Outlook Restaurant

The Cottage in the Wood is a delightful family-run hotel plastered against a sylvan flank of the Malvern Hills, although 'cottage' is an excessively modest word for the elegant Georgian dower house. This lofty perch means splendid views - a 30-mile sweep across the Severn Valley to the Cotswolds, to be precise, a panorama that would have inspired Elgar to get composing, and it is seen at its best from the huge floor-to-ceiling windows in the Outlook Restaurant. The modern British food on offer shows plenty of creative flair and is built on the sound foundations of carefully-sourced ingredients from local suppliers. Guinea fowl ballottine with apricot and red onion chutney is one way to start, or there might be pigeon escabèche with root vegetables, Puy lentils and pickled chicory. Mains could focus on venison - marinaded loin and confit haunch parcel, say, served with roast butternut squash, mushroom and barley, with red wine and thyme jus, while a winter-warmer of spiced apple and mincemeat crumble with clove-scented custard and brandy butter ice cream might catch the eye at dessert.