A Local’s Restaurant Guide to Somerset and Wiltshire
- British Restaurants, Casual Dining, Cheap Eats, Eat, Fine Dining, Michelin Guide
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A Local's Restaurant Guide to Somerset and Wiltshire
The West Country boasts excellent dining from country pubs and restaurants to Michelin stars and casual spaces in train station. You'll find it all, from Frome to Bruton to Babington House. A place where the cheddar and cider achieves masochistic levels of ripeness. This is restaurant guide is based on our personal experienced and the reliable word of mouth of discerning locals who know where the good spots lie between Somerset and Wiltshire . Message us about places you believe deserve a place on this list. Last updated August 2024 and featured in alphabetical order.
Written by Liam Collens // Find other guides here
The view from inside OAK Restaurant in Bath looking outside towards the small North Passage alley outside. The OAK Restaurant is 30 minutes from Bath.
The Highs
The Lows
The Highs
The Lows
Local's Guide To Restaurants In Somerset
The Bath Arms at Longleat, Horningsham | Country Pub
The vine-laced exterior, period features and picnic tables groaning with families munching on sausage rolls and swilling cider brewed – so close – you can smell it, will make you want to look into cottages built on this Longleat estate pub. The sprawling grounds for children to burn it all off while you sit to eat seriously good modern British pub food, including a Ploughman’s of Wiltshire hams and local cheddar or the cider battered haddock and fries. The organised will bag a large table for one of their very popular Sunday roasts. You might find rare roast beef with seasonal vegetables, Yorkshires and horseradish. Service is organised and hard-working, but never loses that West Country charm that brought you here in the first place.
The Bath Arms, The Bath Arms at Longleat, Horningsham, Warminster BA12 7LY, United Kingdom, +441985 844308, The Bath Arms at Longleat’s Instagram.
The Bath Arms at Longleat, Horningsham. 15 minutes away from Frome, Somerset serving great roasts on a weekend, like this roast beef with vegetables and Yorkshire Pudding.
Holcombe Farm Shop, Holcombe | Casual Farm Shop
On the side of a country lane lies Holcombe Farm Shop. Part farm shop selling local cheeses, chutneys and more, part casual restaurant where locals fold in droves (booking recommended, waiting times can be 30 mins). Weekend breakfasts standout with their Holcombe Full English (bacon, sausage, black pudding and more), the vegetarian full English (less the pork, think bubble and squeak, veg sausages and smashed avocado), as well as American style pancakes and steak and eggs for the win. Stick around for lunch where the licensed on-site pub serves local codes, ales and beers on draught.
Holcombe Farm Shop, Edford Hill, Holcombe, Radstock BA3 5HQ, United Kingdom, +44 1761 233731, Holcombe Farm Shop’s Instagram.
Holcombe Farm Shop is about 15 minutes away from Frome town centre. It serves sturdy breakfast dishes like this Full English Breakfast, vegan options were also available.
OAK Restaurant, Bath | Casual, Vegetarian
Have you eaten restaurant-grown potatoes rolled in smoked almond cream jewelled with chives and peppery radish rounds? OAK Restaurant dols out simple plates that challenge preconceptions of wanting anything more. A titchy restaurant with enough space to swing the crates of fresh onions and flowers that the OAK Restaurant grows. A tight eclectic wine menu boasting enough natural drops, pet-nats and petrol-rich Rieslings to keep trend seekers quenched. Order the delightfully creamy, fermented cashew croquettes with weapons-grade aioli. It’s the kind of cooking to cause the most ardent carnivore to start shuffling their feet. You can read more about OAK Restaurant here.
OAK Restaurant, 2 North Parade, Bath BA1 1NX, United Kingdom, +441225 446059, OAK Restaurant’s Instagram.
OAK Restaurant in Bath is a modern British vegetarian restaurant in the Michelin Guide serving delicious dishes like these new potatoes with smoked almond cream.
Osip Restaurant, Bruton | Fine Dining, Modern British
Bruton is a village clad with esoteric independent shops, discerning good taste and a strong sense of self. Amid all this tweed and the roar of Chelsea tractors lies Osip helmed by chef Merlin Labron-Johnson cooking a farm-to-table tasting menu sourcing home-grown and local ingredients. A tranquil dining room inside the restored ironmonger’s workshop sees clever cooking produced from Landon-Johnson’s imagination. A beetroot taco with beetroot mole and a dusting of grated venison heart, courgette soup light as a foam with the sweetest Cornish lobster and gooseberry jam and scallops wallowing in pools of a peanut satay made from its own roe and a verdant Thai basil mole. A lemon sea buckthorn tart is crafted by the hands of someone with food as a love language. This is the most pricey of the restaurants listed here, but it’s the most accomplished.
Osip Restaurant, 1 High St, Bruton BA10 0AB, United Kingdom, +441749813322, Osip Restaurant’s Instagram.
Osip Restaurant is a modern British restaurant with a Michelin Star and a Green Michelin star serving farm-to-table dishes like these crudites.
A cosy closet retreat where locals vie for a hand full of seats strewn with faux furs and a casual devil-may-care cobbling of furniture. A whimsical selection of orange wines, ciders and craft beers on tap, all soaked up with a cheese tribute chalkboard of toasties, large charcuterie boards and more. If this was not enough, Palmer Street Bottle cobbles together ‘provision boxes’ (read: local cheese, beers and ciders in a box) from £35 or monthly beer and wine subscriptions from £40. Kingsmead Street Bottle is their sister outlet in Bath; somewhere to stop off if you do visit OAK Restaurant above.
Palmer Street Bottle, 11 Palmer St, Frome, BA11 1DS, United Kingdom, Palmer Street Bottle’s Instagram.
Up the hill and down the lanes will lead you to an old church where inside lies Rye Bakery with period features and even the old church organ is still gloriously on display. Hefty sausage rolls with a good pelt of black pepper rolled into sweet pork mince, all envelopes in a buttery flaky pastry – so good – it will have you foraging for the best bits that fell on your shirt. The vegetarian version is equally sublime with handfuls of sautéed leeks, onions and the crunch of almonds. Bowls of mezze and cheese toasties erupting with molten Oglieshield cheese are on offer together with an array of freshly baked pastries and breads each day. Come hungry. Bring the dog.
Rye Bakery Cafe, Whittox Lane, Frome BA11 3BY, United Kingdom, +447925830852, Rye Bakery Instagram.
The lengthy title gives it all away. Locals admire the easy going vibe here with distressed communal tables for groups to drink affordable wine by the glass and bottle together with freshly-made pizzas from the RYE Bakery oven. Order the nduja and hot honey pizza with glassy red onions cooked to supple sweetness and liberally dotted with fresh creamy ricotta and fior di latte. Chase it down with Barbera di Asti as a live band plays. Family friendly, pet friendly and neighbourly. More neighbourhoods should have one.
RYE Bakery, RYE Pizzeria & RYE Winę Bar, Unit 1 Station Approach, Frome, BA11 1RE, United Kingdom, +447763714096, Rye Bakery Instagram.
RYE Bakery, RYE Pizzeria & RYE Winę Bar’s pizza kitchen
This sprawling farm shop also features a very popular local cafe with friendly country simple dishes in hearty portions. A beef and horseradish baguette followed by an almond and fruit slice – so large – it could stop a door from banging shut in a hurricane. The sit-down restaurant offers daily specials like whole roasted mackerel with tartare sauce and chips or slow-roasted pork shoulder with fiery mustard. It’s very casual: think teas, hot chocolates and kids running around while you decide whether to buy something to take home. You could always pick up a few items to pack in one of their impressive takeaway boxes for a picnic elsewhere. The portions are not small, so come hungry.
White Row Farm, Beckington, Frome, BA11 6TN, United Kingdom, +44 1373 830798, White Row Farm Shop’s Instagram.
White Row Farm Shop in Beckington, Frome is a large space for groups both inside and out. You can shop for local produce but also dine in for simple cafe food served well with large portions.
Osip Restaurant, 1 High St, Bruton BA10 0AB, United Kingdom, +441749813322, Osip Restaurant’s Instagram.
Osip Restaurant is a modern British restaurant with a Michelin Star and a Green Michelin star serving farm-to-table dishes like these crudites.
Palmer Street Bottle, Frome | Bar
A cosy closet retreat where locals vie for a hand full of seats strewn with faux furs and a casual devil-may-care cobbling of furniture. A whimsical selection of orange wines, ciders and craft beers on tap, all soaked up with a cheese tribute chalkboard of toasties, large charcuterie boards and more. If this was not enough, Palmer Street Bottle cobbles together ‘provision boxes’ (read: local cheese, beers and ciders in a box) from £35 or monthly beer and wine subscriptions from £40. Kingsmead Street Bottle is their sister outlet in Bath; somewhere to stop off if you do visit OAK Restaurant above.
Palmer Street Bottle, 11 Palmer St, Frome, BA11 1DS, United Kingdom, Palmer Street Bottle’s Instagram.
RYE Bakery Cafe, Frome | Casual Bakery
Up the hill and down the lanes will lead you to an old church where inside lies Rye Bakery with period features and even the old church organ is still gloriously on display. Hefty sausage rolls with a good pelt of black pepper rolled into sweet pork mince, all envelopes in a buttery flaky pastry – so good – it will have you foraging for the best bits that fell on your shirt. The vegetarian version is equally sublime with handfuls of sautéed leeks, onions and the crunch of almonds. Bowls of mezze and cheese toasties erupting with molten Oglieshield cheese are on offer together with an array of freshly baked pastries and breads each day. Come hungry. Bring the dog.
Rye Bakery Cafe, Whittox Lane, Frome BA11 3BY, United Kingdom, +447925830852, Rye Bakery Instagram.
RYE Bakery, RYE Pizzeria & RYE Wine Bar, Frome | Casual Pizzeria, Wine Bar & Hang
The lengthy title gives it all away. Locals admire the easy going vibe here with distressed communal tables for groups to drink affordable wine by the glass and bottle together with freshly-made pizzas from the RYE Bakery oven. Order the nduja and hot honey pizza with glassy red onions cooked to supple sweetness and liberally dotted with fresh creamy ricotta and fior di latte. Chase it down with Barbera di Asti as a live band plays. Family friendly, pet friendly and neighbourly. More neighbourhoods should have one.
RYE Bakery, RYE Pizzeria & RYE Winę Bar, Unit 1 Station Approach, Frome, BA11 1RE, United Kingdom, +447763714096, Rye Bakery Instagram.
RYE Bakery, RYE Pizzeria & RYE Winę Bar’s pizza kitchen
White Row Farm Shop, Frome | Casual Farm Shop
This sprawling farm shop also features a very popular local cafe with friendly country simple dishes in hearty portions. A beef and horseradish baguette followed by an almond and fruit slice – so large – it could stop a door from banging shut in a hurricane. The sit-down restaurant offers daily specials like whole roasted mackerel with tartare sauce and chips or slow-roasted pork shoulder with fiery mustard. It’s very casual: think teas, hot chocolates and kids running around while you decide whether to buy something to take home. You could always pick up a few items to pack in one of their impressive takeaway boxes for a picnic elsewhere. The portions are not small, so come hungry.
White Row Farm, Beckington, Frome, BA11 6TN, United Kingdom, +44 1373 830798, White Row Farm Shop’s Instagram.
White Row Farm Shop in Beckington, Frome is a large space for groups both inside and out. You can shop for local produce but also dine in for simple cafe food served well with large portions.
Up the hill and down the lanes will lead you to an old church where inside lies Rye Bakery with period features and even the old church organ is still gloriously on display.
A Local's Guide To Restaurants In Wiltshire
The Bradley Hare, Maiden Bradley | Country Gastropub
A compassionately restored property in a sleepy village that also offers rooms to stay in (they do look special). A study in British modern countryside elegance where dogs want to warm up near fires and locals swill nearby ales and ciders. The concise menu focuses on what matters with no shortage of gutsy fare. Think 28-day aged rib eye steaks with slabs of roasted beetroot and pools of ivory horseradish sauce or courgettes with broad beans and goats curd, maybe fist-sized halibut fillets with softly braised leeks in beurre blanc. Leave room for sorbets of local fruit or custard tarts with rhubarb.
The Bradley Hare, Church St, Maiden Bradley, Warminster BA12 7HW, United Kingdom, +441985 801018, The Bradley Hare’s Instagram.
The Bradley Hare in Maiden Bradley served halibut with soft leeks in beurre blanc with leafy manicured gardens outside.
The Methuen Arms, Corsham | Gastropub
A smart pub inside a beautifully-restored building that prides itself on sourcing local, seasonal ingredients and cooking with their own craft beer and cask ales. The food is as smart as the curated rooms available should you wish to stay. Stroll up for long weekend breakfasts of eggs Benedict, shakshuka or the classic Full English (yes, there’s hash browns). Lunch and dinner menus include crispy potato gnocchi, trout fishcakes and confit chicken and ham hock terrine. Sunday lunch boasts Ketel One Bloody Mary to chase down pork belly porchetta and beef rump with slow-braised shin.
The Methuen Arms, 2 High St, Corsham SN13 0HB, United Kingdom, +44 1249717060, The Methuen Arms’ Instagram.
Pear Tree Inn Farmhouse Kitchen with Bar & Rooms, Whitley | Casual Country Pub
A country pub with a vast garden space perfect for families desperate for kids to burn off some energy. The rear garden is canopied with fairy lights and plenty of picnic tables for those summer days and late summer nights. The interior is cosy and the menu features British country pub food elevated. Think pork sausage rolls, chargrilled, dry-aged rib eye steaks from Stokes Farm and Koffmans Fat Chips.
Pear Tree Inn Farmhouse Kitchen with Bar & Rooms, Top Lane, Whitley, Melksham SN12 8QX, United Kingdom, +44 1225704966, Pear Tree Inn Farmhouse’s Instagram.
Pear Tree Inn Farmhouse Kitchen’s stuffed Cornish sole.
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