Restaurant in Kilndown, United Kingdom
Farm-to-table tasting menu, serious value for Kent.
A daily-changing tasting menu driven by a one-acre kitchen garden in the Kentish Weald, The Small Holding holds a Michelin Plate (2025) and a 4.8 Google rating for consistent reason. At £££, it delivers precise, produce-led Modern British cooking with Nordic inflections at well below London destination-dining prices. Book for a special occasion — but note the fixed menu format and rural location require both commitment and a car.
The Small Holding operates a daily-changing tasting menu with no à la carte option — if you want flexibility, look elsewhere. If you want a kitchen that grows much of what it serves on a one-acre plot and cooks it with measurable technical discipline, this is one of the most compelling reasons to travel to rural Kent. Holding a Michelin Plate (2024 and 2025) and a Star Wine List White Star, with a Google rating of 4.8 from 364 reviews, it has built a fondly loyal following that reflects consistent, not accidental, quality. Book it for a special occasion, a serious date night, or any meal where the cooking should be the point.
The Small Holding occupies a former village pub in Kilndown, Kent — a simple white-painted building that retains a rustic, farmhouse character without leaning into rural cliché. The interior is unfussy, which keeps the focus where it belongs: on the food. The large terrace at the front looks directly over the kitchen garden, giving you a rare and grounding sense of where the ingredients actually come from. In summer, an aperitif on that terrace before sitting down is close to the ideal way to open a long lunch or dinner. The scale is intimate rather than grand, which makes it well-suited to couples and small groups celebrating something worth marking. It does not have the formal grandeur of a country-house dining room , that is a feature, not a compromise. For the full experience, seat yourself somewhere with a garden view if the option is available.
Kitchen's technical case is built on restraint and precision rather than complexity for its own sake. The multi-course menu changes daily and draws heavily on what the team grows using no-dig, low-intervention methods on their own land, with gaps filled by small-scale sustainable producers from the surrounding area. British and Nordic culinary influences combine to produce dishes with bold, well-balanced flavours , a combination that rewards paying attention rather than just eating.
Documented cooking gives a clear picture of the kitchen's priorities. A Maldon rock oyster has been paired with lovage cream, described by diners as exceptional in its balance. Halibut, precisely timed, has arrived with fermented wild garlic, sea herbs and a sauce made with Squerreyes sparkling wine and chives , a hyper-local detail that places the dish firmly in its Kent context. Hogget served multiple ways (pink rump, honeyed sweetbreads, a brioche bun made with hogget fat and stuffed with lamb shoulder) showed a kitchen confident enough to make a single animal the subject of an entire course without repetition. An apple sorbet offset by aged cider vinegar and powdered pine demonstrated that the dessert course is not an afterthought: it is the same play of clarity and contrast that runs through the savoury cooking.
This is not a kitchen piling on decorative elements for effect. The cooking concentrates on essentials , which is harder to do well than it sounds, and which is precisely why the Michelin recognition is justified. Among farm-to-table restaurants in the UK, few manage to make the self-sufficiency model this coherent on the plate. For comparable ambition in the rural dining category, L'Enclume in Cartmel and Moor Hall in Aughton operate at greater scale and price, but The Small Holding delivers a similar philosophy at a more accessible entry point.
The Star Wine List White Star designation signals a list that goes well beyond the house-wine minimum. The list is described as broad-minded and well-sourced, with a good selection of Kentish labels , appropriate given the kitchen's commitment to local provenance. If you drink wine with food and care about the match, this is a list that will hold your attention. Kent is producing serious sparkling wine (the Squerreyes reference in the cooking is not incidental), and a list that leans into that is worth exploring.
The Small Holding has developed meaningfully since its early years. Will Devlin, who won the Michelin 'Chef to Watch' award in 2020, has since opened a second site (Birchwood at Flimwell), which demonstrates the operation has grown in confidence and capacity without abandoning its original character. Readers of Michelin's guide note a measurable refinement in the cooking over time , this is a kitchen that has gotten better, not one coasting on early recognition. The monthly-changing tasting menu (which in practice changes daily) means repeat visits yield genuinely different meals. That is a practical point worth registering if you are considering a second booking.
Price range: £££ , a mid-high price point for a multi-course tasting menu, considerably below the ££££ London benchmark but priced to reflect the quality of ingredients and cooking. Booking difficulty: Moderate , book ahead, particularly for weekends and summer terrace tables. Format: Tasting menu only, changing daily; no à la carte option. Group suitability: Leading for 2–4; the intimate scale and fixed menu format makes it less suited to large groups with varied tastes. Dress: No formal dress code documented, but smart-casual is appropriate for the price point and occasion. Getting there: Kilndown is a small village in the Kentish Weald , a car or pre-arranged taxi is the practical choice; public transport to this address is limited. Nearby: See our full Kilndown hotels guide if you are planning an overnight stay, and our full Kilndown restaurants guide for the wider local picture. For drinks before or after, check our Kilndown bars guide.
The Small Holding sits at £££ in a category where its closest rural-destination peers , L'Enclume, Moor Hall, and Gidleigh Park , operate at ££££ and typically carry two Michelin stars. For the price differential, The Small Holding offers a tighter, more personal experience with a kitchen philosophy that is arguably more coherent than some of its more decorated peers. If you are choosing between this and hide and fox in Saltwood (another strong Kent tasting-menu option), the decision comes down to scale and formality: hide and fox is more polished in presentation; The Small Holding is more rooted in place. For a special occasion that does not require London prices or London logistics, The Small Holding is the stronger call for diners who prioritise ingredient provenance and cooking precision over room grandeur.
Against the London ££££ benchmark , CORE by Clare Smyth, The Ledbury, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal , The Small Holding is the right choice when the occasion calls for something quieter, more rural, and less performative. Those venues offer deeper wine cellars, more elaborate service structures, and larger rooms; The Small Holding offers a meal that feels like it belongs entirely to one specific patch of Kent, which is a different and sometimes more satisfying proposition. For anyone already considering a country-house weekend in the Weald, it is the anchor booking to build the trip around. Browse our Kilndown experiences guide and our Kilndown wineries guide to complete the itinerary. Comparable destination-dining options worth considering in the broader rural UK category include Hand and Flowers in Marlow and Midsummer House in Cambridge, though both operate in more accessible locations.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Small Holding | Modern British | £££ | The Small Holding is a restaurant in Kent, UK. It was published on Star Wine List on March 19, 2024 and is a White Star.; There's a rustic, farmhouse-like feel to this former village pub run by two brothers. The team's focus is firmly on self-sufficiency, growing an array of fruit and vegetables on their own land, using no-dig and low-intervention methods. This seasonal produce heavily informs the monthly changing tasting menu, which blends British and Nordic culinary influences in dishes that have bold, well-balanced flavours and lots of personality. In summer, grab a seat on the terrace for an aperitif overlooking the garden.; The winner of our 2020 'Chef to Watch' award has justified the faith we had in him. Not only has Will Devlin opened another restaurant in the area (Birchwood at Flimwell), but he's also built up the marvellously rural Small Holding as a destination with a fondly loyal following. Readers are impressed by the unflustered efficiency with which it is run, and the measurable sense of refinement that has taken place in the cooking. The multi-course menu changes daily, and while the lack of choice may not suit everyone, there’s no doubting the quality of ingredients. What hasn’t been grown or reared on the one-acre plot (on splendid view from the large terrace fronting the simple white-painted building) is sought from small-scale sustainable artisan producers in the area. Nor does the cooking pile on ingredients or decorative bits for the sake of it, but concentrates on essentials. At one meal, a Maldon rock oyster was served with an ‘exceptional’ lovage cream, perfectly timed halibut came teamed with fermented wild garlic, sea herbs and a ‘sweet and delicate’ sauce made with Squerreyes sparkling wine and chives, while hogget (two-year-old lamb) served various ways – pink rump with tenderstem broccoli, sweetbreads glazed with honey, a brioche bun made with hogget fat and stuffed with lamb shoulder – was beyond reproach. Desserts tend to stick to a theme of iced and crumbed things, though an apple sorbet offset by some aged cider vinegar and sprinkled with powdered pine was a masterful play of sweetness and acidity. An enticingly broad-minded, well-sourced wine list includes a good selection of Kentish labels.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Moderate | — |
| CORE by Clare Smyth | Modern British | ££££ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | Contemporary European, French | ££££ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | Modern French | ££££ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| The Ledbury | Modern European, Modern Cuisine | ££££ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | Modern British, Traditional British | ££££ | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
What to weigh when choosing between The Small Holding and alternatives.
For rural destination tasting menus in England, L'Enclume in Cumbria and Moor Hall in Lancashire are the closest comparisons — but both operate at ££££ and require considerably more travel planning. If you want something closer to Kent at a similar £££ price point, Will Devlin's own Birchwood at Flimwell is the obvious next option. For a London fix in the same Modern British register, The Ledbury in Notting Hill operates at a higher price tier but with a more established awards pedigree.
At £££, it is strong value for a multi-course tasting menu built on daily-changing seasonal produce, much of it grown on the restaurant's own one-acre plot. The Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 confirms the cooking is at a serious level. Compared to ££££ London tasting menus at venues like CORE by Clare Smyth or Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, the price gap is significant and the experience is genuinely comparable in ambition if not in scale. The caveat: there is no à la carte, so if a fixed menu format does not suit you, the value equation collapses.
The venue data does not confirm a bar dining option. The Small Holding is a former village pub with a terrace and simple interior, but the format is a set tasting menu, which typically means assigned seating rather than flexible bar seats. check the venue's official channels to confirm before arriving with that expectation.
The setting is a converted rural pub in Kilndown with a farmhouse character — there is no indication of a formal dress code. A neat, casual approach fits the space: the kind of thing you would wear to a serious neighbourhood restaurant rather than a City dining room. The cooking is technically ambitious, but the atmosphere described is unfussy and rural, not formal.
A daily-changing multi-course tasting menu in a relaxed rural setting is generally a workable format for solo diners — the kitchen drives the pace, which removes the awkwardness of ordering alone. The terrace overlooking the kitchen garden is a practical draw in warmer months. That said, seating availability for solo guests is not confirmed in the venue data, so it is worth flagging when booking.
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