7 Farm-To-Table dining experiences you can enjoy with Insight

Celebrating fresh seasonal ingredients and locally sourced produce, our Farm-To-Table dining experiences are simply delicious. From castles to honeybees, fruit-picking to foraging, these memorable feasts will leave you both satisfied and inspired. More than just sampling excellent cuisine, they offer a connection to the communities that you visit and reflect the true seasonal flavors of the region.

On every Insight Farm-To-Table dining experience you will meet with the hosts and tour their gardens or farms, to see where the produce comes from before you sit down to dine. This offers a fascinating opportunity to learn first-hand about many aspects of sustainable food production, such as organic farming, biodiversity, waste reduction and species preservation.

Claire Hanney, General Manager Travel Experiences for Insight explains further: “Farm-To-Table dining has been integral to Insight for a very long time. We’ve been dining in places that are close to the food source because it is the way of life in a lot of countries that we travel through. Meeting the owners and food producers really helps our guests understand what goes into the creation of the meal, beyond what is on the plate. It offers a deep connection with the community, as well as a delicious dining experience.”

To whet your appetite, we’ve put together a list of 7 great Farm-To-Table dining experiences. Enjoy thoughtful, flavorsome menus based on fine, fresh ingredients, with great options for vegetarians. Meet fascinating people and even gain some new cooking skills along the way.

The area near Naples and Mount Vesuvius has long been an agricultural goldmine, its soil infusing crops with a unique volcanic and mineral-rich flavor. And on the slopes of the volcano, you will find the charming Casa Barone. Small but mighty, this family farm is renowned as one of the world’s only producers of Piennolo tomatoes. This tasty, endangered fruit only thrives in the fertile volcanic soil.

Travel with Insight and join a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience to learn all about this intriguing venture. Each harvest is sustainably farmed and cared for by the extended Barone family, who all work on the farm. Picked at the peak of ripeness in late summer, tomatoes are canned and used throughout the winter in Italy, with fresh tomatoes reserved for summer consumption. Taste the delicious results for yourselves, along with other local produce, on a Farm-to-Table lunch with glorious views of Mount Vesuvius.

Discover on: Best of Italy

France’s magnificent Loire Valley is renowned for its spectacular castles. And the elegant Chateau de Rochecotte is certainly a memorable location for this Farm-to-Table dinner. Feel like royalty as you enjoy authentic and passionate, seasonal cuisine prepared with fresh, locally sourced ingredients. This elegant white chalkstone chateau was built in the late 18th century and is set in 50-acres of hillside parkland overlooking the Loire. The most stunning of locations, take time for a stroll of the manicured grounds, surrounded by Bourgueil vineyards, before indulging in a divine feast.

Discover on: French Heritage, Normandy, Brittany & the Loire Valley

If you love honey then you are in for a treat at Brookfield Farm, for it will certainly be the centerpiece of your Farm-to-Table lunch. Owner Ailbhe Gerrard is a passionate beekeeper and is said to craft the most delicious and sustainable honey of the island. Ailbhe has a deep interest in farming as a holistic, regenerative activity and runs a wide variety of sustainability projects at Brookfield Farm. Join an Insight MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience to hear her stories and honey-making secrets. The farm boasts a stunning mix of wildflower meadows, beehives, sheep, orchards, arable crops, a native broadleaf tree plantation and a truffle orchard – a truly magnificent setting for lunch.

Discover on: Britain & Ireland Explorer

Join a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience with husband-and-wife team, John and Ann at the historic Heskyn Mill for a delightful Farm-to-Table dinner. Here tasty vegetarian dishes are prepared with ingredients carefully foraged from the local area or grown by farmers that live nearby. A popular dish is their mushroom Wellington, made from field and forest mushrooms. Vegetables are chosen seasonally and are often picked in the morning for guests to enjoy later the same day.

Located in a fascinating setting, the 18th Century Mill was originally the flour mill for the nearby Port Eliot Estate. And within the restaurant are many of the original gear workings and mill stones, last used to grind corn in the 1960s. On your visit you will learn all about the mill, and John and Ann’s ethos to support local and reduce food waste. They are proud of their relationships with the local farmers to source the food that would otherwise struggle to be sold, transforming it into delicious and thoughtful vegetarian fare.

Discover on: Country Roads of Wales, Devon & Cornwall

No journey to Italy is complete without learning the secrets of pasta making. At the welcoming Terra Madre restaurant, Nonna will give you a pasta demonstration before you sit down for a delicious four-course, Farm-to-Table dining experience. Her expertise has been honed through generations, so be sure to take notes!

Alessandra and his nonna have built this charming restaurant with a focus on sustainability, and you will feel like you are dining at the home of a friend. Everything is grown organically and harvested on site, with excess produce donated to their community. Travel with Insight and join this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience, on which Alessandro will explain their sustainable agricultural practices, including methods of production and crop rotation.

Discover on: Grand Sicily and Italy

There’s always something deeply satisfying about picking your own fruit and vegetables. Truly appreciating where our nourishment comes from serves to reconnects us with nature and our planet. Travel with Insight to Pamukkale, famous for its mineral-rich thermal waters and chalk-white limestone terraces and roll up your sleeves at a local organic farm. Meet the agricultural director for a walking tour of the eco-friendly lands and enjoy picking fruits and vegetables from his fields. Round off your visit with a mouth-watering Farm-to-Table lunch, prepared with fresh produce from the farm.

Discover on: Wonders of Turkey

Join the friendly Golsers, a fourth-generation family of farmers, for a snapshot of life on their award-winning organic farm in Salzburg. Bustling with activity, meet pigs, donkeys, cows and other farm animals. And enjoy homemade beverages including apple juice, elderflower and apple cider from their fruit garden. With 2.5 acres of apple, pear and plumb trees, they are in fact Salzburg’s first professional fruit farmers. Enjoy an al fresco Farm-To-Table dinner (weather permitting), with a range of meat and vegetarian dishes, knowing that everything on the menu is produced right here on the farm.

Discover on: Country Roads of Bavaria Switzerland & Austria, European Discovery, European Flair

Insight’s Farm-To-Table dining experiences are a feature on every Country Roads style premium guided tour, and on many more tours in our collection.