The Old Rectory (Image: Georgina Piper)
The Old Rectory, Hastings
Nestled in Hastings’ Old Town, just a stone’s throw from the beach, is this award-winning hotel that’s been described as ‘staying at your eccentric uncle’s holiday home.’ With an honesty bar, individually designed rooms and a sunny walled garden that doubles as a wedding venue, it’s no wonder it’s been named Best Boutique Hotel in Sussex and selected by The Times as one of the 50 Best Places to stay in the UK for 2026. But the food helps it stand out too. With a focus on local, seasonal ingredients, this Georgian hotel practically has a queue for its Sunday roast, as well as an indulgent afternoon tea, and the breakfast is worth getting up early for. Think melt-in-your-mouth creamy scrambled eggs, homemade sausages (both meat and vegetarian), kippers and salmon smoked in the in-house smokery and even their own award-winning marmalade to slather on toast – all served in the hand-painted dining room.
There is even a new café in the grounds serving freshly baked bread, and an exclusive coffee blend roasted by the Rye Bay Coffee Company. From £140 a night for two.
theoldrectoryhastings.co.uk
(Image: Bolney)
Bolney Wine Estate, Haywards Heath
Dine overlooking the vines at Bolney Wine Estate – a location that has been awarded VisitEngland’s prestigious Visitor Attraction accolades for its exceptional food and drink.
Savour seasonal crafted dishes such as their truffled cauliflower risotto (£20), spring lamb loin and shoulder (£36), or roasted fillet of hake (£24) in the estate’s Eighteen Acre Restaurant which has a balcony with vistas across the vineyard or eat outside on the terrace of Bolney Café & Wine Bar where dogs are welcome. Winning the Quality Food and Drink Accolade for 2024-2025, Bolney was among just 12 attractions in the south-east to be awarded for delivering outstanding experiences.
Make a day of it by going on an Experience Tour and Tasting where you can try a handpicked selection of the award-winning wines along with a mezze board and petit fours. Tours are held nearly every day throughout the summer and cost £60 per person.
bolneywineestate.com
The Grand Eastbourne (Image: Pete Webb)
The Grand Eastbourne
Known as The White Palace, it’s no surprise that the food at The Grand Eastbourne is fit for royalty. In fact, Greek monarch, King Constantine, stayed here, as has Queen Sofia of Spain who was no doubt impressed by the gourmet offering along with the fresh sea air.
In fact, the food under head chef Hrvoje Loncarevic celebrates coastal cuisine at the award-winning fine dining Mirabelle restaurant, which was listed in The Independent’s top 50 best restaurants in the UK, and has regularly featured in The Good Food Guide. Dishes on the modern European menu include duck liver, fig and hazelnut cannoli with pink lady caviar and sauternes jelly (£12.50) followed by ’nduja-stuffed rabbit leg with lemon and fennel polenta rabbit schnitzel, cavolo nero and sauté speckled chestnut mushrooms (£40). The Garden Restaurant features traditional British dishes with a modern twist. The hotel celebrated its 150th anniversary last year and has played host to silent movie star Charlie Chaplin, wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, French composer Claude Debussy, who completed his symphony La Mer here, Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle – and adventurer Sir Ernest Shackleton. A classic room for two is £175 for one night.
grandeastbourne.com
(Image: Tottington Manor)
Tottington Manor, Henfield
It may be in the heart of the rolling Sussex countryside near Steyning, but the award-winning Tottington Manor Hotel’s restaurant TERRA has a distinctly Mediterranean vibe this summer. Whether you’re dining al fresco in the sumptuous four-star hotel’s new TERRA courtyard, at a firepit table on the decking, or inside by the restaurant’s living wall, you’re bound to feel like you’re on holiday with the new Small Plates Menu featuring Sussex ingredients. And with dishes such as moules marinier made with Sussex wine, onions and cream, tortilia Espanola, triple-cooked potato bravas, Hawkstone cider chorizo, lemon and herby crispy chicken and ham hock croquettes you’ll be spoilt for choice – but at £25 for three plates and £32 for four you’ll be able to have them all! This historic manor is a foodie paradise and has won several prestigious awards, including the Blue Ribbon Good Food Award, 2025 Good Hotel Award and was given AA four-star silver status in 2024. After all that food, go for a walk, relax or stay in one of 12 rooms – three of which have Jacuzzis. From £151 per room per night.
tottingtonmanor.co.uk
(Image: Pallant of Arundel)
Pallant of Arundel
In the heart of the medieval town is Pallant of Arundel, the purveyors of fine food and wine – showcasing the perfect ingredients needed for a gourmet getaway. Whether you’re glamping, staying in a holiday let, self-catering cottage or luxury mansion, you can find the best of Sussex here along with a growing collection of English wines, the majority from vineyards in West Sussex.
Browse the range or ask owner Katherine Purse for her recommendations which include Tinwood’s Blanc de Blancs – perfect for pairing with local smoked trout – or Roebuck’s Rosé de Noirs or Rathfinny’s Rosé Brut which are a wonderful match for charcuterie, while Nutbourne’s Bacchus and Sussex Reserve are popular still
wines that go well with local asparagus and Sussex Blossom sheep’s milk cheese. Sip Smock Alley’s Brut NV as a refreshing aperitif with canapés.
pallantofarundel.co.uk
The Pass South Lodge (Image: Angela Ward Brown)
South Lodge, Horsham
Renowned for its state-of-the-art award-winning spa and soul-soothing rooms and suites, South Lodge is also a haven for foodies with three restaurants at the luxury hotel in the South Downs. Along with the Mediterranean-inspired, dairy-free Botanica restaurant in the spa, you can indulge your culinary desires at three-AA-Rosette Camellia and then save arguably the best to last on the ultimate gourmet getaway long weekend.
The Pass is one of the finest dining experiences in the county, having retained its Michelin Star along with four AA Rosettes under the leadership of head chef Ben Wilkinson. Refurbished this year, The Pass puts the diner in the heart of the kitchen so you can watch Ben and his team create the dishes. His five-course menu which includes beef fillet with smoked emulsion, hen of the woods, and truffle, boat turbot with mussels in a Ridgeview sparkling wine velouté, a dessert of kumquat, fromage blanc, grains of paradise and lemon thyme sorbet is £125 per person, while a four wine glass pairing is an additional £100. Available Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.
exclusive.co.uk/south-lodge
(Image: The Horse & Groom)
The Horse & Groom, East Ashling
The worst part about leaving an historic country pub that champions the best of Sussex produce and has history and charm oozing out of its walls? Leaving! Luckily, The Horse & Groom at East Ashling has rooms so you can indulge in the 200-year-old inn’s friendly atmosphere, refined cooking and sit in the bar where Laurence Olivier learnt his lines in the 1960s. Choose from head chef Luke Cockram’s mouth-watering menu – with classics such as pan-roasted duck (£28), confit pork belly (£29), and Pie of the Day (£24), in the dining room surrounded by contemporary art, then head to one of the four-star inn’s 10 guest rooms to relax in understated luxury and rustic charm with wooden beams and walk-in rainfall showers..
thehorseandgroom.pub
Wiston Estate (Image: Matthew J Thomas)
Wiston Estate, Pulborough
Sip and stay winecations are all the rage this summer and Wiston Estate has its award-winning restaurant Chalk for the perfect gourmet getaway.
Inside a converted stone barn, complete with vaulted wooden ceiling, is this Michelin Guide 2026-recognised eatery which highlights the nature, heritage and purpose of the land. Estate Dinners (£65) are a set six-course menu showcasing ingredients grown, farmed and foraged on the estate and includes ChalkStream trout with ajo blanco and lovage, white asparagus with smoked potato and brown butter, along with Tamworth pork with morel and wild garlic, and comes with a choice of Wiston Estate wine pairings charged by the glass or bottle.
À la carte lunch dishes offer delicious Sussex and coastal ingredients in the restaurant recognised in TripAdvisor’s Best of the Best last year, placing Chalk in the top one per cent of restaurants worldwide. And with The Pump House accommodation (above) on offer in the heart of the South Downs estate (and boasting a wood-fired hot tub and bottle of Wiston Brut NV chilling in the fridge), you can easily make a sumptuous stay starting at £755 for three or four nights.
wistonestate.com
(Image: Bayte)
BAYTE, St Leonards
Sustainability is behind the seasonal menu at contemporary European restaurant BAYTE in St Leonards. Founded by vegetarian Ruby Boglione of Petersham Nurseries and Silvy Pilkington, dishes lean into the Italian heritage and recipes Ruby grew up with. To deliver the farm-to-table approach they have a 10- acre forest in Plumpton where they grow fruit and nut trees to get walnuts, almonds, mulberries, persimmons and apples.
Unusual herbs and forgotten vegetables, such as edible lily bulbs, crystal lemon cucumbers, and Nashi pears come from their market garden and all the meat used is free-range and reared on Ruby’s brother Harry’s biodynamic and organic farm.
Feast on chef Jacob Rosen’s dishes – created in the open kitchen – that include beetroot and radish with sorrel and kumquat for starter, grilled oyster mushrooms with fava and salmoriglio or lamb shoulder with broad beans, parmesan and lemon for mains then finish with migliaccio paired with grapefruit and stem ginger jam and chocolate, creme fraiche and cedro – all washed down with spicy margaritas and martinis.
bayte.co.uk
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