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Te Travel Guide UK Travel


Promotional Content • Saturday 2nd May 2026 Where the Thames meets three stars


© JAMIE LAU


There are places you visit, and places you return to in your mind long after you leave. The Waterside Inn belongs to the latter


Set on a tranquil bend of the River Tames in the Berkshire village of Bray, willow trees trail in the water, swans drift past and among cottage gardens fragrant with lavender and roses sits one of the most extraor- dinary restaurants on Earth. Many come for dinner and find themselves staying overnight. Most wish they’d stayed longer. Te Waterside Inn has held three


© IAN DINGLE


Michelin Stars since 1985, the third longest duration in the world. But you don’t merely visit this place. You arrive for the food and discover something far richer: 11 luxurious bedrooms, most with uninterrupted views of the Tames, where you awaken to soft light and the rhythm of the river. A place to linger, not rush. Te Inn even has its own boat to enjoy the river in spring and summer. Founded in 1972 by Michel and Al-


bert Roux OBE, the restaurant is led by Michel’s son, Alain, a chef of ex- ceptional refinement who spent his formative years in France’s greatest kitchens before dedicating three dec- ades to this riverside table. His wife Laura brings the same exacting eye to the beautiful interiors. Alain isn’t just the name above the door, but an active presence: cooking, greeting guests,


trading jokes in the dining


room. Come here and you’re likely to meet him. Tat warmth sets the tone for everything. Te cooking is a masterclass in clas-


© CIARAN MCCRICKARD © CIARAN MCCRICKARD


sical French cuisine rendered with a light hand. Lobster roasted with a bisque of intense depth arrives as something close to revelation. Souf- flés ascend trembling and golden; des- serts arrive like an encore you didn’t know you needed. A cellar of over 1,000 French labels is curated with equal care. For something truly ex- clusive, a private dining cottage seats


ALAIN ROUX © DAN KENNEDY


© FRANCESCA AGOSTA


up to 12, complete with walled garden and drawing room. Ask most guests what stays with


them longest and the answer is rarely the food alone. It’s the feeling. Worries dissolve on arrival. Smiles are genu- ine. Anticipating every need before it’s voiced is simply how things are done here. True luxury it seems isn’t a set- ting or a thread count. It’s how you’re made to feel. In spring and summer, the Sum-


mer Sundays experience includes an hour’s cruise aboard Dragonfly, an elegant Edwardian saloon launch, with champagne and cream eclairs to enjoy as Berkshire drifts past. From £1,395 per couple, Summer Sundays includes a seven-course din- ner, overnight stay and French con- tinental breakfast overlooking the river. Autumn and winter have their own appeal: the four-course Menu Gastronomique at £150 per person, an accessible introduction to three Michelin-starred dining.


A free glass of champagne Quote ‘The Travel Guide’ when booking and every guest in your party — up to six people — will be welcomed with a complimentary glass of house champagne. Valid until 31 December 2026. To book, email E: office@waterside-inn.co.uk


Tose wishing to take a little of the


magic home will find it at the Alain Roux Culinary School and Michel Roux Library, a first for any three- Michelin-starred restaurant in the UK, where Alain’s techniques


taught in a setting as beautiful as the food. Roux at Skindles, Alain’s brasse- rie and cocktail bar a mile upstream, offers a riverside terrace, irresistible menu and live music every Friday. Come for the food, stay for


everything else and leave feeling like the most important person in the world.


are


Plan your stay at Te Waterside Inn: waterside-inn.co.uk T: +44(0)1628 620691


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