Where to eat and stay in Herefordshire
Published 10 September 2025

Having loyally frequented James and Elizabeth Winter’s previous venture (the Butchers Arms at Eldersfield), many regulars followed the couple to their new venture – a hidden gem on Ledbury's main street (you could easily walk past it). The restaurant seats just 14 in a characterful and cosy room adorned with retro art; an open kitchen lends itself to the relaxed and inclusive atmosphere, where visitors are welcomed like old friends. Proceedings start with an accomplished homemade focaccia, followed by a surprise amuse-bouche – luxuriously rich Parmesan gougères, perhaps. A confidently concise yet classic dinner menu (three choices per stage) showcases local and seasonal produce (including Pershore asparagus), as well as more eclectic ideas such as roast Aylesbury duck breast with sui mai dumplings, soy, chilli and ginger. The fish soup is a must-have signature dish, while fillet of Hereford beef might be accompanied by braised ox cheek and pomme Anna. Desserts hail the comforting classics, perhaps crème caramel, treacle tart or baked cheesecake, the latter served with a refreshingly tart passion-fruit sorbet lifted with a hint of fragrant basil. At lunchtime, diners have the option of a three-choice fixed-price menu featuring similar dishes. Wines are offered by the carafe, for those who feel that a glass from the succinct but thoughtfully selected list just isn’t enough; bottles start at £28.50.

An oasis of contemporary urban sophistication just round the corner from Hereford's historic cathedral, this bustling ‘brunch and dinner joint’ is hip but welcoming too. Exposed brickwork, a poured concrete floor and countertop tables give way to a large open kitchen and closely packed wooden tables at the back. Disembodied book pages flutter decoratively overhead in homage to the venue’s former use. Readers heap praise on the ‘really lovely and helpful’ staff. With brunch extending until 3pm, daytime dining involves all manner of egg and sourdough combinations – or you can push the breakfast boundaries with, say, truffled mac ‘n’ cheese toast with sriracha or smoked haddock and ‘nduja croquettes.

Evenings are centred around Herefordshire beef, aged in a Himalayan salt chamber and served as burgers and steaks – or, perhaps, slow-cooked with a herb and marrowbone crumb and mash. Other local and seasonal produce gets more than a look-in, from Severn & Wye smoked haddock rarebit with pickled celeriac and a caper and parsley salad to roast hazelnut and Ragstone gnocchi with spring onion and sunflower-seed pesto.

Excellent desserts – many of which can be sampled with coffee during the day – could include a moreish and very grown-up dark chocolate and salted caramel tart with fruit-and-nut ice cream. Sunday afternoons are given over to deservedly popular roasts with all the trimmings, and the short wine list is supplemented by cocktails featuring gin and whisky from Ludlow, plus local ales and ciders.

Only a few miles from Hay-on-Wye, this former drovers’ inn close to the Welsh border is so peaceful and secluded that it's no surprise many visitors remark on the ‘spectacular setting’. Sympathetically renovated and reopened in 2021 by local regenerative food and farming company Wild by Nature, the pub has a timeless charm. Inside, the split-level dining rooms have thick stone walls, wonky-beamed ceilings, slate floors and a large open fireplace. Outside, a large, pretty garden offers tables with stunning views under the watchful presence of Herefordshire’s imposing Black Hill.

A strong connection to the land and a deep respect for ingredients shine through the seasonally changing menu. Dining here is farm-to-table and nose-to-tail, with ingredients grown or reared at a nearby farm owned by the restaurant group. Almost everything, from the charcuterie to the cheese biscuits, is made in-house. Whether this is a wild garlic soup with a fried hen’s egg and prosciutto, Black Mountain hogget and merguez with white beans and green sauce, or a buttermilk pudding with rhubarb jelly, hyper–local ingredients are treated with a respect and care that enables their flavours to sing. 

Everyone has a good word to say about the friendly and attentive staff, while drinks feature local beers and ciders as well as a short list of minimal intervention wines, which offers a better choice by the bottle than the glass. Accommodation is in four bespoke 'wild cabins' in the grounds of the pub.

London escapees Ivor and Susie Dunkerton started making organic cider and perry on their Herefordshire smallholding back in 1980 and their enterprise has reaped rich rewards ever since. The business is now run by their son and production has moved to Cheltenham, but inquisitive travellers can still visit the original cider mill – and its adjoining restaurant, housed in a beautiful Grade II-listed 400-year-old barn nearby. Run by local chef Sophie Bowen, it eschews folksy, homespun fodder in favour of stylish contemporary food inspired by ingredients from the surrounding countryside. At lunchtime, you can graze from the café menu (shallot fishcakes, teriyaki beef with pickled cabbage, seafood chowder), but it pays to book in for the full works in the evening – especially if you’re intrigued by the prospect of baked hake with creamy polenta, sautéed wild mushrooms and kale dressed with shrimps and capers or soy-marinated pork loin accompanied by a black pudding croquette, caraway-spiked spring greens and horseradish mayo. To finish, freshly fried doughnuts with citrus curd sound unmissable, but also consider the caramelised white chocolate, tarragon and rhubarb millefeuille. Sunday lunch is a showcase for slow-cooked Herefordshire beef with all the trimmings. To drink, one of Dunkertons fruity brews is the natural choice, but there’s also a short list of well-chosen wines from £21.

The village of Kilpeck is now famous for two things: it boasts 'England's most perfect Norman church' (according to Simon Jenkins) and is also home to this hostelry with rooms, once a fairly grand cottage fashioned with stones from the destruction of a nearby castle during the Civil War. The cottage became an inn some 250 years ago, and now refreshes the weary traveller in ways the Georgians could scarcely have guessed. Chef Ross Williams works with the grain of fine seasonal materials, partnering Wye Valley asparagus with a 'houmous' of white beans and a drizzle of hazelnut pesto. Textural and temperature counterpoints add gloss to a serving of scallops and cauliflower with black pudding and dabs of apple purée. Classic European technique can be impressive, as in a pitch-perfect rendition of risotto primavera, while thoroughbred meats might include pork tenderloin rustically stuffed with nettles and sage, served with fondant potato, summer kale and a regionally unimpeachable cider jus. For a fish dish such as sea bream, the supporting roles might be taken by monk's beard and wild garlic gremolata. Nor will you be disappointed if you've come to the pub expecting a burger: there's a half-pounder in a brioche bun with bacon, cheese, apple and fennel slaw, plus rosemary-salted chips. An aromatic theme runs through desserts ranging from gooseberry and elderflower crumble with lemon and elderflower sorbet to raspberry and thyme crème brûlée. Sunday lunchers are happily regaled with beef topsides, pork bellies and chicken suprêmes. The drinks offer is as stimulating as the food, with local ales and ciders, Welsh whisky, Gun Dog gin, and a small but good choice of wines.

In historic Hereford, on the fringes of the Wye Valley, this coaching inn with rooms has been sympathetically renovated by its current owners. Delightfully wonky wooden beams divide the high-ceilinged dining room with large stone fireplaces at either end. Tartan banquettes in warming colours offer comfy seating at polished wooden tables and everyone praises the ‘welcoming, friendly and helpful staff’. Using excellent local produce, the kitchen makes almost everything in-house, from the bay-infused butter accompanying the complimentary olive focaccia to the ice cream laced with Wye Valley Butty Bach ale that is teamed with a moreish (indeed Moorish) sticky medjool date pudding.

You are welcome to mix and match between the carte and bar menus, which is good news because the warm, runny-centred Welsh Dragon Scotch egg with fruity brown sauce from the former is a cracker. Otherwise, choices from the main menu might include a Lancashire Bomber cheese soufflé with red onion jam followed by fillet of cod on a bed of monk’s beard and herby potato cake dressed with a slick of hot homemade tartare sauce. Generous desserts might feature a ‘coffee lover’ duo of tiramisu and affogato puddings, and there's a tempting, locally sourced cheeseboard too.

Sunday roasts featuring perfectly aged sirloin of Herefordshire beef or leg of lamb garner particular praise from locals.‘Every element is reliably spot on; comforting, indulgent and absolutely delicious,’ notes one fan. The short, workaday wine list is supplemented by excellent local ales and cider on tap, plus an enticing cocktail selection.

Off the beaten track, and not an easy place to find, this 16th-century half-timbered building stands on the banks of the river Lugg, positioned by an old stone bridge on the Mortimer Trail (a 30-mile walking route from Ludlow to Kington). Inside, a warren of heavily beamed rooms with wonky floors and open fires provides nooks for a quiet tête-a-tête and separate spaces for louder crowds or those with their four-legged friends; the terraced garden comes into its own on fine days. Service is friendly and welcoming. In the kitchen, Andy Link and his team take sustainability, ethical sourcing and food miles seriously, seeking out the very best that the region has to offer from local farms and artisan suppliers, backed up by their own kitchen garden (and their own hens). We noticed that lunchtime regulars tended to favour the perfectly cooked rare-breed Herefordshire steak sandwich with truffle chips, but we enjoyed a light meal of crispy garlicky Herefordshire snails with truffle mayo, followed by eye-catching river trout cured in beetroot and local Chase gin, plus a delightful poached pear accompanied by a scoop of assertive blue-cheese ice cream to finish. Many other items have been singled out for praise, from a generous piece of grilled and lightly caramelised cod served on a pile of peas and mangetout with a lovely lovage sauce to a dish of chicken with courgettes, garden chard and wild herb pesto that 'had some body’. For afters, readers have endorsed the nettle cake and the rhubarb purée with 'custard mousse'. A good chunk of the decently priced wine list is vegan or vegetarian – though given the impressive ethos of the place, there are surprisingly few English offerings.