What the critics say...

Der Feinschmecker: percy's (EUROPE'S MOST POPULAR & WIDELY READ GOURMET MAGAZINE)

A loud noise cracks through the peaceful scenery surrounded by high green hedges and weather-beaten wooden gates in the middle of nowhere in South West England. Tina Bricknell-Webb is rubbing her sore knees and pulling a face. The black and white sheep ram with nicely curved horns, which she bought from a neighbour, stands stamping his hoof with a threat on the trailer. He does not think of getting off but has pushed his new owner of her feet. He might have recognised that his new master is not only a farmer but a chef as well. But despite his fear a paradise is waiting for him at the Coombeshead Estate in Virginstow. 200 sheep feeding on vast meadows and waiting that he makes sure Tina’s lamb in Percy’s stays the best in Devon. On the border to Cornwall and three and a half car hours away from London Heathrow, where the air is so fresh and clean that it makes one comfortably tired in the early evening, Tina and her husband Tony have created a space in heaven on more than 50 hectares for guest who treasure live close to nature. Eight rooms without marble luxury but instead with country comfort and a cosy atmosphere are welcoming the guest with juicy ginger homemade bread. 60 000 trees have been planted: common juniper, wild cherry, and sweet chestnut - the forest as a natural repertory. Fruit, vegetables and herbs are cultivated and grown strictly organic. The sheep graze on rich fields, big black pigs feast on chestnuts and acorns and roots in the woodland. Several kinds of poultry are providing fresh eggs for breakfast. “The only supplier I can trust absolutely, is myself”, says Tina, she doesn’t accept any compromises concerning quality. Early in the morning, when the fog is covering the landscape, Tina is driving over the estate and feeding the pigs and sometimes she patches up a sheep. She does the butchery herself and cures the hams. In the kitchen she only works with one kitchen hand and every dish is being prepared a la minute, which sometimes means the dinner guests have to be a little patient. But this is worthwhile. Intensive pure flavour enthrals the taste buds when marinated goat cheese and aubergine, zucchini, capers and spring onions, fresh home-grown salad, high quality olive oil and scallop from Devon’s coast. Simple dishes with an outstanding taste. The star of the evening is the lamb: thinly sliced, rolled up in bacon and grilled slowly until pink. Unbelievable tender and with a natural tastefulness it comes to the table, perfectly accompanied by thyme, oven roasted slices of carrots, zucchini flowers and a wonderful fluffy potato-mousseline. Here at “Percy’s” one starts to sense why Devon and Cornwall are called the culinary treasure box of Great Britain.

HARDEN'S UK Restaurants: Percy's. THE PEOPLES VERDICT.

"Avery good restaurant with comfortable rooms, close to Dartmoor and the North Devon coast"; reports all attest to its all-round charms, not least its "excellent and imaginative" cuisine.

Tina lives the good life...with a gourmet twist DEVON TALK, SUMMER 2008

Tina and husband Tony moved to Devon from London to set up Percy's Country Hotel and realise the dream of offering customers the very best quality food, a dream that started in her teens when she worked in Europe. "My passion for the best quality ingredients began when I was working in the kitchen of a very wealthy German businessman, who always dined on prime cuts of beef and the highest quality salmon. I realised early on that to create the best tastign dishes for your customers, you had to have a real eye for quality and an understanding of how to achieve it." This desire for top quality is the very bedrock of the farm, hotel and restaurant, and the almost self-sufficient operation has been described by some as the BBC 70's sitcom The Good Life with a gourmet twist.

Tina knows the complete linege and breeding score of all her animals, right back to great grandmothers, and believes that this total understanding of her lambs, pigs and geese leads to a finer dining experience for her customers.

"I believe that the additional knowledge I have as a farmer means I have total reassurance of the welfard and quality ofevery animal. My pigs roam free in the woodland, foraging for natural food, which means they are able to exhibit natural behaviours. Like many Devon farmers, the time we put in caring for our animals is an integral part of the process and this is what adds the value to our end product."

Tina is just as passionate about Devon produce and whether we shoudl still be eating ready meals. "Devon and the South West is one of the best larders in the UK. We have it all on our doorstep from organic vegetables to luxury ice-cream. There are a huge number of high quality food producers with some of the best food fairs around, and it is important that they continue to be supported by local people. Obesity and reliance on redy-prepared meals is a huge problem in this country but it's not too late to do something positive and Devon is an ideal place for this. Take your children at an early age to see the colours and textures of fresh food and buy them a couple of plants to look after. Its fun to get them involved and will help them understand that you can put together simple, delicious and nutritious food for the same or less than it costs to buy a reay meal."

Tina faces the universal farming problems of rising fuel prices and the price of feed, commenting that it often costs more to raise the animals than the market price. "Hopefully things will improve but local producers need support through this time if we want the British industry to survive."

As we say goodbye to Tina, she's off to see if her boar has caught scent of her roaming sows in the woods. She leaves us with one final thought: "I believe that to give my animals the best start in life, you have to feed them the right stuff. Wherever we can, we should do this for ourselves. Buying locally-grown fresh food and cooking it simply can give us the best start too."

The knowledge: 10 top ethical restaurants The big eat: percy's country hotel june 2008 £££ Coombeshead Estate, Virginstow, Devon. square meal

Warm hospitality from the Bricknell-Webbs is as much a feature of this renovated 16th-century longhouse as their commitment to grow and source organically.

Guests are treated to seasonal goodies with an emphasis on herbs and clever spicing - seafood from the fish market at Looe, game, home-reared lamb and pork, organic beef, duck and chickens from Exmoor and organic home-grown vegetables, herbs and salads.

A three-course meal might consist of lightly spiced seafood chowder with fresh coriander, followed by loin of home-reared organic pork with sage and juniper glazer, and then mixed berry meringue with clotted cream ice cream, toffee sauce and toasted nuts to finish. Lunch is by prior arrangement.

waitrose food illustrated. october 2007. green dining. percy's * * * * * £ £ £

It's not every day you get to greet the animals who will make a vital contribution to your dinner. But then Percy's isn't an everyday place - it's and organic food-lover's dream. Before lunch, we tramped through a little of the 130-acre estate meeting owners Tina and Tony Bricknell-Webb's happily rooting piglets, gambolling lambs and pretty, inquisitive geese along the way. The Bricknell-Webb's dogs came along too.

Tina's sure touch with the livestock was as spot-on in the kitchen. Homemade potato & cumin bread and a split-pea soup pre-starter warmed us up nicely, while starters of gentle, grilled goat's cheese with chutney and a warm salad of tender Cornish scallops were light and delicate. "What you have here," pronounced Tony, as he set down our mains, "are two platefuls that have travelled zero food miles." And it showed. Roast loin of lamb with rosemary jus was packed with incredible flavour, and ruby-red bacon-wrapped pigeon breast - shot on the estate - was meltingly tender and powerfully gamey. This was confident, unfussy cooking that let its top-notch ingredients shine; and a smooth bottle of 2003 Greek Tsantali Merlot Organic added a little extra glow. For pudding we chose rhubarb and blackcurrant crumble with ice cream and custard - a perfect balance of sweetness, creaminess and acidity - and a fruit meringue with toffee sauce. A healthy dose of fresh air (and those indulgent puddings) led to some deep slumber in our pretty room, but after a hearty breakfast with outstandingly good bacon, we were ready for more of the great outdoors. In fact everything here - from the welcoming wellies you're encouraged to borrow for a walk, to the beautiful food - feels open, balanced and honest. I'm glad this green dream has become such a well-judged reality. Dinny Gollop.

Saturday August 25th, 2007 The Independent: 10 GREAT ORGANIC RESTAURANTS

The 130-acre West Country estate is home to organic black pigs, organic sheep, poultry and game, and boasts its own orchard, forest fruits, vegetables and herbs. Produce is picked two hours before being served, and anything missing from the pantry is provided by local organic suppliers. Chef Tina Bricknell-Webb offers a three-course menu (£40) including starters such as ham hock terrine with caper berry vinaigrette, a main of oven roast home-reared lamb with rosemary jus, and cheeses including the ewe's milk Shepherd's Crook and goats' cheese Harborne blue. David Taylor

Sunday August 19th, 2007 Observer Food Monthly: three of the best country house hotels and restaurants in Devon

If you are driving around Devon on a Sunday, looking for a traditional roast with all the trimmings, then don't go to Percy's. Who needs roast beef when what arrives on your plate consists of Percy's freshest organic vegetables and salad plucked from their vegetable garden, seasoned with their own fresh herbs, served with organic meat reared on their farm, perhaps sprinkled with a few mushrooms picked from their woodland? Lunch can often turn into a day out. There are 130 acres of stunning hills to explore, you can visit the pigs, help with bottle-feeding during lambing season, or just sit at a table watching the chickens and the grazing horses. They serve only the most exceptional quality ingredients and it's totally organic. The peaceful, pretty hotel is set away from the restaurant in a 17th-century former granary. Lucy Siegle

Greener Living. June 2007. honeymoon in green style.

Percy's is an award-winning organic hotel and restaurant tucked away on the Coombeshead Estate in Devon. Not just carbon-neutral, the hotel rooms all come with a jacuzzi, TV, DVD player, Egyptian cotton sheets, cafetiere and real china tea pot, not forgetting the chocs and champagne that await a honeymooning couple. After dinner, prepared with local produce by the renowned resident chef Tina Bricknell-Webb, there is the 130-acre estate to explore with the resident sheep and free-roaming pigs and horses. And if you're planning a winter wedding, there are the real log fires to keep you warm. Rooms and dinner cost from £300 per person for a three-night midweek break. Alison Shepherd.

Alastair Sawday's green places to stay eco travel special June 2007

Fresh air, restorative food, tranquillity. The Bricknell-Webbs don't fuss or boast, they just get on with looking after you - beautifully. Wherever you are on these 130 acres - organic conversion now complete - you can be sure that Tina and Tony have been working sympathetically with the land. A huge kitchen garden provides fresh herbs, salad leaves and vegetables all year round, a recently planted 60-acre woodland has a 'food from the forest' theme and a Bramley apple orchard. Game, lamb, pork and venison, goose, duck and chicken eggs come straight from the estate; wild mushrooms too. Once ingredients are harvested, Tina works her magic in the kitchen; expect food that is worth travelling far for. Bedrooms in the converted granary are smart, with huge comfortable beds, chic leather sofas, flat screen TV's and harlequin-tiled spotless bathrooms (some with whirlpools). Grab a pair of wellies - and maybe a labrador or two - and discover one of England's lovliest spots.

20 UK Foodie Weekends. Olive. May 2007. Percy’s

This rural hotel offers organic food and field-to-fork dining at its best Fancy a slice of The Good Life without the heavy digging and dungarees? At Virginstow on the Devon-Cornwall border, Percy’s hotel and restaurant sits in a 130-acre working estate, full of rare breed sheep, ducks, hens and horses. Working up an appetite is advised because as the sun sinks over Dartmoor, you’ll be sitting down to four healthily sized courses of food sourced from the land around you. Named after the London restaurant they opened in the 1980’s, Percy’s belongs to Tony and Tina Bricknell-Webb, a couple who combine commercial nous with the grow-your-own commitment of Tom and Barbara. At Percy’s, it’s a case of what you see is pretty much what you eat. ‘We don’t do heavy, classical French cooking, just good, clean, modern British,’ says Tony. Dishes can include rabbit from the estate, scallops from nearby Looe, organic beef from Cornwall, as well as Percy’s deep-red, marbled lamb served with freshly picked herbs and vegetables. With sheep fed on grass and pigs that roam in woodland, Percy’s hens are no exception. Their eggs have rich, dark yellow yolks, which helped Tina win a gold medal at the Organic Food Awards for her tarte au citron. Raymond Blanc declared it was the best he had ever eaten.

Sunday March 18 2007, eating out: stella magazine. three more plates of perfect pork

Percy's Virginstow, Devon EX21 5EA (01409 211236) Vegetables, herbs and Large Black Pigs thrive on the woodland of this 130-acre estate, before being reunited in dishes such as roast loin of pork in a mushroom, sage and juniper glaze (three courses for £40)

Saturday March 17, 2007 FIVE BEST SPRING BREAKS The Guardian Travel

Percy's is famed for its food, much of which comes from the Soil Association-approved estate. Use it as a base to explore local gardens - Lanhydrock, Heligan, the Eden Project and the Garden House are all a short drive away. Three nights with dinner, B&B cost £300pp.

Saturday March 24, 2007 The Guardian

Exeter Festival Of South West England Food and Drink Exeter
If there's a foodies' equivalent to Glastonbury Festival then Exeter would be a good contender. The picturesque seven-acre site in Exeter has been expanded to include Rougemont Castle, which hosts the festival's live cookery theatre. This is the place to check out the likes of Michael Caines from nearby Gidleigh Park, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Tina Bricknell-Webb, the latter from the gem that is Percy's Hotel. The Ashburton Cookery School-sponsored Food Is Fun marquee boasts interactive cookery including a session called Tales From The Pig Farm. Northernhay Gardens hosts a colossal marquee showcasing south-west produce. Healthier options include organic veg from Linscombe Farm or Riverford Field Kitchen. A number of cafes and restaurants in the city have also joined forces to present the Food Trail. John Mitchell

GAMBLE ON A WINE BAR SET CHEF UP FOR THE GOOD LIFE 24 January 2007

Looking at her surrounded by pigs, chickens and geese, you would assume that Tina Bricknell-Webb was born to farmers. After all, the co-founder and award-winning chef for Percy's restaurant in Devon is passionate about country issues, such as buying local and cooking to the strengths of your regional produce. In fact, her path to Virginstow in deepest Devon was long and winding, and it started in London.

Tina's family were entrepreneurs. In the 1920s her grandfather started breeding and selling white mice. He made enough money to set up a credit betting business in London's Cheapside, near St Paul's Cathedral. His son, Tina's father, followed in his footsteps, opening a chain of betting shops.

"I started early," said Tina, recalling that at 14 years old she was drafted into learn the business. "I didn't know it then, but it was good preparation. The hustle and bustle that goes on in betting can be like a kitchen when things get manic.

"Tina was assigned Tony Bricknell-Webb as a mentor to learn her first trade: horses, handicaps, odds and betting. Over the years the pair fell in love and began to yearn for a different life together, one which allowed them some artistic flair.

In 1988 this came about in the form of a wine bar. Taking a huge loan, they opened Percy's in Harrow, North London.

Tina recalled: "We had several false starts with chefs who were hopeless cooks. I thought, I can do this. I can do this better." Tina taught herself to cook and was doing a hundred covers most days. Tony picked up the front-of-house duties, and as he described it, did a "speed course in how to charm" when things went wrong.

By the end of the first year the Bricknell- Webbs were thriving and had gained an enviable reputation throughout the area, both for the atmosphere of their restaurant and for Tina's freshly cooked food, unspoilt by over-salted rich sauces.

But Tina could not face the prospect of the London rat race without the vision of an occasional escape. "We needed someplace else to go where we could recharge our batteries," she said. "We wanted a hideaway for two days a week or so, where we could go with the dobermans, maybe even keep a couple of horses.

"Plus I wanted to grow fresh produce that I needed so badly for the wine bar.

"A long search culminated in the purchase of Coombeshead Farm, a 500-year-old rundown Devon longhouse near Okehampton, on the northern edge of Dartmoor. The 30 acres included barns and a huge dismantled glasshouse; it was just what Tony and Tina had dreamt of, and they secured it with a daring pre-auction bid. At first Tina and Tony used the farm as a refuge from city life. But gradually, they began to develop it as the site of their future business. They applied for planning permission for rooms and a restaurant at Coombeshead. Building works started and the money poured out of their bank account.

"It was a difficult time," said Tina. "It was vital for us to keep up the success of the wine bar. It was our only source of income. In 1995 we had to divide and conquer, with Tony overseeing the building works here and me running a busy kitchen 200 miles away.

"Although Tina's efforts were still earning regular accolades in London (including a Michelin Red M), the two mortgages and the travelling were a big strain. Tina was looking forward to moving out of London.

She said: "I thought, once we move down permanently, it will be a different pace. It will be no hardship for me to cook the odd breakfast and a few dinners a week. Little did I know.

"Eventually, the mellow farm became a business. Tony and Tina had had to borrow more from the bank to overhaul the rooms to the right standard, but Percy's soon gained popularity among couples seeking a rural getaway.

Crash-course farmers, Tina and Tony made excellent use of the land and learnt how to grow and breed most of their produce on their estate. In addition to vegetables, many of them quite unusual, they nurtured chickens, ducks, geese, pigs and sheep. There was even venison, supplied by a farmer who shot in nearby woodland.

"We made all the classic townie mistakes," laughed Tina. "Like putting a poly-tunnel on top of a windy hill, where it blew off. We got caught trying to shift a pig pulling both snout and tail at the same time - that gave the locals a few laughs

."Finding it difficult to attract properly qualified staff, Tina even grew her own chefs. She founded "The Academy of Regional Culinary Excellence", a training ground for budding chefs. The result is that not only is Percy's one of the top restaurants in England, but the kitchen is almost entirely staffed by local teenagers learning their trade.

Having finally disposed of Percy's in London, Tina no longer has to divide her attentions. She concentrates on Percy's Restaurant and Country Hotel and its garden, often priding herself in being able to say to her guests that every thing on their plates has been grown on the farm.It was a long haul, but Tina's dreams have come to fruition, as "Mr and Mrs Percy" (as they are known locally) live the good life among their thoroughbred horses and assorted animals.

Percy's has attracted many accolades over the years, but the one that Tina holds most dear is the review from Giles Coren, food critic for The Times, who wrote "Percy's is a very rare place indeed...I ate like I never thought I would".

He awarded Tina nine out of 10 and telephoned prior to the article being printed to say that it was the most endearing article that he had ever written about anyone. Tina said: "That made me smile. It also gave me the energy to drive Percy's even further."Percy's Country Hotel is on Coombeshead Estate in Virginstow, Devon. For more information call 01409 211236 or e-mail info@percys.co.uk

The Times/The Knowledge January 6th 2007

10 Top Spots for healthy grub - Percy's Country Hotel

Warm hospitality from the Bricknell-Webbs is as much a feature of this renovated 16th century longhouse as the deep commitment to grow & source organically. It means that guests are treated to seasonal goodies with an emphasis on herbs & clever spicing – seafood from the fish market at Looe, game, home-reared lamb & pork, homegrown eggs (from hens and geese), organic beef, duck & chickens from Exmoor, & organic homegrown vegetables, herbs & salads. Treat yourself to a night in one of the whirlpool-fitted guest rooms. It is totally smoke and child free – bag a spot on the teak patio breathe in the fresh air & drink in the peace & tranquillity. Lunch by prior arrangement.

www.squaremeal.co.uk

THE QUARTERLY - Autumn 2006 - Room For The Food

A stay at Percy's is a bit like entering Willie Wonka's chocolate factory since almost everything you come across in it's 130 acre Estate is edible. The only difference is that is's all nutritious organic produce.
For 10 years, husband and wife team Tony and Tina Bricknell-Webb have created a Garden of Eden in Devon. Organic herbs, leaves and vegetables are picked two hours before they arrive on the plate. Pigs and lambs roam free on their land and woodland areas have been created to attract wildlife and to furnish Percy's dishes.
Go for a walk around the Estate (accompanied by one of Tina and Tony's many friendly black labradors), and you'll be sure to pass a troop of ducks and geese. These provide the eggs for breakfast and for Tina's award-winning lemon tart.
Tina Bricknell-Webb is one of Devon's best female chefs. She prepares simple, delicious meals every evening for the guests and a wonderful aroma of fresh herbs wafts from the plates as they arrive at the table. The menu might include Wild Mushroom & Chicken Liver Parfait with Sage and Coriander Seed Toast, Oven Roast Loin of Home Reared Organic Pork with Mushroom, Sage & Juniper Glaze, and Cardamom and Lime Crème Brûlée.
The atmosphere at dinner is less formal than the Michelin Star experience, but that's fine with Tina and Tony, who have no desire to recreate it. "We don't want to follow a traditional structure, but let the quality of the ingredients speak for themselves," says Tina. And they certainly do, loud and clear.

olive magazine - from field to fork may 2006 at percy's hotel and restaurant in devon, every organic mouthful is grown, reared, cured or hatched just metres from your plate

Fancy a slice of The Good Life without the heavy digging and dungarees? Then Percy's is the place for you. In the village of Virginstow on the Devon-Cornwall border, the hotel and restaurant sits in a 130-acre working estate, Coombeshead, full of rare breed sheep and pigs, ducks, hens and thoroughbred horses. A row of green wellies lines the entrance ready for you to pull on and head straight out into the clean country air. If you want company, there's even a ready supply of black labradors tail-waggingly eager to give you the tour. Working up an appetitie is advised because, as the sun sinks over Dartmoor, you'll be sitting down to four healthily sized courses of food sourced from the land around you.

Named after the original north London restaurant they opened in the 80's, Percy's belongs to Tony and Tina Bricknell-Webb, a couple who combine commercial nous with the grow-your-own commitment of Tom and Barbara. Forget food miles, here the distance from field to fork is a matter of yards. You'll find woods full of floppy eared Large Black pigs rootling for whatever goodies they can find. Unsentimental diners can pet the friendly flock of Jacob sheep in the knowledge that they will be tucking into their organically reared relations at dinner - but at least there'll be no question mark hanging over the quality of life they enjoyed before their number was up.

Because that's the thing about Percy's: what you see is pretty much what you eat. Order Tina's wild mushroom and chicken liver parfait, for instance and your home-grown pate will arrive on a bed of deliciously peppery leaves such as Japanese mustard and Greek cress from the kitchen garden. In fact, it was salad that started the whole thing off back in the early 90's. 'All these unusual leaves were beginning to appear on menus ,' recalls Tony, 'but the farmer who supplied the top chefs wouldn't give us any. So we decided to grow our own down here at Coombeshead, which was our second home at the time. After a while we were growing all our vegetables and driving down in a pick-up truck once a week to take them back to London.'

\ In 1996, what had begun as a vegetable patch evolved into a second restaurant. After running the two in tandem for a couple of years, they eventually moved the whole operation southwest. Never having trained as a chef, Tina has taught herself over the years. The Bricknell-Webb's move into animal husbandry has been similarly ad hoc. 'One of the first things every naive suburbanite does when they move to the country is to keep goat's,' winces Tony, 'but oit's something you only do once. They used to get out all the time and eat everything. In the end, we gave one away and had the rest minced up. They made delicious spaghetti bolognese.'

Before they moved into the food world, Tony and Tina had spent 25 years running a chain of bookies. When their racehorse, Lady Chef, raised by the Bricknell-Webbs at Coombeshead, came in at Lingfield with odds of 10-1, Tony used a chunk of the winnings to treat Tina to some pedigree pigs. All went well, until the girls slipped their pen and trotted over to visit the boys. He crossed his fingers that the boars weren't mature but, three months later, a couple of guests returning from a stroll remarked how nice it was to see all the new piglets in the field. 'I raced out there and counted nearly 50,' says Tony. For Tina, a crash course in bacon curing and sausage making followed. With the help of one of the last practising curers in the region she picked up a range of skills she continues to put to good use. 'We use a small abattoir that's only 14 miles away and when the animals are slaughtered they have a particular time slot,' she explains. 'That means they are slaughtered straightaway. It's very important they're not stressed from a long journey or wait in the abattoir because that taints the meat.' 'We spend more time growing and sourcing stuff than we do mucking it around,' says Tony. 'If I eat rich food at night I wake up the next morning feeling one degree under. So our mission statement, if you like, is that we'll give you a lovely dining experience and you'll feel mornal the next day. We don't do heavy classical French cooking, just food, clean modern British.'

Dishes on the menu can inlcude rabbit taken from the estate, scallops from the 6 a.m. quayside auction at nearby Looe, organic beef from Exmoor as well as Percy's own deep-red, marbled lamb served with herbs and vegetables picked just a couple of hours ago. Self-sufficient in lamb and pork, Percy's chooses slow-growing breeds, which means the livestock enjoy happy free-ranging lives and, when they do end up on the table, the meat tasted as good as it possibly can. 'We don't slaughter new season lamb,' says Tony, 'it has a lovely texture but no flavour.' Instead, they wait until they're at least 10 months old. 'Our sheep have been fed on grass and our pigs are in woodland. That's why the flavour's good and the meat's dark, because they're eating naturally.'

You'll find the eggs here a bit of a revelation too. 'One of the reasons we bought the Black Rock chickens is because I started making lemon tarts.' explains Tina. 'I'd bought some eggs from hens that had obviously been fed fish meal - there was a fishy taste coming through.' With her own birds, she knows exactly what they're eating. The result? Big eggs with rich, dark yellow yolks - and a gold medal at the Organic food awards for her tart. Judge Raymond Blanc declared it the best tart au citron he'd ever eaten.

Are you ready to order? This week: Percy's Country Hotel & Restaurant (Filed: 13/05/2006) 'Boris is unstoppable, a force of nature'

Jan Moir makes friends at the Coombeshead Estate, Virginstow, Devon

Boris is unstoppable, a force of nature' - Jan Moir makes friends at the Coombeshead Estate, Virginstow, Devon

Boris is very naughty. In fact, he's worse than naughty. He's a randy old pig who keeps escaping from his electrified pen in search of any exciting sow action. He's unstoppable, a true force of nature! So far this year, Boris has been a father eight times over and Tina, the farmer's wife, says she's going to have to put a bigger charge on his electric fence, but she loves him really.

Bawdy Boris: a vital cog in the 'beautifully managed' estate
Sometimes she lies down in the sty with him and scratches his great big belly. Boris loves that, he really does, but what he likes even more is chasing after the chambermaids. He knows that somewhere on their person will be thick slices of Tina's home-made gingerbread with lemon icing, which are put in the bedrooms as a gift for guests.

Boris thinks that if he head-butts the girls, or maybe even charges and knocks them over, some of that gingerbread will be his. Having sampled it myself, I can see where he's coming from. It's so delicious! Forget the decanter of lukewarm sherry or the cheap chocolate on the pillow, Tina's fragrant, spicy gingerbread cake shows how a welcome gesture should be done.

Meanwhile, Boris is making a bid for freedom again, trundling down the lane at Percy's Country Hotel & Restaurant as the maids scream and scatter. No wonder, for he is the biggest pig I've ever seen, about the size of a van. ''He's lovely, really,'' says Tina, tempting him back to the sty with a bowl of feed before going off to water the lettuces and start preparing dinner. ''It's all in a day's work,'' she says, as her boots spark off the cobbled path that leads to the hotel kitchen.

Leaving the city and escaping to a rural retreat to grow your own socks, make chutney out of beans and marrow and cuddle pigs is a fantasy for most people, but not for Tony and Tina Bricknell-Webb, who are living the eco-dream.

''Some people say we're like The Good Life, others say we're Fanny and Johnny Craddock,'' says Tony, a bookmaker turned gentleman farmer who has learned some important agrarian lessons. ''You only keeps goats once,'' he says, "then never again. They're a nightmare.''

Just outside the restaurant's front door is a glorious herb garden
Sixteen years ago Tony and Tina sold their betting shops and wine bar in north London and headed west, where they now run an organic estate set deep in a lush fold of Devon. Here, amid 130 prime acres, they keep sheep, Large Black pigs, hens, ducks and geese, grow their own vegetables and breed racehorses on the side. Somehow, they also find the time to run their own country house hotel and restaurant, where guests are encouraged to don wellies and hike around the fields to meet all the animals, then come back to the dining room and eat them. Now that's what I call a countryside alliance.

Pre-dinner drinks are taken outside if the weather is good, or in a bar area with oak floors and doors hewn out of Douglas fir. Here, Tony brings plates of freshly-made canapés, which are simple and nicely done in a very English way; slices of hard-boiled egg - laid by their own hens - have yolks the colour of a blazing sunset and are laid with a few peppery leaves on some thin crispbreads. Other savoury bites are adorned with wafers of home-grown, delicious ham and curls of pungent salami.

Everything here is organic, even down to the jumpers Tony plans to have knitted from their own sheep wool, and the entire farm is Soil Association registered. This means that the food journey at Percy's, from field to table, is thrillingly short.

The dining room is simple to the point of bareness, with a handful of tables and a rustic, unpretentious air. The menu features four starter and main course selections, plus an optional cheese course and another quartet of desserts.

Chef Tina also keeps it simple, with starters such as Cornish scallops and squid served with a mustard and honey dressing or grilled goat's cheese alongside her own marrow, bean and onion chutney with pungent Indian spicing. Both our starters, a mushroom and chicken liver parfait and an avocado, bacon, thyme and butter-bean salad, come with a shower of glorious and unusual herbs and leaves, such as the peppery Greek cress, grown just outside the restaurant's front door.

CHECKING IN - Richard Eilers, The Observer Sunday April 9 2006

Imagine a final, unscreened episode of The Good Life ... Barbara catches Tom showing Margo his smallholding and chases them out of Surbiton. But where can the mismatched lovers hole up? What will satisfy Tom's earthy yearnings and Margo's sophisticated tastes?

I suggest Percy's Country Hotel & Restaurant. Set in a 130-acre estate, it has impeccable organic credentials (certified with the Soil Association) but there is a touch of urban chic about the accommodation. It also has cute appeal. Black labradors wait in the car park to escort you on a tour of their domain, introducing you to lambs and piglets (morphing in my mind into sausages on legs in my pre-dinner hunger) and pretending to be interested in retrieving the sticks you throw.

All of these characters are merely the supporting cast to Tina Bricknell-Webb's food, modern English dishes made using produce from the estate and garnering a string of awards (including one from Observer Food Monthly). The starters (pork and chicken terrine with sweet marjoram, wild mushroom and chicken liver parfait, bacon, avocado, butter bean and thyme salad) are presented on dramatic sculptures crafted from the freshest and most perfect green leaves. Those lambs and piglets make their grand entrance in the main course (braised lamb shank, pork escalope with sage crumb and a juniper jus). The lemon tart with rosemary ice cream is a tongue-tingling finale.

The rooms, in a former granary, are simply furnished but welcoming, with fresh flowers and Gilchrist & Soames toiletries. No plastic-wrapped biscuits here, but yummy carrot cake and lavender shortbread.

The hotel is on the edge of Dartmoor, an ideal base for long walks. The surfing resort of Bude is a 30-minute drive, as is the dramatic National Trust beach at Sandymouth Bay. We walked from one to the other along the clifftop path, fuelled by a breakfast of herby sausages, home-cured bacon and eggs with wonderful golden yolks.

The price: from £125pp per night, including breakfast and dinner.

We liked: the food, the food, the food.

We didn't like: Tina's description of her boar's sex life. Way too much detail.

The verdict: Tom and Margo live happily ever after.

It's not every day you get to greet the animals who will make a vital contribution to your dinner. But then Percy's isn't an everyday place - it's and organic food-lover's dream.