Establishing The 25-Mile Menu  

How Head Chef Will Parkes transforms local ingredients into dishes that capture the essence of the English countryside  

The morning mist clings to the Cotswolds hills as you walk through picturesque chocolate box villages, where centuries-old stone walls hold stories of generations past. Here, in this landscape of rolling pastures and ancient hedgerows, The Pig Hotel has carved out something special—a place where luxury travel meets authentic English countryside living.  

Imagine yourself wandering through the hotel’s kitchen garden before breakfast, soil still clinging to freshly pulled carrots, the air thick with the scent of herbs and the promise of what’s to come on your plate. This is earned luxury at its finest: not gilded or polished, but real, rooted, and deeply connected to place.  

When the Sleigh’s marketing team sat down with Will Parkes, Head Chef at The Pig in the Cotswolds, they were eager to learn more about the quality, care, and dedication that goes into every plate in his kitchen. What emerged was a conversation about more than just cooking—it was about a philosophy that connects garden to plate, season to story.  

The Pig goes beyond a standard restaurant—it’s a direct line from the local landscape to your plate, with chef Will Parkes orchestrating the connection. The concept is straightforward: a 25-mile menu. Will explains that they source 90% of their ingredients within 25 miles, with much of it coming directly from their own garden. At this time of year, everything is coming into bloom—salads, alliums, all readily available on-site.  

Hyper Local Sourcing 

Imagine joining Will’s kitchen team on their weekly morning saunter through the property. What makes this kitchen different isn’t just the proximity to ingredients, but the intimate relationship with the land. Each week, whoever’s running the kitchen joins the gardeners on these discovery walks, checking what’s ready, what’s plentiful, and what needs to be used up immediately.    

Will explains that they’ll change the menu twice a day, if necessary, purely to ensure nothing gets wasted. This isn’t traditional menu planning—it’s letting the ingredients drive the culinary adventure.  

This approach means you might find your menu featuring vegetables that were picked an hour earlier. Will contrasts this with many hotels and restaurants, where ingredients arrive wrapped in cling film from miles away. “We get it coming up from our garden, still covered in mud. That’s the exciting stuff.”  

Every region has its signature dish, and Will’s chosen representative couldn’t be more fitting. There’s a chicken dish on the menu that’s been there since they opened, and Will believes it will always remain. It is classic chicken with mushrooms and a white wine sauce, but the wine comes from Wiltshire Valley, just down the road. The garnish and mushrooms change throughout the year, but the essence remains—a dish that could only exist here, in this place, using what’s immediately available.  

The local wine connection runs deeper than just one dish. Will works closely with the hotel’s sommeliers, who actively seek out local wines to pair with the menu. “There’s great produce around here, so we like to shout about it.”  

Collaborating Across Seasons  
 
The obvious question: how does this work when English winters offer little beyond potatoes and root vegetables? Will’s answer reveals the depth of his seasonal approach and the hidden stories behind each preserved ingredient. Throughout summer and spring, his team dedicates one day a week to preservation—salting, drying, and storing the season’s abundance.  

Even in January, when fresh local produce is scarce, you can still taste summer in the Cotswolds. The PIG’s commitment to traditional preservation methods results in vibrancy and life on your menu year-round.  

Here, sustainability isn’t about ticking boxes—it’s practical luxury that makes sense. The kitchen has largely eliminated cling film. Bones become stock, vegetable scraps become soup, and trimmings that many kitchens would bin get turned into something useful.  

Will emphasises being smart about how you use produce, ensuring that everything that can be used, is used. “We make sure we do that to minimise waste.”  

Plating the Experience  

This approach creates something unique for your dining experience. You can arrive early and walk through the garden, then look at the menu and spot ingredients you’ve just seen growing. The team know what’s coming up from the garden—whether it is four different types of kale, or a unique garnish—their excitement shines through when presenting every dish. Will notes that it creates natural discussion points and adds an element of discovery that’s genuinely different from most luxury dining experiences.  

The sometimes twice-daily menu changes aren’t just about ingredient availability—they respond to everything around you. Fish deliveries vary day by day. If it’s a particularly hot sunny day, the menu shifts towards lighter, more salad-focused dishes. Even sunshine influences what ends up on your plate, as Will admits that weather plays a significant role in their daily decisions. 

This constant adaptation requires a flexible team. The Pig’s kitchen staff take initiative, checking what’s available and contributing their own ideas. The menu input comes from everyone, not just whoever’s running the kitchen—it’s a collaborative exploration of possibilities.  

What Drives Innovation?  

Will’s inspiration comes from surprisingly diverse sources, many of them local gems worth discovering during your travels. Social media plays a part in keeping him current, seeing how other chefs are doing things and adapting those techniques to his own style. After long shifts, he unwinds with British cooking shows like ‘Saturday Kitchen’ or ‘James Martin.’  

But his learning extends well beyond the screen. Living just an hour and a half from London, Will regularly makes day trips to the capital, sometimes managing lunch and dinner on the same day, constantly trying as much as possible. It is this drive for exploration that keeps his approach fresh.  

His preference when dining out reveals something telling about his cooking philosophy: rather than ordering a main course, he’ll have three starters. He loves variety and trying as much as possible.  

This approach was shaped by formative travel experiences early in his career. When he was younger, he travelled around Europe for a year, spending significant time working in Italy at a small eco-farm, similar to what they do at The Pig, but much smaller. “That experience taught me that nothing should be wasted—you need to use everything. There’s a lot of time and effort that goes into growing vegetables, rearing animals, and it’s sad to see any of it get wasted.”  

If Will could host a dinner anywhere in the world, his choice would be Northern Spain. The weather is fantastic, the produce is amazing, and he’s particularly drawn to their small plates and tapas-style approach. While he acknowledges that small plates are becoming overly popular in the UK, you can’t beat traditional Spanish tapas or pintxos with cold wine in the sun.  

Even locally, Will seeks out variety and hidden gems worth adding to your Cotswolds itinerary. His recommendations for guests staying multiple nights include a local spot in nearby Chalbury for semi-fine dining with their own farm, or the New Inn in Combe for amazing burgers. It is this appreciation for both ends of the spectrum that informs his own balanced approach.  

Future Visions  

Will’s current projects show how this local focus continues to expand, creating new stories and connections. He’s in talks with the dairy farm next door—about 50 metres away—to source ex-dairy cows for the menu. Half a mile up the road, there’s a flock of lambs he hopes to work with over the summer.  

The hotel has also introduced beehives, and Will often takes breaks to visit them. He notes that not many people have seen a fully functioning beehive, making it a special experience when the sun’s out—another hidden moment that adds to the luxury of simply being here.  

For Will, this approach represents where British dining is heading. “I think it’s going to be a lot about seasonality, locality. Obviously, imported stuff is getting expensive now, so a lot of people are going to have to start using British local stuff, which would be great for farmers and growers around here.”  

Elevating Ingredient-Led Cooking  

After spending long hours on his feet in the kitchen, Will’s own comfort food is refreshingly simple and honest. But his advice for home cooks wanting to elevate their meals is professional: use proper stocks and season properly. “That’s the difference between restaurant quality and home quality—using stocks and seasoning. Just put in a little bit of extra salt and pepper, or a little bit of spice. It elevates meals drastically.”  

When it comes to celebrating simple ingredients, his current pick is the noble asparagus. “It doesn’t really need much doing to it. You can literally just blanch it and season, and it’s perfect. It has such a short season, and you need to make the most of it.”  

At The Pig in the Cotswolds, every plate tells a story—not just of skilful cooking, but of a specific place at a specific moment. It is British luxury travel at its most fundamental: taking what the land provides, treating it with respect, and serving it with pride.  

Close your eyes. Morning dew sparkles in the garden as you walk among the vegetables that will grace your table tonight. Embrace the anticipation of flavours that speak of this exact spot on earth, this exact season, this exact moment. In Will’s hands, locality isn’t a constraint—it’s earned luxury at its most authentic, and the source of endless possibility.   

Ready to discover it for yourself The Sleigh Way? Contact us at [email protected]