Cheshire East

Cheshire East does food well, and not just in one register. You'll find Italian pastries at La dolce vita pasticceria, home-cooked plates at Linden Stores, and easy brunches at Longmans Cafe and Moss the Cafe, all within a landscape of dairy farms and quiet lanes that makes the eating feel earned rather than incidental. With 118 restaurants across the area, the choice runs from unfussy village stops to something more occasion-worthy, and much of it draws on the produce this part of Cheshire is known for.

Most visitors base themselves in the 34 self-catering cottages scattered through the area, many of them converted from working farm buildings. Brook House Farm alone has several options, including the Apple Tree Barn, the Holly Tree Barn, and The Dairy, alongside its main cottage, so groups or returning visitors can pick a different barn each time. Ashvale Cottage, Bollington Cottage, Broadcarr Barn and Brookbank Farm round out a collection that favours space, privacy, and proper kitchens for those who want to cook with local ingredients rather than eat out every night.

The appeal of staying in a cottage here is that you get the best of both worlds: a self-contained base with room to cook a big breakfast before a day out, and a short drive to a village pub or cafe for dinner. Cheshire East rewards this kind of pace, with its patchwork of farmland, small towns, and lanes that make even a trip to the shops feel like a countryside outing.

Whether you're drawn by the cottages' character or by the sheer range of places to eat, Cheshire East works well as a base for a few days of unhurried exploring. Book a barn conversion near one of the farm clusters, or a cottage closer to the restaurants and cafes, and you'll find the two sides of a stay here, the quiet countryside and the good food, sit comfortably together.