Eating out shouldn’t cost the Earth. With attention now firmly focused on reduction of waste, local ingredients and slashing carbon emissions, sustainability may be a deciding factor of where you choose to eat. Whether a restaurant sources its food locally or boasts a Michelin green star, we take you on a tour of British’s top sustainable restaurants with the highest standards.
Head upstairs to this large, loft-style restaurant perched on the top floor of a Victorian coffee warehouse. Where the Light Gets In has an open kitchen, so you can see the chefs working their magic with dishes formed from whatever they’ve foraged on the day.
The set menu changes every six weeks at Chapters – a cosy Welsh restaurant, which adjoins a chapel in this book-loving town. Locally sourced, hyper-seasonal and attractively presented dishes deliver original flavours. Even the bar is made from reclaimed scaffolding boards.
An extensive 10-course menu features produce from Restaurant Sat Bains’ urban garden and greenhouse, including honey from its very own hives. One course, ‘a taste of the garden’, is served in the greenhouse itself.
Offering a tasting menu driven by produce from its farm, garden and local hedgerows, the Black Swan uses an array of preservation techniques to extend the seasonal foods, giving rise to bold dishes with plenty of depth and very little wastage.
For generously portioned, seasonal cuisine, Wilsons showcases ingredients from its two-acre smallholding, as well as sourcing ingredients from local growers and traders who use ethical and low-impact methods.
For affordable, sustainable dining, check out Oak in Bath, Somerset. Serving vegetarian and vegan dishes in bistro surroundings, its well-priced small plates are designed for sharing – and with 40% of the produce coming from its allotment, it’s deliciously low on food miles.
Marle sits in an idyllic setting within an orangery-style dining room overlooking a lake and parkland in Hampshire. Provenance is everything, with ingredients coming from the Georgian country house estate’s own biodynamic farm.
Attached to a Cotswolds farm shop, Daylesford Organic Farm offers charcuterie and nibbles in the Legbar, pizzas and wood-roasted specials in the Old Spot or ‘Field and Stream’ mains in the Trough Cafe.
The green star highlights restaurants at the forefront of the industry when it comes to their sustainable practices. It was introduced to the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland in January 2021, and the list is updated annually.
Britain is now home to 36 green star restaurants, in recognition of their culinary and environmental efforts. In 2026, seven new restaurants received a green star from the Michelin Guide:
Many work directly with (increasingly local and on-site) growers, farmers and fishermen; forage in hedgerows and woodlands; grow plants and rear animals. They often use or source bio dynamic foods and go beyond environmental considerations to address issues related to ethics and well-being, as well as contributing to charitable and educational projects.
They consider things such as the provenance of the ingredients; the use of seasonal produce; the restaurant’s environmental footprint; food waste systems; general waste disposal and recycling; resource management; and the communication between the team and the guests about the restaurant’s sustainable approach.
You’ll find Eight at Gazegill on a working organic farm, which means many of its ingredients travel zero food miles to your plate. Chef-patron Doug Crampton’s menus spotlight Lancashire’s culinary bounty – whether that’s sausages from the farm’s own pigs, local Morecambe Bay shrimp or herbs foraged from local hedgerows. Look out for special events such as the Forager’s Feast for a seasonal dinner with a difference.
For a taste of the Lake District head to Forest Side, set in a handsome Victorian mansion in Grasmere. The restaurant, helmed by Paul Leonard, sources 90% of its ingredients within 10 miles. They do plenty on-site too, whether that’s homemade charcuterie or pickles made with produce from the kitchen garden. Choose from four- or eight-course dinner menus.
Within easy reach of the Jurassic Coast, Glebe House has its own smallholding and is a member of the Slow Food movement. Tuck into head chef David Knapman’s dishes inspired by Italian and French country cooking, like seared cuttlefish with nduja sauce and fennel, or smoked potato and parmesan tortellini. There’s a real emphasis on nose-to-tail and low-waste cooking here.
The Knepp Estate near Horsham hosts a pioneering rewilding project, transforming the Low Weald landscape. The estate’s restaurant, led by head chef Alex Dome, is the place to be for scrumptious seasonal fare, with daily-changing lunch menus spotlighting Knepp’s own produce: expect Market Garden pumpkin tagine, or a Knepp venison loin with Market Garden beetroot.
It’s well worth the trip to Britain’s most northerly five-star hotel for the farm-to-table feasting at 1887 Restaurant, under head chef Danny Young. Herbs, fruit and vegetables are all grown in the two-acre kitchen garden, while Highland cattle, chickens and Tamworth pigs are raised at Torridon Farm. If you visit, you’re welcome to explore the garden, greenhouses and orchard to see exactly where your food is coming from.
Join brothers Charlie and Angus Buchanan-Smith on the outskirts of Edinburgh at The Free Company, their no-dig farm where they grow their own fruit and vegetables and raise native breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs. The on-site butchery means nothing goes to waste. Head chef Charlie has a knack for imaginative combinations using the farm’s fresh produce – pumpkin seed ice cream with candied swede, anyone?
In a rustic converted warehouse in Edinburgh’s Old Town, Timberyard – whose head chef is Bart Stratfold – serves up ingredient-led cooking spotlighting Scotland’s land and sea larder. Sample dishes include Barra scallop with seaweed, leeks and sherry, or wild and cultivated mushrooms with thyme, alliums, walnut and kale.
Homestead Kitchen’s menus take inspiration from the wild and wonderful North York Moors: think locally farmed meat, the freshest fish from Whitby and homegrown fruit and vegetables from their kitchen garden and orchard. You won’t go hungry with chef Peter Neville’s hearty, delicious dishes. The team work closely with their local community and put great efforts into sustainability – down to reusing their menus as seed pots.
Bring your appetite for chef Richard Steven’s 20-course tasting menus. Based on a farm in the beautiful Vale of Belvoir, Jericho puts the spotlight on Leicestershire’s produce, including homegrown vegetables and local game. Natural, organic and biodynamic wine is sourced from small family businesses, while custom pottery is created by a local artisan. This is farm-to-fork eating at its very finest.
It’s been a bumper year for Pythouse Kitchen Garden so far, earning not only a Green Star but also a Bib Gourmand from Michelin. As its name suggests, produce from its own three-acre grounds is the star of the show and shapes its menus, from brunch to dinner. Food is served in a former potting shed in a Victorian walled garden, so you’ll be dining at the heart of nature. Look out for its seasonal supper parties celebrating each Equinox and Solstice.
For an intimate dining experience, Wild Shropshire welcomes just 14 guests to sample its daily surprise menu. Chef James Sherwin’s carefully crafted dishes are infused with Japanese influences and make the most of hyper-seasonal produce grown on his own farm. A key aim is to divert as much waste as possible from landfill and their efforts mean that they’re currently 96% waste free.
Fusing together foraging with fine dining, Annwn is all about wild food in Pembrokeshire. Favoring local seasonal and foraged produce, the menu here changes with the seasons. Expect seafood alongside local fruit and vegatables.
Set within the wild landscape, The Exmoor Forest Inn holds a rustic charm and welcoming warm interior. There’s a daily changing menu with beef and lamb sourced from its organic hill farm. Serving comfort food to the highest standard, dishes embody the local region and seasons.
Forge at Middleton Lodge places sustainability and a timeless dining experience first and foremost. The menu is curated by chef Jake Jones, using produce from its own estate and nearby suppliers. This fine dining experience brings a taste of Yorkshire to every dish.
Executive chef Jean Delport at Interlude leads an evolving multi-course tasting-menu, using ingredients foraged directly from the 240-acre estate of Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens. Creative dishes showcase a range of textures and flavours of the region.
Championing the best of what Great Britain has to offer, the contemporary menu at St. Barts features seasonal British meat, vegetables and more, from countryside to coast. The interior is inspired by its natural surroundings and boasts handmade crockery.
Located within an isolated woodland, The Whitebrook follows a no-dig method for its organic fruit and vegetables grown on site. Botanical-based creative dishes are comprised of foraged produce from the surrounding forests and land and local Wye Valley suppliers.
