The story
The Dining Room at Gravetye Manor serves modern British cooking at Vowels Lane, West Hoathly, near Crawley, and holds a Michelin star (2026) alongside three AA Rosettes. The restaurant sits within a 16th-century manor house and takes much of its produce from the garden outside.
Martin Carabott, a Roux Scholar, has been executive chef since spring 2025. He previously ran the kitchen at Hide in Mayfair and worked at Luca. The Good Food Guide describes his cooking as modern ideas built on classical technique, with careful saucing, precise fish and desserts with real finesse.
The walled garden was started in 1898 and took three years to build from local Sussex sandstone. Much of its growing and harvesting still follows methods from about a century ago. Everything grown there goes to the kitchen, and the seasonal menu changes with what is ready.
The dining room is glass-clad and looks out over the grounds, so the garden stays in view through lunch and dinner. The wine list leans toward French classics, with English sparkling wine from the southern counties well represented.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
High quality cooking
The house was bought in 1884 by William Robinson, renowned horticulturist and champion of 'natural gardening', and over the years its grounds have been lovingly nurtured by Gravetye's successive occupants. It's a glorious spot and well worth a wander; check out the magnificent Victorian kitchen garden if you want to see where many of the ingredients on your plate come from. Summer evenings are ripe to enjoy the grounds in all their glory, but throughout the winter a lunch is an equally striking opportunity to enjoy the glass-clad dining room that brings the outside in. Since spring 2025, the kitchen has been in the hands of Martin Carabott, a Roux Scholar who offers formidable credentials: formerly head chef at Hide in Mayfair and previously at Luca, he brings a fresh, precise sensibility to the country house hotel format that feels invigorating. Having found his feet, Carabott is making the role his own with a sure-footed confidence. Seasonal menus draw extensively on the kitchen garden's bounty, with modern ideas underpinned by classical good sense — expect immaculate saucing, technically accomplished fish cookery and desserts of real finesse. The wine list deals in excellence from around the world, though its first love remains the French classics, with English fizz from the southern counties well represented.
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