If you're going to have one proper dinner out during your stay, make it here. The Trough sits at the heart of the Daylesford estate, where the kitchen works almost entirely with what's grown, reared and foraged on the surrounding organic farmland. It's fifteen minutes from the cottage, and booking ahead is worth it.
Daylesford has been an organic farm for decades, but The Trough is where all that patience and principle lands on a plate. The menu changes six times a year, tracking the seasons closely: grass-fed beef from the estate's own herd, smoked salmon prepared on site, vegetables pulled from the walled garden that morning. It holds a Michelin Green Star for its commitment to sustainability, which feels entirely earned rather than performative. The dining room itself is handsome without being stiff, all stone and warm timber, and there's a terrace for longer evenings.
What makes it worth the drive (a short one, at that) is the sense that nothing has travelled very far. You can walk around the farm shop afterwards, pick up sourdough or cheese for the next morning, and feel the connection between the fields you drove through and the meal you just had. It's not showy. It's simply a kitchen that knows exactly where its ingredients come from, and treats them with real care.
“We always end up here at least once per trip. The beef is extraordinary, and afterwards you wander through the farm shop in that happy, unhurried way that only a good meal allows.”
All of this on the doorstep, and your own thatched cottage to come home to. Sleeps seven, less than a mile from Soho Farmhouse.