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Restaurant Isca: An Architectural Transformation at Borde Hill
The first in our Design Restaurants series, exploring Britain's most interesting restaurant architecture and interiors. We begin at Borde Hill in Sussex, where heritage architects Purcell have created a striking new glasshouse restaurant, with interiors by Nicola Harding and gardens by Ann-Marie Powell.
Design Restaurants / 01
Borde Hill is a 2,300-acre country estate in the Sussex High Weald, home to an Elizabethan mansion, magnificent gardens and one of Britain’s most important privately owned botanical collections. In the hands of the Stephenson Clarke family since 1893, the estate is now undergoing an ambitious transformation, with the restoration of its historic landscape, new visitor attractions and a considerable investment in hospitality.
For diners, Borde Hill will be familiar as the former home of Jeremy’s. Opened in 1998 by chef-proprietor Jeremy Ashpool and his wife Vera, the much-loved, independently operated restaurant attracted a loyal Sussex following for almost a quarter of a century. Its cobbled courtyard, contemporary dining room and expansive terrace overlooking the Victorian Walled Garden made it a destination in its own right.
When the Ashpools retired and closed Jeremy’s in October 2021, the Stephenson Clarke family had an opportunity to rethink the estate’s Edwardian Stables. Five years later, the arrival of ISCA marks a new chapter in Borde Hill’s dining history.
An Edwardian glasshouse for the 21st century
Heritage architects Purcell began work on the project in 2021, collaborating with Jay Goddard, fifth-generation custodian of Borde Hill, on the transformation of the estate’s 1906 Edwardian Stables.
The architectural centrepiece is an entirely new glasshouse restaurant, inspired by the great Edwardian glasshouses of the early 1900s. Its distinctive green rolled-steel façade rises into three pitched roof lanterns, echoing the 1720 gables and dormer windows featured across the original Mansion House.
Sandstone from nearby West Hoathly, the same material used in the original stables and Borde Hill’s Elizabethan mansion, provides another connection with the estate’s architectural heritage.
Inside, the glasshouse is flooded with natural light, with extensive glazing opening up views across the historic Walled Kitchen Garden, while the garden-led interiors were designed by interior designer Nicola Harding.
Beyond the glasshouse
The transformation extends into the surrounding gardens. Award-winning garden designer Ann-Marie Powell has overseen the restoration of the south-facing Walled Kitchen Garden, historically used to grow produce for the estate, to create a dramatic new edimental garden which is laid out in four quadrants: earth, air, water and fire. Across the road, a biodynamic market garden delivers daily produce to the kitchen, enabling the restaurant to have an ethos of food metres rather than food miles.
Borde Hill has also refurbished the original Edwardian Stables, introducing new finishes, infrastructure and a fully electric professional kitchen.
Here, Edie’s Kitchen & Pantry provides a more informal daytime dining destination, with pitched ceilings and exposed oak beams.
Together, the architectural and landscape projects reconnect the historic buildings with their original kitchen garden, while giving Borde Hill a substantially expanded hospitality offering.
ISCA: From garden to table
Opened in May 2026, ISCA takes its name from Magnolia × veitchii ‘Isca’, a specimen within Borde Hill’s nationally significant botanical collection.
Chefs Jack Hazell and Philip McEnaney lead the kitchen with menus incorporating estate-grown produce, edible flowers and foraged herbs, and the drinks menus echo this garden-led ethos with house cocktails including a magnolia margarita, shrubs, kombuchas and teas.
Dining at ISCA
Luxury Restaurant Guide members and their dining guests enjoy a complimentary glass of Sussex sparkling wine when dining at ISCA, available Thursday to Sunday at lunch and Wednesday to Saturday at dinner.
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Restaurant Isca
Borde Hill
Borde Hill Lane
Haywards Heath
West Sussex
RH16 1XP
