ABOVE: New Compton Abbas smokehouse restaurant Lore of the Sky looks out over the busy Dorset airfield
Under previous ownership, the hilltop Dorset airfield of Compton Abbas offered very good cafe facilities that were popular with fly-in visitors and the local public alike. Now the new owner, well-known film director Guy Ritchie, has transformed the eatery into a new smokehouse restaurant called Lore of the Sky, taking inspiration from its Fitzrovia sister gastro-pub, Lore of the Land.
Pilot was invited to sample Lore of the Sky’s fare in the form of Texas barbeque-inspired canapés for the restaurant’s official opening in May and we can confirm that anyone braving Compton Abbas’s typical crosswinds is in for a treat – the food is superb, and the locally-sourced Cerne Abbas Brewery is rather wonderful too.
The menu is smoked on-site using a state-of-the-art J & R Oyler Smoker, said to be the first of its kind in the UK and only the second in Europe, and flown in directly from Texas.
PHOTO: PHILIP WHITEMAN
