tokyomb
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Thread resurrection... Coming back to this thread to update on the local English/Welsh Marches dining scene as quite a bit has changed post Covid and may be useful to people heading for this area - England/Wales border and Shropshire Hills.
Checkers in Montgomery (Wales) is now under new management and clearly aiming for a Michelin Star again - I certainly wouldn't be surprised if it gets one when they are announced this year. It's just been awarded 3 AA rosettes, and has 5 AA stars as a restaurant with rooms. As we are local I have not stayed, but can definitely recommend the food.
Other local recommendations would be (again, as we are local I have not stayed, but can recommend the food in all cases):
The Oak at Wigmore (Herefordshire) - Restaurant with rooms. Chef formerly cooked at Mr Underhills in Ludlow when that was the local Michelin starred establishment. Highly recommended.
The Riverside Inn at Aymestrey (Herefordshire) - Restaurant with rooms more than a pub. Food is good, with a focus on locally sourced ingredients. Access down into car park requires care to avoid scraping nose of car. Car park can flood - so worth checking flood warnings if it is very wet.
Old Downton Lodge (6 miles from Ludlow) - 3 AA rosette restaurant with rooms on The Downton Estate (which means rooms tend not to be available in shooting season). Access roads are quite narrow lanes and tend to be full of pheasants, but aren't busy with traffic. Only does dinner, now.
The Haughmond (Upton Magna, 6m east of Shrewsbury, off the A5) - Good restaurant with rooms. Not stayed so cannot comment on rooms - food very competent. Also home to the village shop / bakery / cafe - which we haven't tried as if I'm driving 40m for lunch, it's going to be in the restaurant!
Further afield:
The Whitebrook (Monmouth) - Michelin starred restaurant with rooms. Very competent rural restaurant. Access to/from the car park is quite steep, requires care/attention in our cars.
Niche Patisserie (Oswestry) - If you have a sweet tooth and are in the area of Oswestry, Niche Patisserie are worth a visit. Mainly on Facebook and Instagram. Small cafe and bakery, run by a Bake Off - The Professionals contestant doing posh decorated croissants, afternoon tea, etc.
Other local tips:
In Ludlow, Chapter 66 (aka 'The Castle Cafe' - located inside the Castle) is good as a lunch spot, and also does dinners on Friday/Saturday - with a once a month set menu dinner (£39.50 for four courses - two choices per course, £8.50 supplement for cheese). Not Michelin standard, but good value cooking. While menu doesn't obviously accommodate dietary preferences, if notified on booking the chef will adjust the menu as needed to cater for vegetarian/vegan/most common allergies). Main weakness is the chef's not great at maintaining his website / social media presence.
If staying in the Shropshire Hills (e.g. in self-catering accommodation), there's a very good private chef / delivery menu service - Evatt Bullock - which we can recommend. Harry Bullock, the chef, used to be at the Coach House Norbury (now closed) which I had recommended above. We've used his delivery menu regularly during Covid and since, and also had him cater a birthday dinner for 12 - which was excellent.