St Stephens Guest House is a comfortable, family-run accommodation that offers well-appointed…
Fordwich Arms

“High-level cooking with precise execution.” - AA Inspector
CANTERBURY, KENT


Overlooking the River Stour, this stylish 1930s country boozer with terrace and garden remains a foodie hotspot. Parquet floors, bare wood tables and open log fire sit comfortably alongside the period charm of the oak-panelled dining room. Chef-patron Dan Smith has been at the helm since 2018 and his cooking combines first-rate technique with inventive flavour combinations. Start with hand-dived Orkney scallop, oyster, smoked bacon and charcoal cream, followed by south coast monkfish, new season peas, cucumber, clams and vermouth. A millefeuille of Yorkshire rhubarb, fromage blanc mousse and Sauternes ice cream is a memorable finale.
Facilities – at a glance
Children welcome
Credit cards accepted
Private dining
Service charge
Tasting menu
Features
- Seats: 60
- Private dining available
- On-site parking available
- Wheelchair accessible
- Accessible toilets
- Assist dogs welcome
- Closed: 25 December
- Wines under £30: 4
- Wines over £30: 192
- Wines by the glass: 13
- Cuisine style: British
- Vegetarian menu
Also in the area
About the area
Discover Kent
The White Cliffs of Dover are an English icon – the epitome of our island heritage and sense of nationhood. They also mark the point where the Kent Downs AONB, that great arc of chalk downland stretching from the Surrey Hills and sometimes known as ‘the Garden of England’, finally reaches the sea. This is a well-ordered and settled landscape, where chalk and greensand escarpments look down into the wooded Weald to the south.
Many historic parklands, including Knole Park and Sir Winston Churchill’s red-brick former home at Chartwell, are also worth visiting. Attractive settlements such as Charing, site of Archbishop Cranmer’s Tudor palace, and Chilham, with its magnificent half-timbered buildings and 17th-century castle built on a Norman site, can be found on the Pilgrim’s Way, the traditional route for Canterbury-bound pilgrims in the Middle Ages.
In the nature reserves, such as the traditionally coppiced woodlands of Denge Wood and Earley Wood, and the ancient fine chalk woodland of Yockletts Bank high on the North Downs near Ashford, it is still possible to experience the atmosphere of wilderness that must have been felt by the earliest travellers along this ancient ridgeway.
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