Gold-standard dining at The Donkey Sanctuary 

The Donkey Sanctuary’s on-site restaurant ‘The Kitchen’ has picked up a Gold Award in the 2023 Food Drink Devon awards. 

The venue at the Sidmouth sanctuary picked up the Gold Award in the Hospitality Awards’ category at the ceremony which was held at the Exeter Chiefs’ ground at Sandy Park in Exeter. 

The Gold Award is a great achievement for the team in The Kitchen restaurant, which prides itself on providing visitors with fresh, local, seasonal produce in a relaxing and friendly atmosphere.

The venue itself overlooks fields where some of the sanctuary’s resident donkeys can often be seen grazing and has stunning unparalleled viewsof the surrounding countryside and world-famous Jurassic Coast.

Visitors can also bring their dogs on leads into the restaurant with them, while diners are also assured that every penny of profit helps donkeys and mules around the world.

Lisa Keech, Front of House Manager at The Kitchen restaurant said: “‘Myself and the team are delighted to receive this award, which is a testament to the hard work put in by ‘The Kitchen’.

“At The Donkey Sanctuary we strive to push boundaries of what we can achieve using sustainable locally sourced products.’

The Food Drink Devon Awards celebrate the very best that Devon has to offer, by recognising the region’s most respected, influential and passionate artisan food and drink establishments and producers.

Judging for the awards is carried out by a panel of independent experts, and all results are verified by an independent adjudicator.

Greg Parsons, Chair of Food Drink Devon said: “Devon has a fantastic food and drink scene, one of the best to be found anywhere in this country.”

He added: ”Our aim with the awards is not to measure one against the other, but to identify products and destinations that we are proud to present as Devon’s finest.”

Next month, The Kitchen restaurant will once again feature the annual Taste of the West awards, where the team hope they can bring home another Gold.

The Kitchen is open seven days a week from 9am - 5pm. More details can be found on The Donkey Sanctuary’s website: https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/visit-us/sidmouth/the-kitchen