Dinner Views at The Scenic Supper, Cotswolds
Picture the scene. A row of pristine glasshouses, dotted across a hilltop overlooking the stunning Cotswold countryside. Inside, couples, families and groups tuck into a fine dining menu, sipping bespoke cocktails and watching the sun go down. The stuff of dreams?
Actually, the stuff of reality. Even if you haven’t heard of The Scenic Supper, you’re missing out. The unique experience opened in July 2020 as a way of addressing the Covid restrictions. Each greenhouse is effectively a private dining room, allowing people to have distance when they need it, and now privacy and intimacy when they want it – whilst simultaneously feeling like they’re in the great outdoors.
It’s the brainchild of three local school friends, Toby Baggott, Sam Lawson-King and Scott Sullivan, who all had their own hospitality businesses pre-lockdown: Toby in events management, Sam with a professional background in wine and hospitality as well as owning and making his own gin, and Scott ran an outside catering business. Like many hospitality businesses, they were all affected by the pandemic so decided to launch what was then a socially-distanced dining experience and has now become a coveted experience by many, even continuing through winter in a special barn venue.
The Scenic Supper reopened at Todenham Manor Farm near Moreton-in-Marsh at the start of April and we visited a few weeks later. The setting is as stunning as you’d expect – lambs frolicking in the fields, the glasshouse perfectly dressed, with attention to details from blankets in case it gets chilly to umbrellas and heaters.
The menu is based on a ‘Paddock to Plate’ ethos, with a focus on fresh, seasonal produce Todenham Manor Farm’s own grass-fed rare breeds beef and pork, locally sourced poultry, lamb and game, as well as breads from Mark’s Cotswold Bakery, Drinkwaters Fruit and Veg, King Stone Dairy, Cotswold Brew Company and Spinners Cider. Drinks are courtesy of Sam’s al fresco gin cocktail bar, with cocktails using his own award-winning gin, and a great wine list featuring Old and New World varieties.
We make sure to try one of Sam’s cocktails, which is fresh, light and in keeping with the surroundings, while a glass of English sparkling more than hits the spot as we get into six courses that take us from a balmy spring evening into night-time. First up is sourdough with tomato-flavoured buttermilk, a great combination that’s both refreshing yet indulgent. Next is an
English garden-inspired dish of asparagus with egg yolk and shavings of white truffle that showcases a brilliant local ingredient before we move on to ravioli filled with Cotswold chicken served with a consomme poured from a teapot that is again delicate and well executive.
Smoked leek with crumbled black pudding and watercress veloute comes next and is one of my favourites, combining meatiness and smokiness along with an array of textures. It’s followed by
blackened cod with mussels, cauliflower, sea herbs and capers that is another light, delicate dish, but followed by a punchy piece of ribeye with black garlic and a wonderful Marmite hollandaise.
A rhubarb parfait dessert with white chocolate doesn’t quite do it for us – too heavy on the tartness without enough sweet to balance it – but one of Sam’s Espresso Martinis finishes off the evening perfectly. By this point the sun’s gone down, blue sky has turned to black, and rather than being surrounded by green fields and livestock living their best lives, it’s the fairy-lit glasshouses that provide the centrepiece for the landscape, shedding soft light and muted conversation. As we walk away from the Scenic Supper, that sight is what we’re left with and proof that when it comes to this experience, the food is just one piece of the puzzle. It’s good, but it’s the setting, the concept, and the magic they’ve created that makes The Scenic Supper what it is.
The Scenic Supper at Todenham Manor Farm offers a four-course lunch menu costing £55pp or a four-course dinner for £55pp or a six-course dinner menu for £65pp – all served with homemade bread. An optional cheese board costs an extra £10pp. There is also now a Sunday lunch offering. All tables at Todenham Manor Farm are bookable online at www.thescenicsupper.co.uk.
The Scenic Supper, Lower Farm, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire GL56 9PQ
For more inspiration for visiting the Cotswolds, click here.
