ground on site or grown nearby at Gothelney Farm, are baked into loaves that supply restaurants and farm shops across the West Country. The farm also hosts bakery mornings, selling coffee and pastries fresh from the ovens, as well as workshops throughout the year, from pottery and willow weaving to cookery classes. In winter, the restaurant and rooms close, but the farm becomes available for private hire, inviting groups to gather, feast, and savour this peaceful pocket of Cornish countryside.

Check rates and availability at coombesheadfarm.co.uk

Nest Farmhouse, Norfolk

Perched on a thousand-acre farm at the highest point of North Norfolk, the farmhouse is a charming haven with luxurious little comforts throughout your stay. The open-kitchen restaurant, lounge and bar, and five king-size bedrooms look out across sweeping East Anglian skies. The bedrooms are soft and serene, painted in gentle pastels with king-size beds, luxurious linens, and a mix of modern and vintage furnishings. Bathrooms are stocked with Austin Austin products. In summer, guests can enjoy waterside barbecues, outdoor mindful pilates or simply linger, soaking up the light and the view. Just a short stroll from the restaurant, a reeded pond catches the light in the summer, perfect for a glass of something chilled or a moment of stillness. Co-founders Luke Wasserman, Johnnie Crowe and Toby Neill, the team behind London’s Nest and Restaurant St. Barts, bring their produce-first approach to the countryside. Head chef Grant Cotton, a local with years of experience in the group’s London kitchens, leads a menu where everything is made in-house. Fresh breads, creamy butters, delicate ice creams and cured meats showcase the best of Norfolk’s seasonal bounty. If visiting during the summer months, there are plenty of pondside barbecue events and outdoor pilates.

Check rates and availability at nestfarmhouse.co.uk or booking.com

Nancarrow Farm, Truro

Nancarrow Farm is a 100-acre certified organic sanctuary tucked into a south-facing Cornish valley near Truro. Farmed by the same family for nine generations, it is alive with deer grazing the fields, flocks of sheep roaming the pastures, and cattle and lamb producing award-winning meat. Since 2011, Steve and Lucy Chamberlain have opened the farm’s barn doors to the public, creating a farm-to-table restaurant, micro-bakery and immersive experiences that let guests feel the land beneath their feet and taste the freshest produce. Accommodation is spread across lovingly restored buildings. The Grade II-listed Old Mill offers five luxury en-suite bedrooms and a spacious open-plan kitchen and living area for communal dining or quiet retreat. The former chicken shed has been transformed into a light-filled suite, and three handcrafted shepherds' huts sit quietly in the orchard. The farm’s calendar is alive with hands-on experiences. Guests can join Pasture to Plate workshops, exploring nose-to-tail butchery and woodfire cooking, or gather for seasonal feasts and harvest suppers. A micro-bakery produces sourdough from heritage grains, the kitchen garden yields vegetables for the table, and every day is rooted in the rhythms of the land. At Nancarrow, the countryside is lived, tasted and savoured in a deeply Cornish style.

Check rates and availability at nancarrowfarm.co.uk