The Ethicurean, A Kitchen Garden Restaurant in Somerset

The Ethicurean near Bristol, a beautiful countryside restaurant close to my family home, is founded on a sense of place. The idea of having a connection with the land, its history and community who grow food locally upon it. The family team seek to discover harmonious pairings between the ingredients that surround the walled garden.

The Walled Garden is a carefully restored Victorian kitchen garden, built for Henry Herbert Wills and his family in 1901.

The gardener, Mark Cox grows a huge array of vegetables, some of which are heritage and heirloom varieties. Espaliers and cordon fruit trees spray and fan, blossoming in spring to create a lacy blur against the warm brick walls. Walk through the main arch and down an old cambered brick path bordered by a mass of perennials and clipped yew trees. In the summer these borders are a rainbow of colours, flowers of all kinds attract butterflies and bees that live in the orchards. At the bottom overlooking the round cider barn are the old estate workshops, home to a thriving community of artists and crafts people offering a wide range of unique art work and pottery for sale, as well as a calendar of courses, open days and events.

The Ethicurean, as well as running a restaurant in the former glasshouse, regularly holds events in the garden and orchard. The gardens are open to the public every day.

The Ethicurean, Barley Wood Walled Garden, Long Lane, Wrington, Bristol, BS40 5SA

(Closed Mondays)

LWSY