Chef owner Will Devlin in the polytunnel at The Small Holding farm (credit Key & Quill)

February at The Small Holding

Green Michelin Star 2021/22 | Number 25 in Harden’s Top 100 UK Restaurants, 2022 | Number 10 in Square Meal’s UK’s Top 100, 2022 | Good Food Guide 2023 | Kent Chef of the Year 2022 | Best Restaurant in Taste of Kent Awards 2022

“Will Devlin’s restaurant shows no sign of slowing down, ‘a truly sensational experience’ is one fan’s heartfelt comment. The level of ingenuity generated by a kitchen on turbo drive, fuelled by its own small holding, hen coop and piggery is prodigious.” The Good Food Guide

Named ‘Chef to Watch’ in The Good Food Guide 2020 and awarded a Michelin Green Star in 2021 and 2022, Will Devlin, is chef owner of The Small Holding, a kitchen and farm on a country lane in the village of Kilndown on the Kent and East Sussex borders.  The Small Holding is part of the Acre Group including Birchwood in Flimwell. The Small Holding opened in April 2018. As a former pub, the site had been run down and neglected, before being transformed into an open kitchen and bar with a large-decked terrace looking out over the farm and views of the Weald of Kent.

The 36-cover restaurant was voted the best restaurant in Kent at the Taste of Kent Awards and is set in one acre of land, permitting a unique connection between farm and table. Growing, foraging and cooking the best ingredients is at the core of The Small Holding, with daily changing menus, using home-reared and home-grown ingredients from the farm, which is less than 10ft from the kitchen.

Over 180 varieties of vegetables and fruits are grown including Broccoli ‘Red Blaze’, Cauliflower ‘Graffiti’, Cucumber ‘Passandra’, Radish ‘Viola’, Runner Beans ‘Scarlet Emperor’ and Courgette ‘Midnight’.  Native breed Large Black pigs, chickens and ducks roam the farm and sheep for hogget and mutton graze less than half a mile away.

The menu is defined by hyper-seasonal ingredients with a focus on the farm’s own produce, but undefined by the number of courses or choice. There is no formal menu at The Small Holding. Instead, guests are offered a multi-taste dining experience featuring the best ingredients on that day from the farm and local suppliers. Vegetables and fruits from the farm, harvested within hours of guests arriving, homemade charcuterie and zero waste animal cookery from the farm’s own livestock is the focus. The Small Holding works directly with growers, farmers and fishermen and the kitchen team forage in the nearby hedgerows and woodland.

The Michelin Green Star for sustainable gastronomy recognises restaurants with a focus on environmental practices. The Green Star encompasses everything about The Small Holding and the teams’ drive for sustainability.

The restaurant is open Wednesday to Saturday for dinner costing £85 per head and for lunch, with a shorter menu, on Saturday and Sunday, costing £65 per head. 

Other restaurant in the Acre Group is Birchwood, part of the Flimwell Park woodland development in Flimwell, East Sussex.

“Growing our own produce on the farm brings an understanding and honesty back to the kitchen, and vital freshness. Making the most of our harvests when the ingredients are at their prime – whilst also preserving and conserving them to use throughout the year, keeps us concentrated on the natural cycle of the land and helps us to create full flavoured and imaginative dishes.” Will Devlin

Eating at The Small Holding

Everything is home-made at The Small Holding, or sourced hyper-locally, except fish and seafood which comes from the South Coast or Scotland. Ingredients are picked less than 10ft from the kitchen and when there’s a glut, the kitchen preserves, pickles and jars.

The menu starts with home-made kombucha or broth and breads and sourdough and fresh butter, made on site with the rich yellow cream from a local herd of pedigree Guernsey and Holstein Friesian cows in nearby Benenden.

The February menu

Snacks
Parsnip, Cured Egg Yolk, Nasturtium
Cheese & Onion Tart
Rosti, 100-day-old aged Beef Tartare

Bread & Broth
Sourdough Focaccia & Smoked Mayfield Swiss
Beef Broth, Emmer Grain, Oxtail

Farm
Artichoke, Egg, Yeast
Swede, Apple, Rosemary

Fish
Mackerel, Watercress, Potato
Halibut, Asparagus, Gherkin

Meat
Pork, Brassicas, Beans

Sweet
Rhubarb, Beetroot, Yogurt
Chocolate, Mushroom, Caramel

Cheese
Cornish Yarg, Eccles Cake, Chutney

Sweet Treat
Apple and Cobnut Cake

“A group of folk growing amazing things, then pulling them out of the ground, sometimes knobbly and lumpy, then cooking and serving them. It’s perfectly imperfect and I wouldn’t change a thing.” Grace Dent, The Guardian

“The menu reads like a list of all that is good in a British Larder. Self-sufficiency, careful sourcing, purity of intent and an absolute focus on flavour. It’s easy to fall in love with The Small Holding for the warmth of the staff, its good intent and deft execution.” Tony Turnbull, The Times