Rosara

North Aston

A yurt, a garden and a Bib Gourmand

Rosara is the kind of place that shouldn't work on paper, and works completely in the flesh. It sits in the sleepy village of North Aston, on the eastern edge of the Cotswolds, tucked inside the Rosara garden centre and nursery. The restaurant itself, known as The Yurt at Nicholsons, is exactly what it sounds like: a handbuilt yurt fashioned from upcycled materials, with carved ash spindles rising to a point in the apex like spokes on a wheel. You drive down a quiet lane, park among the plants, and find one of the most original dining rooms in the county waiting for you.

The cooking is the work of chef Andrew Carr, and it draws almost everything from the restaurant's own kitchen gardens and the neighbouring North Aston Farm, whose micro-dairy and organic growers supply milk, salads and seasonal produce a few fields away. That closeness shows on the plate. The food is generous and confidently seasoned, built around whatever the garden and the season are giving, and the Michelin Bib Gourmand it carries feels entirely earned. The place is far too relaxed to make a fuss about the accolade, which is rather the point.

How it actually works

This is a daytime restaurant rather than a dinner one, which catches some people out, so it is worth knowing before you set off. The Yurt serves brunch and lunch from Tuesday to Saturday, with brunch running through the morning and a three-course lunch following into the early afternoon. Expect an amuse-bouche and freshly baked bread to open, and coffee with hand-rolled chocolates to close. Walk-ins are taken when there is room, but a table is easy to book and worth securing, especially at the weekend. The wider site keeps longer hours: the café and the shop are open through the week if you fancy a slower morning among the greenhouses either side of a meal.

• When it opensTuesday to Saturday, daytime only, with brunch in the morning and a three-course lunch after midday. Check the current times before you travel, as they shift with the seasons.
• The settingA handbuilt yurt at the heart of a working garden centre, with a kitchen garden and a regenerative farm supplying most of what lands on the table.
• Private hutsFive individual dining huts sit around the grounds, which suit a birthday, a small celebration or a long lunch with friends who want a corner of their own.
• Dogs and childrenDogs are welcome, portions are generous, and there is a mile-long walk around the site to burn off lunch before the drive back.

Getting there from the cottage

North Aston is the next parish over from Ledwell, so this is one of the closest good meals to the door. It is a short hop of a couple of miles by lane, comfortably under ten minutes in the car, which makes it a genuinely easy weekday plan rather than an expedition. We tend to make a morning of it: a wander round the nursery, a proper lunch in the yurt, and back at the cottage in time for the afternoon. Because it closes in the afternoon it also frees the evening entirely, so you can eat well without giving up a slow night in front of the fire.

If the yurt is full

Tables here are limited and the yurt does book up, so it pays to have a fallback in the same corner of the county. The nearest is The George Inn at Barford St Michael, a proper village pub a few minutes further on. For a smart dinner rather than a daytime lunch, Parsonage Grill in Oxford and The Kingham Plough both cook the same farm-to-table way in the evening. And if you want the full sweep of where we eat locally, our guide to eating and drinking in the area runs from village pubs to farm-led restaurants and everything between.

“We go back again and again. The food is brilliant, the setting is completely its own thing, and you leave feeling like you've been somewhere that actually matters.”

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Also nearby

• Parsonage Grill · Restaurant · Oxford
• The Kingham Plough · Gastropub · Kingham
• The Feathered Nest · Restaurant · 45 min
• The George Inn · Pub · Barford St Michael