The story
The Great Bustard is a country pub and restaurant with rooms in Great Durnford, Wiltshire, fifteen minutes from Salisbury and close to Stonehenge. It has become the new cornerstone of the community – a place for a pint, an inventive seasonal menu, an organic farm shop, and considered spa treatments, all set alongside the River Avon in the Woodford Valley. The Michelin Guide calls it “an immaculate, beautifully restored property blending country warmth with bright, modern dining.”
Head chef Jordan Taylor leads the kitchen with a commitment to farm-to-table dining. The Modern British menu is dictated by seasonality and draws on produce from the Great Durnford Estate – vegetables from the kitchen garden, game from ancient woodlands, trout from chalk streams. In the restaurant, the cooking is innovative and unfussy; in the pub, you’ll find straight-up honest food, from savoury Bread & Butter Pudding to wood-fired pizzas. The wine list includes Otarda red from the family’s Tuscan estate and rare bottles from the manor cellar.
The bar and restaurant feature floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the courtyard and willow trees. The Black Grouse private dining room seats up to twelve, with painted panelling and a cosy feel. On summer days, the sun-trap courtyard is the place to be. The ten bedrooms, named after native British birds, are designed as sophisticated retreats with super king beds, oak floors, and organic Durnford toiletries.
The Great Bustard has earned a Michelin Recommended award for 2026, praised for its “outstanding seasonal cooking” and warm hospitality. Whether for a Sunday roast, a bar snack, or a full à la carte dinner, this is a restaurant that lets the estate’s best ingredients speak for themselves.
Recognition
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History
Readers were quick to alert us to the transformation of the former Black Horse and how good the food was. Now a stylish restaurant with rooms, an early look found us settled in the very pubby bar with a drink, the cosiness that only a beamed ceiling, wingback chairs and an inglenook fireplace can induce willing us to settle in for the night. We could, of course, have stayed put and ordered from the full carte but then we would have missed the rather chic dining room. Located in a newly built wood-clad extension, floor-to-ceiling windows look out onto a heated terrace and small garden. Exposed brick walls hung with modern art and two back-to-back brushed black leather banquettes lend the room a sophisticated metropolitan feel, while a picture window into the kitchen, framed by a display of fine wines and stemware, signals the pub’s serious gastronomic intent. Jordan Taylor’s CV takes in Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and Moor Hall and that high-end pedigree is evident in a menu that celebrates produce from the estate and other local suppliers. Our meal produced a visually stunning terrine of estate game – layers of breast of pigeon, pheasant and partridge surrounded by a chicken mousse flavoured with dried apricot, fermented cep and tarragon – and tasted as good as it looked. And we enjoyed a generous loin of estate hare wrapped in cabbage, served with celeriac fondant, purée and remoulade, plus roasted hen of the woods and a copper pan of leg ragu on the side. But among all the culinary fireworks, Taylor hasn’t forgotten that he is also cooking for a local community of regulars and offers a hearty Sunday roast (Great Durnford lamb, Springbottom Farm beef, served with crisp roast potatoes and roots, spiced creamed kale and fluffy Yorkshire pudding), as well as a list of pub classics including battered cod and chips, steaks from the nearby Springbottom Farm, and a very appetising looking burger. And we found service as friendly and enthusiastic as it is polished and professional.
2 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence
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