5 Best Restaurants in Salisbury, The South

This family-run, centrally located restaurant has been winning rave reviews for both the taste and presentation of its creative Modern British dishes. Produce is largely fresh and local while meats and poultry are free-range and sustainably farmed. Standouts include roast Guinea fowl supreme and confit leg with shitake, squash, and spring greens, pork belly confit with black garlic, glazed carrots, and pickled turnip, and a starter of cod cheeks with fried capers and grapes. Set lunches (two courses £19.50, three courses £24.50) offer good value.

For a refreshingly modern take on Indian cuisine, try this bustling restaurant a few minutes from the town center. Classic recipes are taken as starting points for the artistically presented dishes, which include tandoori breast of guinea fowl with fenugreek sauce, pistachio chicken korma with sweet basil and clove, and a Singapore-style chickpea and baby eggplant curry. A two-course seasonal set lunch (£10.50) and an early evening set menu (£17.90 for 2 courses plus wine) offer good value. The setting is contemporary and cosmopolitan, and service by staff in traditional dress is friendly and prompt. Live performances by a musician or dancer occasionally make an appearance at dinner.

Specializing in quick, nourishing meals, this relaxed café in a 14th-century former inn allegedly once patronized by Shakespeare, Cromwell, and Pepys serves hot and cold breakfasts, lunches, and afternoon snacks. Choices include cheeseburgers served with bacon and fried egg, a Moving Mountains beetroot, mushroom, and soya version, or a sweetcorn hash with halloumi, avocado, and poached egg. You can eat upstairs in the spectacular Tudor great hall or in the quieter side room.

A former grain mill, Fisherton Mill houses independent shops as well as artists' studios and a gallery showcasing paintings, sculptures, textiles, jewelry, and all manner of crafts. Enjoy a light lunch or Wiltshire cream tea in the highly regarded café. It shuts down for the day at 5, except for Sundays, when it's closed.

If you're after complete tranquility, head for this early-17th-century house surrounded by two acres of grounds in the Nadder Valley. The excellent restaurant has fixed-price menus specializing in contemporary English cooking using local and seasonal ingredients (some from the kitchen garden), such as a pan-seared fillet of wild brill or roast loin of Wiltshire venison. The style is traditional and smart, and a terrace provides alfresco dining overlooking the tidy lawns in summer. Nine comfortable guest rooms may tempt you into forgoing the 10-mile drive back to Salisbury.