A place to eat and drink without the fuss
Modern British food and good drinks in a farm setting just outside Bramley. Run by local people, cooked with what’s fresh, served all day.
How it started
Built by the people who wanted it to exist
Maddings opened in 2022, inside one of the restored barns at Whipley Manor Farm.
Our Chef Proprietor had a dream of creating a space where he could get the best produce from local farmers and businesses and create the dishes that every local is proud of.
Cutting the miles the ingredients have to travel, sourcing directly from the local farms. Allowing farmers to see how their produce helps to create delicious dishes.
Foraging is also part of Maddings. Have you seen wild garlic, birch or Douglas Fir syrup, three corner leeks on the menu? They are foraged locally by our chef.
When Chef Dave took the barn in 2022 it was a blank canvas. Local traders were hired to turn it into what is it today. The tables that are at Maddings used to be a scaffolding, but a local chippy turned them into beautiful tables.
What started as a simple idea – a good, honest place to eat and drink on a working farm – hasn’t really changed. The menu has grown, the reputation has spread a bit further, but the core of it is still the same thing the locals wanted back in 2022.
The place
A restored barn on a 300-acre working farm
Maddings sits inside the North Barn at Whipley Manor Farm – a 300-acre estate nestled in the Surrey Hills between Bramley and Cranleigh. The farm has been family owned since 1920, and some of the barns on site are hundreds of years old, carefully restored and given new life.
It’s the kind of setting you can’t really fake. Open countryside, fresh air, space to breathe. Whether you’re eating inside the barn or outside on the terrace, there’s a calmness to the place that makes people slow down a bit. Dogs, muddy boots, kids – all welcome, all normal.
People find us in different ways. Some are locals who’ve been coming since we opened. Others are out walking, cycling, or visiting the farm and happen to stop in. A few drive out specifically because someone told them it was worth the trip. However you get here, there’s parking on site and no rush once you arrive.
The people
Local team, regulars behind the counter
Maddings was built by local people, and that hasn’t changed. The team who run the place live nearby, know the area, and care about what they’re putting in front of you. Some have been here since the early days. Others joined along the way because they liked what was happening and wanted to be part of it.
There’s no big corporate structure behind this. It’s a small team that does everything – the cooking, the coffee, the ordering, the lot. You’ll probably see the same faces each time you visit, and after a while they’ll probably know what you drink.
What we cook and why it matters
Modern British food, built around what’s fresh and what’s close
We don’t have a complicated food philosophy. We cook modern British food using ingredients that are fresh, seasonal, and sourced as locally as we can. When something is in season, it goes on the plate. When it’s not, we move on and cook something else.
Our meat and vegetables come from nearby farms. Our fish arrives fresh from day boats off the Hampshire and Sussex coast. The rotisserie chicken is free-range Cotswold white, slow grown on a family farm that’s been rearing birds since 1958 – properly raised and tasting how chicken used to taste.
We bake our own bread, make our sauces from scratch, and change the menu with the seasons. The suppliers we use are ones we’ve worked with for a while and trust to deliver the good stuff consistently. Nothing fancy about the approach – we just keep things close, keep things fresh, and put the effort in where it shows on the plate.
Come and see for yourself
A table’s waiting, whenever you’re ready
You’ve read enough. The best way to know what Maddings is about is to come, sit down, and let us feed you. Whether it’s a weekday brunch on your own, a long Saturday lunch with friends, or a Sunday roast with the family – there’s a place for you here.
We’re open Tuesday to Sunday, with food served all day from 9am. No cut-off times, no awkward gaps in service. Just turn up, settle in, and enjoy it. Booking is recommended at weekends and for Sunday roast especially during the colder seasons when our terrace is closed, but walk-ins are always welcome.
Whipley Manor Farm, North Barn, Palmers Cross, GU5 0LL. Parking on site. Dogs welcome. Muddy boots encouraged.
