Turning out top quality grub from its most beautiful walled garden setting, The Ethicurean is one of the most enchanting places I know.

You enter through a small, Wonderland-ish door, down bright-red brick pathways, emerging to a spectacular view of the Somerset hills that makes the sky seem unfeasibly large.

It’s not bad form at all to work up an appetite wandering the gardens, inspecting the glorious produce you’ll soon find on your plate; a rare heirloom beetroot; carrots in fiery purples; espalier after espalier dangling with orchard fruits.

Back at the top of the hill, the glasshouse awaits, set with scrubbed-top tables and mismatched tea-sets, the bar crammed full of homebrews and cake aplenty.

The menu varies day to day, depending on what’s good in the garden. Dishes such as beetroot carpaccio with honeyed walnuts or rarebit with gert salad: the right side of experimental, hearty and delicious. Desserts, too, do not disappoint. The rhubarb crumble, saffron custard gel and anise sherbet is glorious.

It’s no surprise that The Ethicurean is making waves in the world of food, winning Best Ethical Restaurant at the Observer Food Monthly Awards thanks to its food minutes rather than food miles approach.

And only minutes from inner city Bristol, too, The Ethicurean is fresh air, beauty and vibrancy distilled.

Images by Lottie Storey