Lympstone Manor

Lympstone Manor is Michael Caines' second act. After two decades as the chef at Gidleigh Park, Caines bought a Grade II-listed Georgian manor on the Exe estuary, restored it painstakingly, planted a vineyard across the south-facing slope, and opened a one-Michelin-starred dining room that is now the single most important restaurant in south-west England.

The cooking is what you would expect from Caines at this point in his career — technique that does not need to apologise for itself, sourcing that runs from the manor's own kitchen garden to day-boat fishermen on the Devon coast, and plates that know when to stop. The signature scallop dish. The Devon duck. A lamb preparation that references the West Country with a restraint the ingredients deserve.

The building is the other half of the argument. Twenty-one bedrooms across the main manor and the garden suites. Terraces that run down to vineyard benches overlooking the estuary at sunset. A drawing room for pre-dinner drinks that is still lit the way a Georgian drawing room is meant to be lit.

This is the south-west's only dining room that fully competes at the level of the London and Manchester destination restaurants. A proposal here does not require a backup plan. A client dinner here does not require explanation.

The combination of the Georgian building, the estuary view, the Caines kitchen, and the ability to stay the night turns Lympstone Manor into a genuine event rather than a meal. For a proposal, the private terraces and the vineyard at sunset are what photographs will look like five years later.