Herd

Todenham Manor Farm

Beef raised in the next field

The concept is simple and, once you've been, you'll wonder why more places don't do it this way. Todenham Manor Farm raises its own cattle across its acres, and chef Christopher Ellis turns that farm-reared beef, along with sustainable market fish and whatever the season offers, into menus that change from day to day. You eat in a large tent pitched on the farm itself, with the choice of a relaxed spot by the fire or a table looking out over the pasture. It feels like a proper occasion without a trace of pretension, and the sense that the food has travelled almost no distance at all is the whole point.

The farm sits at Todenham, a hamlet just outside Moreton-in-Marsh, and the drive from Well Cottage takes us about fifteen minutes along quiet lanes. It is worth knowing before you set off that this is very much a working farm rather than a polished restaurant address, so the last stretch is single-track and the setting is barns and fields rather than a car park and a canopy. That is a large part of the charm. Book ahead either way, because the tent fills quickly at weekends and word has well and truly got out.

How we tend to go

• Friday burger nightThe one that has become a local institution: patties from the estate herd, cooked over coals, best enjoyed with a cold beer and no particular hurry. This is the easiest night to bring a hungry group down and the one we book first.
• A proper Sunday roastGrass-fed beef and generous seasonal sides, done as a slow, unhurried affair. It is exactly the sort of lunch you want after a morning walk, and it saves you cooking one in the cottage.
• Weeknight dinnersFriday and Saturday run later into the evening, and the daily specials board is where the kitchen has its fun. Ask what came off the farm or the boat that morning and order from there.
• Breakfast and lunchThe kitchen opens from the morning through the week for breakfast and a seasonal lunch menu, which makes it an easy stop if you are already out exploring the north Cotswolds.

Knowing before you go

Christopher Ellis is a local chef who works alongside the farm's own butchers, so the provenance here is genuine rather than a line on a menu. Because the specials change through the week and the tent is a real tent on a real farm, we would not rely on any particular dish being on when you arrive, and we would always confirm the day's hours and book a table first. Reservations go through the farm directly, and the walk-in gamble is not one we would take on a Friday. Wrap up a little in colder months too; the tent is heated and cosy, but you are eating in a field in the Cotswolds, and it feels like it in the best way.

If Herd is booked out

For the same farm-to-table thinking a little closer to home, The Wild Rabbit in Kingham and the Daylesford farm shop and cafe both build their menus around estate-grown produce. For a classic Cotswold pub dinner with real cooking behind it, The Kingham Plough is one of our favourites. If you want the full picture, our guide to eating and drinking in the area runs from village pubs to farm-to-table restaurants and everything between.

“The Friday burger night is our go-to. You sit in a heated tent on a working farm, eating beef that was raised in the next field. It's the sort of place that makes you glad you're staying somewhere rural.”

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