Travel News: What’s Worth Leaving Town for in October and Beyond

It’s well and truly chilly season – so all the more reason to head out of London to enjoy the best of autumn. Get cosy at countryside bonfire nights, feast on menus by top chefs in Edinburgh and more.

This weekend, October 23 to 24, a slate of leading chefs will congregate at the Dartmouth Food Festival. The likes of Bouchon Racine’s Henry Harris, cook and author Cherie Denham, Mitch Tonks, Nathan Outlaw and other chefs will host talks and demos, and there’ll also be drinks tastings, market stalls and more.

A 19th-century manor in Royal Tunbridge Wells will host a vintage market this weekend, October 24 and 25. Visitors will be invited into Kent mansion Mabledon to shop clothing, jewellery, furniture and other objects and antiquities – including archive pieces from the private collection of the family that owns the estate.

Cafe Deco is heading to Norfolk. Well, head chef Anna Tobias is. The chef behind the beloved Bloomsbury restaurant will collaborate with new Wells-Next-the-Sea restaurant The Chandlery on November 25, bringing together their mutual love of seasonal produce and great wine. Tobias and The Chandlery’s head chef Harry Williams will prep a four-course meal using Norfolk produce; while the menu is yet to be confirmed, diners might expect dishes like lobster cocktail in little gem lettuce, grilled mackerel with fennel and Cafe Deco’s apple pie and cream. Reservations are available from midday to 8pm.

Roberta Hall McCarron, the chef and restaurateur behind Edinburgh stalwarts The Little Chartroom, Eleanore and Ardfern, is inviting a roster of female chefs from across the UK into her kitchens over the next few months, to raise money for Magic Breakfast. Twenty per cent of the price of each menu will be donated to the charity, which provides breakfast to thousands of children across England and Scotland. First in the kitchen is Rosie Maguire, of Manchester’s Higher Ground. She’ll join Hall McCarron on October 27 at Eleanore, to cook produce from her kitchen garden. The £75 menu will include dishes like cured halibut with apple and shiso; baked scallop with Calabrian chilli and saffron hollandaise; and squash with cavolo nero and preserved garlic. Scottish chef and restaurant developer Gemma Dallyn will be up next on December 12.

Also in Edinburgh is the latest instalment of Noble Rot’s On Tour: Cooking with Friends series. Adam Wood, head chef of the wine-soaked restaurant group’s Mayfair outpost, is heading to handsome Edinburgh restaurant The Palmerston to cook lunch and dinner on November 12. Wood will join The Palmerston team to whip up a menu that will include Noble Rot signatures like Comté tart and chartreuse ice-cream. Noble Rot’s co-founder Dan Keeling will be on wine duty, pouring bottles mentioned in his latest book Pick Your Bottles: 100 Wines to Change the Way You Drink, which is published on November 5. Reserve a spot by emailing hello@thepalmerstonedinburgh.co.uk

Also up north, legendary highlands estate Gleneagles has unveiled a new suite. The best bit? It’s in the century-old building’s tower, perched above its palatial entrance. The one-bedroom suite sprawls across two levels and is inspired by the golden age of travel, with art deco flourishes, bespoke joinery and patterned gold wallpaper. It also has the property’s only private terrace (with views across the three Gleneagles golf courses and the Perthshire countryside), a library and a dining room. In the bedroom, a hand-painted mural of the countryside by artist Nancy Daniell is the backdrop to a four-poster bed, and the ensuite marble bathroom boasts a curtained bath. There’s also a bar stocked with spirits and pre-batched cocktails from The American Bar downstairs.

Fylingdales Inn, a beloved village pub in North Yorkshire’s Robin Hood’s Bay, has just reopened after a refurb. The family-owned inn now has George Husband (ex-Brat and Bistro Union) in the kitchen; he’s doing small plates and pub classics, including Whitby crab on toast, fish’n’chips with mushy peas and fish chowder. The space itself as also had a complete overhaul – though original details like stone columns remain. You’ll find us in the snug next to the reclaimed stone fireplace.

Suitably cosy Cotswolds inn The Norman Knight will celebrate autumn flavours at a supper club on November 4, with a feast prepped from foraged ingredients by head chef Ray Pullen. Delicia squash tortelloni, roast partridge with rosehip and nettles, and venison with wood sorrel will be served alongside cocktails like a fig and sage sour.

Parade Hotel Bath is the latest lodging to launch in the charming stone city. Three Georgian townhouses have been redesigned to encompass 49 rooms, a bar, a lounge and a spa, while a restaurant will be added later this year. Many bedrooms retain original wood panelling and the central curved staircase dates back to when guests were spirited to their rooms in sedan chairs post-bathing in the city’s waters. Be sure to take breakfast in the bar and lounge – it includes pastries from nearby Lynwood & Co, cheese from Westcombe Dairy and coffee from popular cafe Colonna & Small’s. The on-site spa offers facials, massages and hot stone treatments.

The Lakes by Yoo in the Cotswolds has announced its next round of supper clubs, which are open to both guests of the estate and the general public. On October 31 private chef The Cotswold Guy will host a bonfire night with a hog roast, fireworks, live music and s’mores, while November 7 sees Igni’s Theo Clench arrive in the countryside to cook a menu over fire. Come December 5, AngloThai’s chef-owner John Chantarasak will cook his signature Thai dishes using British seasonal produce, then Luke French (of Joro in Sheffield) arrives on February 27 with a winter menu blending Nordic and Japanese flavours.