Native moves to the countryside.
Chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes and business partner Imogen Davis, the duo behind the Native restaurant brand, have announced their plans to open at the Netherwood Estate on the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border, on the former Pensons site. Scheduled to launch on 22 May 2024, the new Native at Pensons will showcase their diligent, hyper-sustainable menu style. The grounds of the Netherwood Estate, tended by a team of gardeners, farmers and foragers, will supply many of the ingredients showcased on the menus.
The 32-cover restaurant with rooms (two in an adjacent building, with additional accommodation on the Estate), also features a 14-seat private dining room on the upper level.
There will be three menus – four courses at £65pp, seven courses for £105pp, and a Sunday lunch three-course offering at £45pp. (Vegetarian and vegan options will be available at all levels.) Highlights include:
- Nasturtium Taco (Lamb Tartar & Oyster Leaf)
- Regeneration Risotto (Heritage Grains, Cover Crops & Lincolnshire Poacher)
- Toasted Hay Campaillou (Woodruff Butter, Chicken Liver Parfait & Apple Chutney; Native Charcuterie)
- The Oak Pool (Chalk Stream Trout, Lapsang Dashi, Tempura, Crayfish)
- Herdwick Lamb (Wye Valley Asparagus & Black Garlic)
- Rhubarb & Rosemary Trifle (Meadowsweet Custard & Freeze-dried Raspberries)
- Artichoke Mille-feuille (Jerusalem Artichoke Ice Cream & White Chocolate)
- And for Sunday lunch – Roast White Park Hereford Beef (with Tuscan Kale, Yorkshire Pudding,
- Roast Potatoes, Baked Carrots & Cauliflower Cheese)
Among key local suppliers, the following play a vital role in the restaurant’s menu development:
Meat: Huntsman Court Farm (in the Wye Valley, for traditionally reared breeds such as Longhorn cattle, Middle White Pigs and Ryeland Sheep), and The Shropshire Boar Company (for Wild Boar which are reared on the Shropshire woodlands).
Fruit & Vegetables: Wye Valley Produce for asparagus, rhubarb and blueberries; Moorcourt Fruit Farm for strawberries, raspberries and cherries in the Herefordshire countryside; and, also in Herefordshire, Tuston Market Garden, for a range of produce on their eight-acre organic farm.
Dairy: Mawley Milk for fresh milk and cream from their high welfare Holstein, Ayrshire and Short Horn cattle.
Grains: Gilchesters Organics provide nutritious and delicious flours, using their age-old stone milling process.
The wine and cocktail lists echo the ethos of the food menus, with a focus on organic, biodynamic, natural, and low-intervention wines, with bottles from £35 (by the glass £6.50). Kombuchas and rich, foraged teas are also offered, alongside Butty Batch beer from Wye Valley Brewery. On the cocktail front, two of the favoured apéritifs will be the Native Negroni and Meadowsweet Sour.
Guests will be welcome to wander through the restaurant’s courtyard and kitchen garden and greenhouses. Native at Pensons has two boutique bedrooms in the main building, as well as access to additional accommodation from the Netherwood Estate.
Native at Pensons, Pensons Yard, Stoke Bliss, Worcestershire WR15 8RT
Reservations: 01885 410333, or Email: reservations@eatnative.co.uk
Opening hours: Lunch Thursday-Sunday Noon-2pm; Sunday Noon-4pm; Dinner Wednesday-Saturday 5pm-9pm
