ALL WHITE NOW Bucolic Broadway in the Cotswolds with a dusting of snow
Walk the woods before dinner
The food is a feast for the eyes
Cosy rooms come as standard
GIDLEIGH PARK
Chagford, Devon (
gidleigh.co.uk)
BY LES DUNN, MANAGING EDITOR
COSINESS FACTOR As we negotiated the long, winding lane to this 1920s arts and crafts house in Dartmoor, we felt a sense of enveloping calm. You step through the heavy oak door to be greeted with wood panelling, crackling fires, elegant lounges with plump tartan wingback chairs and smiley staff who can’t do enough for you.
THE FOOD BIT Michael Wignall now fills the chef’s Crocs of Michael Caines, who ended his 21-year tenure in January. He’s done it in style, with the restaurant retaining its two Michelin stars this autumn.
The food is what former BMX champ Wignall might have called “radical, man”. The mayo with the smoked octopus was ‘coal infused’, and all the dishes, sketched first on paper, are an abstract-arty journey into colour, texture and flavour.