Restaurant in Wansford, United Kingdom
Tasting menus worth the A1 detour.
Prévost at Haycock Manor is the strongest fine-dining option in the Peterborough corridor, holding a Michelin Plate in a light-filled orangery inside a restored 16th-century coaching inn. Set menus of up to eight courses showcase precise, ingredient-led cooking. Note the kitchen team changed in 2024 — book ahead regardless, as tables are hard to secure.
Prévost at Haycock Manor is the strongest fine-dining option in the Peterborough corridor and deserves serious consideration from anyone driving the A1 between London and the North. The Michelin Plate recognition (2024) reflects cooking that punches well above what you'd expect from a village-hotel restaurant: technically precise sauces and consommés, honest sourcing, and a set-menu format that delivers real value at the ££££ price point. Book it for a long lunch or a destination dinner — and book early, because getting a table is harder than the rural postcode suggests.
Prévost matters to Wansford in a way that goes beyond one good restaurant in a nice hotel. The village sits just off the A1 near Burghley House, one of England's great Elizabethan estates, and the Haycock Manor itself is a restored 16th-century coaching inn that has served travellers on this road for centuries. When Lee Clarke relocated Prévost from Peterborough city centre in 2021, he turned Wansford into a genuine food destination rather than just a pretty stop. The move upgraded both the setting and the cooking — early visitors noted they were 'blown away by the slickness of it all' and that the restaurant felt 'extremely exciting' for a venue of its size and location. For food-focused visitors to the Burghley House area, or anyone based within an hour's drive, Prévost now anchors the region's serious dining options in a way that few rural restaurants manage. See our full Wansford restaurants guide for the broader picture, and if you're staying overnight, our Wansford hotels guide covers accommodation options including the Haycock Manor itself.
The dining room sits in the hotel's orangery, a light-filled space with French windows opening onto gardens. The decorative scheme , birdcage chandeliers, pergolas, a faux olive tree dressed in fairylights , is theatrical without being overbearing, and the stone-walled hotel interior leading to it gives the progression from arrival to table a sense of occasion. This is not a stuffy formal dining room, but it is a considered one.
The menu format gives you real choice: three courses or a tasting menu of up to eight courses, both seasonally adjusted. The three-course option has historically represented strong value given the extras brought to table , multiple snacks, excellent sourdough from Oxfordshire's Ampersand Dairy, freely replenished. The cooking shows clear technical confidence: sauces and consommés in particular have drawn consistent praise, with dishes like a runner bean and elderflower consommé and a roast-beef jus standing out as examples of kitchen focus on the fundamentals rather than decorative complexity. Sourcing is specific and traceable , King's Lynn shrimps, Jersey Royals, Longhorn short rib , which signals kitchen investment in ingredient relationships rather than commodity buying.
One important note for 2024 onwards: the kitchen team has changed. Lee Clarke and head chef Sam Nash (formerly of L'Enclume in Cartmel) have moved on. The kitchen is now led by Rikki Hughes, formerly head chef at 263 Preston before it became Aven. A Michelin review update is pending. This is relevant to your booking decision: the Michelin Plate currently reflects the previous team's cooking, and the new direction is unreviewed. If you are booking specifically to track the Michelin trajectory, you are booking into a transition. If you want to experience the room, the format, and the sourcing philosophy under a new chef, that is a different and arguably more interesting proposition , particularly for food explorers who enjoy catching a kitchen mid-evolution. For comparison on what an established chef-driven rural restaurant looks like at the next level, see Moor Hall in Aughton or Gidleigh Park in Chagford.
Service under the previous regime was described as abundant and eager , young staff who animated rather than stiffened the room. The drinks list is lengthy with good by-the-glass options, though the wine list annotation is minimal, so confident navigators will find more here than hesitant ones. If wine depth matters to you, it is worth asking for guidance rather than relying on the list's own signposting.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prévost @ Haycock Manor | Set in the orangery of the Haycock Manor Hotel, a lovingly restored former coaching inn, this bright, colourful restaurant sports bird cage chandeliers, pergolas and a faux olive tree. Choose from three set menus of up to 8 courses, which demonstrate the precision of the chefs and a keen understanding of their quality ingredients. Natural flavours are allowed to shine and the sauces and consommés are a real highlight, like a rich, appetisingly glossy duck jus.; * Lee Clarke and head chef Sam Nash have moved on. The kitchen is now run by Rikki Hughes (former head chef at 263 Preston, before it morphed into Aven). Watch for a new review coming soon.* During 2021, Lee Clarke moved his restaurant from Peterborough city centre to Wansford, an exceedingly well-kept village just off the A1 near Burghley House. In its new home, the 16th-century Haycock Manor hotel, Prévost has gone up a gear and is quickly attracting plaudits. One fan was ‘blown away by the slickness of it all’, while another concluded ‘this place is extremely exciting’ – Clarke’s head chef, Sam Nash (ex-L'Enclume), has certainly made his presence felt. The Haycock’s stone-walled, softly lit interior leads to a light-filled orangery dining area where French windows look out on to gardens and there’s a birdcage theme to the decorations. The centrepiece, though, is an olive tree sporting myriad fairylights. This setting provides a suitable backdrop for notably accomplished cooking. Choose from three courses or a more elaborate tasting menu – all seasonally adjusted. At inspection, the three-course option offered remarkably good value, given all the extras brought to table. These began with three ‘snacks’, including a standout runner bean and elderflower consommé offering an evocative taste of summer in a little cup. Similarly impressive was a little bowl of buttery smoked Alsace (bacon) custard, dotted with nuggets of toasted sweetcorn and smoked eel – excellent with the first-rate sourdough bread and butter (from Oxfordshire’s Ampersand Dairy), which was freely provided and replenished. Mains offer a choice of two dishes: a brilliant-white portion of salty, succulent cod arrived in a strongly seaweedy kombu dashi sauce dotted with little brown King’s Lynn shrimps, complemented by tiny Jersey Royals and lightly pickled cucumber. The meat option, Longhorn short rib, was almost as good – the generous, tender portion might have been pinker, but the piquant pickled walnut, the little blob of puréed potato and, above all, the roast-beef jus made for a highly savoury treat. After a pre-dessert of whisky fudge (an intensely sweet morsel), the meal ended with an expertly presented pudding of strawberry segments matched with diced apple, offset by tangy sorrel granita (spooned on top at the table) and creamy sheep's curd – another unequivocal success. Abundant service from young, eager staff enlivens proceedings, and the lengthy drinks list offers ample choice by the glass; otherwise, the whistle-stop tour of global vineyards is best left to seasoned drinkers (there's little in the way of annotation).; Set in the orangery of the Haycock Manor Hotel, a lovingly restored former coaching inn, this bright, colourful restaurant sports bird cage chandeliers, pergolas and a faux olive tree. Choose from three set menus of up to 8 courses, which demonstrate the precision of the chefs and a keen understanding of their quality ingredients. Natural flavours are allowed to shine and the sauces and consommés are a real highlight, like a rich, appetisingly glossy duck jus.; Michelin Plate (2024) | ££££ | — |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | ££££ | — |
| CORE by Clare Smyth | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | ££££ | — |
| The Ledbury | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | ££££ | — |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | ££££ | — |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | ££££ | — |
What to weigh when choosing between Prévost @ Haycock Manor and alternatives.
Prévost operates within the Haycock Manor Hotel, a converted coaching inn with an orangery dining room, which suggests capacity for groups beyond a typical standalone fine-dining room. For larger parties, contacting the hotel directly is advisable, as the set-menu format will need to be confirmed for group bookings. The structured menu format suits groups where everyone is on board with a fixed progression rather than individual ordering.
The venue operates set menus with seasonal adjustments, which typically means dietary requirements need to be communicated at the time of booking rather than on arrival. There is no specific dietary policy documented in available records, so check the venue's official channels before booking if you have requirements that go beyond a standard adaptation. Given the ££££ price point and the set-menu format, advance notice is not optional — it is the practical approach.
Go in expecting a structured set-menu format: Prévost offers three menus of up to 8 courses, so this is not a walk-in-and-order-à-la-carte experience. The restaurant holds a Michelin Plate (2024) and sits inside the Haycock Manor Hotel in Wansford, just off the A1 near Burghley House — plan for a destination visit, not a spontaneous detour. The kitchen is now run by Rikki Hughes, following the departure of the previous team, so a new review is pending; check recent coverage before booking if consistency is a concern.
At the ££££ price point, Prévost delivers credible value for fine dining in this part of England: the three-course option in particular has drawn praise for including generous extras beyond what the price implies. The Michelin Plate recognition backs up the kitchen's technical claims, and the sauces and consommés have been singled out as a genuine strength. If you're comparing it to a trip to London for a similar experience, the answer is yes — the quality-to-price ratio holds up, and you avoid city pricing on top of the food.
The longer format (up to 8 courses) is where the kitchen's precision is most apparent, based on documented feedback — previous inspection notes highlight standout consommés, well-sourced ingredients, and accomplished dessert work across the full menu. That said, the three-course option has been described as offering strong value with its own set of extras, so it is not a case where you must go long to justify the visit. If you're already making the trip to Wansford, the tasting menu is the stronger case for the Michelin Plate-level cooking.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
