GETAWAYS
RESTAURANT INTERLUDE AT LEONARDSLEE HOUSE AN ESTATE, EXPRESSED
NATURAL IS THE WORD MY MIND REPEATEDLY RETURNS TO WHEN REFLECTING ON OUR TRANSPORTING DINE AND STAY AT LEONARDSLEE HOUSE. NOT SOLELY BECAUSE THE MAJORITY OF WHAT WE ATE HAD EITHER GROWN ON THE ESTATE, FLOWN OVER IT, GRAZED UPON IT, OR BEEN FORAGED FROM ITS HEDGEROWS, BUT BECAUSE EVERYTHING ABOUT THE LEONARDSLEE EXPERIENCE, FROM THE INTERIOR DESIGN TO THE PLATES PLACED BEFORE YOU AT DINNER AND THE HARD-WORKING, CLEARLY HAPPY TEAM IS SO DISTINCTLY AUTHENTIC. BY POLLY HUMPHRIS
Nestled just outside Horsham in West Sussex, Leonardslee has more than a touch of storybook poise. With seven lakes, a captivating rhododendron garden, 22 champion trees, grand oaks, giant redwoods, a deer park and a wallaby enclosure, all punctuated by headturning Anton Smit sculptures that frame the striking Italianate mansion, its soft-stone symmetry stretches out like an impressionist painting. And at its heart? Michelin-starred Restaurant Interlude, where head chef Jean Delport and his team are not just cooking from the estate, they’ re cooking with it. here, with everything you see and taste intricately linked to the land that surrounds it. A point that’ s not been lost on foodies nationwide, with Interlude recently landing both 49th place at the National Restaurant Awards and being crowned AA Restaurant with Rooms of the Year – England 2025; not bad going for somewhere with only 28 covers and a chef who forages his own pine. cool playlist effortlessly veering between classic Motown and soft rock echoes the friendly and highly intuitive service.
The opening‘ snack’, a fried onion skin filled with whipped wild garlic and elderflower vinegar, followed swiftly by a crisp little seaweed cracker topped with venison heart and beetroot gel, was a punchy,
“ Our cooking has become an expression of where we are, using what we have around us to create intricate simplicity.”
CHEF JEAN DELPORT
The enticingly named Estate Experience menu isn’ t marketing hyperbole; Interlude doesn’ t do menus in the conventional sense- instead, what you receive is a multi-course tasting journey that takes its cue from what’ s good, ripe and ready on the estate that very day. It’ s the heightened pulse of an evening
Mirroring this confident simplicity, the dining room at Interlude is stylish and understated. Deep-hued walls, soft lighting, tactile linen and nothing fussy. Floor-to-ceiling windows expose garden views that roll out like visual poetry, conversations at neighbouring tables ebb and flow with quiet excitement, and a umami-laced bite that set the scene; an entire forest in a single mouthful, it didn’ t just taste of the estate, it was the estate. Then, there was house-reared venison: roasted over coals and paired with black garlic and salted damson, it smelled like juniper but tasted like game, being lifted
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