18 Best Restaurants in The West Country, England

One of Cornwall's most famous inns, the 17th-century Admiral Benbow was once an illegal smugglers' drinking den—look for the figure of a smuggler on the roof, and (if it's not too busy) ask to see the tunnel used for contraband. In the family-friendly dining room, crammed with seafaring memorabilia, you can enjoy pizzas, seafood, steaks, and vegetarian dishes, and the bar offers a good selection of West Country ales and, appropriately, rums from around the world. Figureheads, model ships, and even a brass cannon also fill the main bar and the Lady Hamilton lounge. 

Despite the name, this laid-back and vaguely eccentric restaurant is quintessentially English and is ideal for a relaxed lunch away from the nearby rigors of the Park Street shopping scene. Generous salads, soups, and burgers are available, as are all-day breakfasts and brunches. Find your table first, then either make your order via the QR code or note the table number and order at the bar—you can sit in one of the airy rooms upstairs or in the terraced backyard—a secluded spot for a cup of tea with lemon drizzle cake. The restaurant opens at 8 am and closes at 5 pm (4 pm on Sunday).

As the name implies, this casual eatery in the heart of Clifton village specializes in pork products, with special attention given to the humble British "banger." Sausages range from the traditional Gloucester Old Spot to Cotswold lamb, mint, and apricot; pork, leek, and stilton; and beef and ale, and all come with plain mashed potato or "champ" (mashed potato with spring onions). The menu also includes a tender slow-roast pork belly with plenty of crackling; wild mushroom and tarragon risotto; and a fish special featuring whatever seafood has been brought in from Cornish ports. The bright, modern restaurant is furnished with solid wooden benches and tables and has outdoor seating, too. Local beers are served, and you can get dishes to go.

Locals and visitors alike make a beeline for this gastropub in a 16th-century building with a number of small dining spaces done in spare, contemporary-country style. Elegantly presented dishes might include dry-aged moorland sirloin in a peppercorn sauce, beer-battered haddock, or butternut squash with cauliflower tempura and curry broth. Set-price menus are sometimes available, and there are gluten-free options and a separate vegan menu. If you don't want to go the whole hog at lunchtime, wholesome sandwiches are also served (every day but Sunday). Three spacious guest rooms make it possible to linger.

Opposite the cathedral, this child-friendly tearoom and restaurant spread over two floors is ideal for lunch, coffee, or snacks. You can also sample one of Devon's famous cream teas, served with jam, scones, and clotted cream, or show up earlier for eggs Benedict or a cooked English breakfast. For lunch, try the Mediterranean-style couscous salad (with spring onions, tomato, red peppers, and focaccia), a "Devon fire burger," or just a sandwich. There's a good range of vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free options, plus West Country beers and ciders. Tables are available outside in Cathedral Close in fine weather.

This vegetarian café and restaurant is perfect for breakfast, coffee, or a light lunch. Order at the counter and find a space in one of the three rooms—all simply furnished with rustic-style benches and tables and local art on the pastel-colored walls—or in the walled garden. Apart from pizzas, quiches, jacket potatoes, and house-baked rolls and cakes, the chalkboard might include such dishes as butternut squash lasagne or vegetable Thai red curry. The whole food shop out back offers a range of picnic ingredients, too.

For views and location, this breezy beachside eatery with a crisp, modern interior and deck seating can't be beat. On the menu you'll find hearty breakfasts and a judicious balance of meat, seafood, and vegetarian dishes for lunch and dinner, from salads, sandwiches, and burgers to fish risotto and sweet potato and chickpea red Thai curry. There's also a beach bar for drinks, ice creams, and other snacks, barbecues at weekends in summer (roughly Easter–Oct.), and live music on Sunday evenings.

Overlooking Swanpool Beach a mile south of Falmouth, this popular eatery has a lively buzz and a menu that showcases the best seafood to be found in Cornish waters. Plump and juicy scallops from Falmouth Bay, mussels served with baked focaccia, wild prawns in 'nduja sauce, lobster with garlic and herb butter, crab and lobster risotto, and plain old fish-and-chips are among the favorite items on the family-friendly menu, while cocktails and mocktails can be ordered at the table or in the adjoining alfresco bar. Staff are young and enthusiastic, and the ambience is relaxed. Book a table on the outdoor terrace for the best experience—Pendennis Castle is visible just across the bay. Swanpool Beach is a stop on the Falmouth Coaster bus route.

The best of the numerous natural-food cafés on Glastonbury's High Street offers a fresh and friendly setting in which to enjoy the organic, locally sourced dishes. The menu includes filled jacket potatoes; sourdough sandwiches and toasties; vegetable quiche; Stilton and walnut salad; and a garden platter that consists of flatbread, dips, marinated olives, and salad (vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options are available, of course). A congenial, wooden-floored space with local art on the walls, the café is best known for its breakfasts, snack lunches, coffees, and teas, but it's also occasionally open for dinner. There's a small garden out back, too.

Come here to stock up on delicious carry-out items for a picnic on nearby Clifton Down. There is some seating at the back, but most customers order a deli box (£9–£10), with selections ranging from meat or vegan sausage rolls to falafels, samosas, tortillas, and pasties. There are also soups, Scotch eggs, toasties, pies, and generous salads to choose from, not to mention cakes and pastries for dessert. You'll find it in the center of Clifton Village.

This welcoming tearoom and restaurant offers homemade scones and cakes as well as authentic Devon cream teas served with clotted cream and jam. The menu also lists a range of breakfast dishes, light lunches, and snacks to keep you going, including salads, sandwiches, and Welsh Rarebit, and the daily specials board is also worth consulting. Gluten-free and vegan/vegetarian diets are catered for. It's popular, so call ahead to be sure of a table.

This thatched pub on a creek 4 miles north of Falmouth is a great retreat, with both a patio and a moored pontoon for summer dining. The menu features standard pub grub—for example, sandwiches and baguettes, fish pie, mushroom and red wine pie, and garlic and lemon pork loin with lyonnaise potatoes—but you may be satisfied with just a local ale or a West Country organic wine by the waterside. Maritime memorabilia and fresh flowers provide decoration, and there's a blazing fire in winter. You can sit in the flagstone bar, in the oak-beamed room upstairs, or outside.

Unbeatable for its location alone—on the broad, golden sands of Porthminster Beach—this sleek, modern eatery prepares imaginative lunches and evening meals that you can savor while you take in the marvelous vista across the bay. The accent is on Mediterranean and Asian seafood dishes, and typical choices include pan-fried skate wing with spider crab, samphire, and a caper and herb butter sauce; lobster tagliatelle with fennel and zucchini; and Indonesian vegetable curry. There's a beach bar and outdoor kitchen, too—a tempting stop in summer for breakfast, a snack lunch, an evening barbecue, or just a drink—and two sister restaurants (Porthminster Kitchen on the harborside and Porthgwidden Beach Café in the Downalong neighborhood) have smaller and cheaper menus that are equally strong on seafood.

At this pub you can contemplate the quayside comings and goings over a pint of real ale and a sandwich, a pie, or a pasty, or a full meal of steak or seafood. The nautical theme comes through in pictures and the ship's wheel hanging from the ceiling. There are tables outside on the quay.

A 14th-century inn and a row of thatched cottages make up this pub–restaurant with great harbor views. The kitchen mixes local cuisine with European influences, so expect dishes like rack of Exmoor lamb or spiced pork tenderloin. There's fresh seafood year-round, and a superb game menu in winter. Booking ahead is advisable for the restaurant; otherwise, just show up for the bar menu, which features such snacks as soused mackerel fillet and crab sandwiches. In the attached hotel, corridors and creaking staircases lead to cozy guest rooms decorated in stylish print or solid fabrics.

In a narrow alley off Cathedral Close, you can lift a tankard of bitter in the very rooms where Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh enjoyed their ale. The pub dishes out casual bar fare, from sandwiches and grills to steak-and-ale pies, either in the bar or in the beamed and paneled upstairs restaurant. Drake, in fact, once wrote, "Next to mine own shippe, I do most love that old ‘Shippe' in Exon."

One of Cornwall's oldest pubs serves simple lunches as well as evening meals in wood-beam rooms that display the work of local artists. The traditional menu includes fish pie, salads, and burgers, as well as Cornish crab linguine. There's also a separate, quieter restaurant upstairs, and you can eat at the tables outside at the front or on a rooftop terrace for excellent harbor views.

The excellent café–restaurant upstairs at Watershed overlooks part of the harborside and serves sandwiches and hot snacks all day, along with coffees, cakes, and beers. For meals, note your table number and order at the bar. Food is served until 9 pm (8 pm on Sunday and Monday)