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Don’t believe the haters: summer in London is mega. But everyone needs a break from the Big Smoke sometimes – and here’s one you can book right away.
Out in the Chiltern Hills, just beyond the M25, there’s a place called Oxmoor Farm. Since 2022, they’ve been hosting an annual series of ‘Wild Feasts’, with top British chefs rocking up on the farm to cook up lunches and dinners using super-fresh local produce. Their creations are served at long tables, supperclub-style, in the blissfully relaxed surroundings of the Buckinghamshire countryside.
Each chef serves up both a Saturday dinner and a Sunday lunch across one weekend. Previously held in tents, the feasts have now moved into a spacious, airy barn. As well as the long tables, there’s a fireplace and sofas for post-feast lounging, and a firepit and seating outdoors for alfresco aperitifs if the weather’s good. Kids aren’t invited, but dogs are very welcome.
I headed down to Oxmoor Farm in early May, with chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes (formerly of Native) taking over the open kitchen to serve up a menu of seasonal bangers: wild garlic flatbreads, wood-roasted beef sirloin from cows reared locally, charred asparagus and leeks and a rhubarb millefeuille.
The chat along the table was very pleasant, with a crowd of mostly clued-in locals, a couple of whom lived less than a mile away. Locally-brewed beers and natural wines from a nearby supplier washed things down nicely.
This year’s feasts are set to continue right through to December. Over the next few months, the chef line-up includes some major London talents, like Ollie Dabbous (formerly of the Michelin-starred Hide) and Masaki Sugisaki of Dinings SW3. This weekend, it’s Tom Mumford of Upstairs at the George on Great Portland Street. More culinary big-hitters are due to be announced in June.
Getting to Oxmoor Farm is easy from London: hop on a train from Marylebone station to High Wycombe, then take a taxi from the station. If you pre-book your cab, the whole trip should take less than an hour.
Want to make a day of it? There are some lovely walks direct from the farm, and the nearby chocolate-box village of Great Missenden was once the home of Roald Dahl – it now hosts a museum and ‘story centre’ dedicated to the author.
And if you can’t make it to the Wild Feasts dates? The barn that hosts them doubles as a restaurant and café, serving all comers from Thursdays to Sundays. Besides food and booze, the farm also hosts workshops and events, spanning everything from foraging and fermentation to pottery and flower-pressing. There’s even an outdoor, wood-fired sauna, complete with countryside views and outdoor plunge baths. Start planning your escape from the city for a day of gourmet country living.
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