The Dining Room at Whatley Manor

The Dining Room at Whatley Manor holds a Michelin star and a Green Star for sustainability — one of only two such pairings in the Cotswolds. Head chef Ricki Weston took over from Niall Keating in 2022 and was confirmed in the 2024 Guide; the Green Star has been held continuously since 2021.

Whatley Manor sits in 12 acres of formal gardens outside Malmesbury. Four beehives, four kitchen gardens, an orchard, and a small herb garden supply an unusually large proportion of the restaurant's produce — between 60 and 70 percent in high season. What isn't grown on site comes from a 30-mile supplier map: Cotswold lamb, Severn Estuary salmon, Gloucester Old Spot pork.

The Dining Room seats 28. The menu formats are a seven-course tasting (£150), a vegetarian seven-course (£140), and a Sunday lunch à la carte (£85 for three courses). Weston's signature dishes — a beetroot tartlet with estate-grown heritage varieties, a hay-smoked Cotswold lamb, a honey-from-the-hives dessert — change monthly.

Service runs Wednesday to Sunday. The hotel has 23 rooms, which means every Dining Room reservation is bookable with accommodation; overnight guests can also extend the evening into the library and the spa. The grounds are open to dinner guests before the meal — walking through the Loggia Garden to the dining room entrance is part of the experience.

Whatley Manor is the Cotswolds proposal restaurant. The approach through the formal gardens, the 28-seat room (small enough to feel intimate but not claustrophobic), the Green Star values for partners who notice that detail, and the adjoining 23-room hotel — the full sequence of the evening can be bookable as a single experience. Request the window-corner two-top when you book; mention 'proposal' in the reservation notes and the kitchen will adjust pacing.