The Yurt at Nicholsons

The Plant-Healthy certified Plant Centre is accompanied by a thoughtful retail space selling artisan items with a story. A fresh cut flower shop sells blooms grown at The Chipping Norton Flower Farm, just 6 miles from Rosara. The Tiny Café serves refreshments and sweet treats baked on site at The Yurt restaurant which was the reason for my visit.

The blossom on its trees (sorry!) is its splendid Yurt Restaurant, which serves, frankly, amazing food! In this glorious spring sunshine, Beth and I decided to sit outside in the partly covered area, and that was a great choice. From here, we could people watch, get some vitamin D and look at all the plants and trees spread out in front of us.

On the menu this week were starters such as monkfish, crab and coley “scampi”, with English asparagus, peas, citrus butter, and fresh pea and mint soup and mains such as pea and broad bean arancini, Isle of Wight tomato, burrata and roast courgette tart. Beth thoroughly enjoyed her twice-baked Montgomery Cheddar cheese soufflé, followed by roast Cotswold White chicken, beans, spinach and wild garlic in tarragon sauce. Both dishes looked stunning and were beautifully presented.

As for me, I plumped for Cotswold beef tataki, pickled garden radish, aubergine satay, green chilli and coriander. I do love carpaccio and this was absolutely delicious. The blend of flavours was just right, and with the colours on the plate, it looked stunning! I followed this with an asparagus and Jersey Royal tart with wild garlic and a soft-boiled egg, served with a leek and parsley sauce. English asparagus is one of my favourites, so any chance to have it, I take, in its very short season. And it was every bit as delicious as it sounds.

Neither of us had space for dessert, but if we had room, there were some lovely choices.

The food was delicious and the service quietly attentive. What a perfect way to have lunch out…

The Yurt is not the only reason to visit. We had a good look around and were seriously impressed with their innovative service offer. From a varied schedule of events to the private dining huts for business lunches and private hospitality, this is a business focused on sharing an appreciation for nature with its customers and sustainably supporting local businesses.

Beth and I left the Yurt feeling pleasantly full and, in my case, with a tray of plants for my garden! I call that a very successful lunch.

The Yurt is open

Tuesday to Saturday

Brunch: 09:00am – 11:45am

Lunch: 12:00pm – last orders at 14:30pm

Closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Visit: www.nicholsonsgb.com/yurt/

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Ruth Hawkins