The Summer Isles Hotel

Achiltibuie, Ross-shire 01854 622 282; summerisleshotel.co.uk

The view from the dining room of the Summer Isles hotel, during the seemingly perpetual twilight that only Scotland can offer at this time of year, looks acutely art-directed: the buffed pewter of the sea and beyond it the smudged outline of the islands that give the hotel its name. For sense of place, nothing quite beats it, a full two hours drive from Inverness, five from Edinburgh and on that part of the map marked "a bloody long way from wherever you are".

With this setting they could get by on a mediocre offering, but they don't. Chris Firth Bernard has been the chef here since 1986 and has come up with a simple formula that has won him a Michelin star and, more importantly, a lot of devotees. One five-course menu is served every night from 8pm. It majors on fish, as it should do so close to the water, and though the cooking is grown up it's never overwrought: Summer Isles langoustines and spiny lobsters served whole with hollandaise sauce for example, or grilled halibut with local mussels in a saffron and wine sauce, followed with a chunk of prime Aberdeen Angus or local game bird. After a day being windswept and sun kissed on the local beaches or out on the waters, there are few more lovely places in the world to be.

WestBeach

Pier Approach, Bournemouth 01202 587 785; west-beach.co.uk

Exactly the sort of fish-heavy brasserie that every self-respecting seaside town should have. The modern, bright airy building is perched over the beach but on really sunny days you can also eat outside on the deck.

The Seaforth

Ullapool, Ross-shire 01854 612 122; theseaforth.com

There is absolutely nothing fancy about the Seaforth, as befits a place which has been a fish and coal store, a chandlers and a smoke house over the years. Today it is a decidedly unfancy pub, which serves platters of local seafood, with as little done to them as possible. Sit with a big plate of langoustines looking out over the harbour, bobbing with the boats that probably landed the food you are eating, and watch the world go by, or just get a fish supper from their own chippy and sit out on the harbour itself.

The Church Green

Lymm, Cheshire 01925 752 068; thechurchgreen.co.uk

When chef Aiden Byrne departed the Dorchester Grill, leaving behind the campest dining room in London – the murals of strapping men in kilts tossing their cabers, and the tartan upholstered chairs redefined the term Gay Gordons – it was assumed he would open a fine dining restaurant. Instead he went to his native Cheshire and took over the Church Green pub. "To be honest I thought I'd be doing fine dining too, but I quickly realised I was running a community pub." Some of the evolved dishes which made his name in London are still there but the business depends on the lower-key food he serves in the bar and, in particular, on the terrace in summer.

It's the place for their platters of Richard Woodall's air-dried ham, their own pork pies and for piggy terrines made from the bits left over from all the Gloucester Old Spot they cook with. It's the place for gazpachos of cucumber or tomato, or big, rustic salads which change depending on the available ingredients. And then, of course, there is the view, over the church green that gives the pub its name and beyond that to Lymm Dam which brings walkers for miles around. Work up an appetite there, before trying the food of one of our most accomplished but least starry chefs. London's loss is everybody else's gain.

Petersham Nurseries Cafe

Church Lane, Richmond, Surrey 020 8605 3627; petershamnurseries.com

London has its fair share of summery eating opportunities, mostly on the banks of canals or the Thames, occasionally in its Royal Parks, but to hit the motherlode you have to head for the suburbs. Here, in Richmond, is the little café that could. In what is essentially a greenhouse, albeit a beautifully crafted, planted one, the tables footed on the dark earth, is the domain of Skye Gyngell, a sassy Australian cook who has written for Vogue and fed the likes of Nigella and Madonna and is now available to feed us.

Originally, this was a small operation – a four-burner stove, no drinks licence, a few scattered tables – but as it has collected accolades and fans, Petersham has become something else. There is now a drinks licence. They have a full staff. Most important, there is Gyngell's food. Its fans regard her seasonal, big-fisted ingredient-led food as the epitome of all that is right. It's tempting to describe it as the River Café without the bells and whistles, though the prices – teens for starters, nose-bleeding for mains – speak of a similar refusal to compromise on quality. The current menu lists sea bass carpaccio with lemon and Valentini olive oil, Dover sole with borlotti, rocket and marjoram butter, and sweet ricotta with strawberries and rose syrup. And if all that doesn't bellow summer, well nothing does. Although they stick hard to their lunch-only rule, Wednesday to Sunday, this year they will be serving dinners once a month. Check the website for details – and book quickly.

Inn The Park

St James's Park, London SW1 020 7451 9999; innthepark.com

When Oliver Peyton first opened this café and brasserie in the middle of London's prettiest park, it felt almost like a public service. Even a few years on, cynical Londoners, prone to take things for granted, should give thanks for this environmentally ingenious building, out of which comes some pretty damn good food: think spring salad with goat's cheese, or Longhorn rib eye with béarnaise and chips. But what makes it is the setting. On a hot summer's night in the capital, with the flowers giving up their scent at dusk, there are few better places to be.

Moonrakers

Alfriston, East Sussex 01323 871 199; moonrakersrestaurant.co.uk

If Moonrakers was a smell it would be the scent of a glass of Pimm's. If it was a sandwich it would be cucumber, with the crusts cut off. It is, in short, a perfect slice of unforced Englishness: behind the twisted, old-beamed cottage which is home to this perennial favourite, is a casually manicured terrace, potted and planted to within an inch of its life, looking out over a lush village green where leather really does thwack on willow. Beyond that is the old church, its spire bashing through the canopy of ancient oak and horse chestnut. On an English summer's day there can be few more perfect settings.

Happily, while the setting may hark back to an old kind of England, the food doesn't. It is open-minded, cosmopolitan and diverting. Whatever it lacks in coherence – a meal can take you in various directions – it makes up for in panache: a recent meal there took in herring roes on toast, Chinese-style spare ribs, sautéed lemon sole, and poussin, followed by a white chocolate parfait. And if, at the end, you ask for a mint tea, they will come with scissors and cut it from the plants to your left and your right. Now owned by Robin Bextor, a television director who sometimes shoots the videos for his daughter Sophie Ellis Bextor, there is an appealing and understated stylishness to the place, which makes it just perfect for the mislaying of whole afternoons.

Sir Charles Napier Inn

Chinnor, Oxfordshire 01494 483 011; sircharlesnapier.co.uk

Though the long-term proprietor, Julie Griffiths, hates the term, this pub high in the Chiltern hills, lays claim to being the original gastropub. From relatively modest beginnings, it has become a much-loved treasure, renowned for smart modern brasserie food – scallops with crispy pork belly, turbot with samphire and Jersey royals – and a lovely setting. Best of all are the gardens, scattered with fine rounded sculptures by Julie's partner Michael Cooper, which make a terrific backdrop for a summer's lunch. It has a great wine list, too.

The Sportsman

Seasalter, Kent 01227 273 370; thesportsmanseasalter.co.uk

Chef Stephen Harris's Michelin-starred pub has no outside area to speak of, but no matter. The big windows flood the room with light, and the menu is such a perfect expression of the local landscape that you really do end up eating summer on a plate: his own cured Serrano-style ham, for example, or dishes of braised brill fillet with herring roe sauce, slip sole grilled in seaweed butter and an elderflower sorbet made with flowers from the tree outside, explain why people travel from all over the world to eat here.

Cherwell BoatHouse

50 Bardwell Road, Oxford, 01865 552 746; cherwellboathouse.co.uk

Watch others messing about on the river – punts really do pass by – while you try the less strenuous task of enjoying lunch, with a few luxurious modernist touches.

La Famiglia

7 Langton Street, London SW1 020 7351 0761; lafamiglia.co.uk

This Tuscan stalwart, just off the King's Road, serves surprisingly good food, for a place favoured by the self-consciously louche Chelsea set. It also has a delightful walled terrace out back for long, alfresco, booze-addled lunches.

Hix Oyster & Fish House

Cobb Road, Lyme Regis 01297 446 910; hixoysterandfishhouse.co.uk

An unrivalled view out over the town, its cob and the sea, plus a robust menu of fish dishes (and a few meaty ones) from Dorset's Mark Hix, bringing it all back home after success with the format in London.

Y Polyn

Capel Dewi, Carmarthenshire 01267 290 000; ypolynrestaurant.co.uk

Even the owners admit they are at the mercy of the Welsh weather, but when the sun does break through there are lovely gardens at this pub tucked away in deepest wooded Carmarthenshire, and the promise of food made from ingredients that haven't come very far at all. As one of the team is former AA Guide editor Simon Wright, they know better than most what they are doing. Certainly, they are not trying to win medals for the food, just feed people well: think chicken liver parfait with chutney, Carmarthen ham with celeriac rémoulade or Gower Hereford fillet steak.

Punch Bowl Inn

Crosthwaite, Lyth Valley, Cumbria 015395 68237; the-punchbowl.co.uk

A fine old stone pub, with a menu built on French classics utilising local ingredients, plus a terrace that looks out over the cleft and cleave of the gorgeous Lyth Valley.

The Green cafe, Mill on the Green

Ludlow, Shropshire 01584 879 872; ludlowmillonthegreen.co.uk

The clue is in the name. An educational trust has been working to restore the water wheel and mill, but there's already much to enjoy here, including the café looking out over the waters which is open during the day for simple but well-prepared food. There's also an interesting list of local beers and ciders. It's reached via a footpath near the castle.

The Rat Inn

Anick, Hexham, Northumberland 01434 602 814; theratinn.com

This charmingly named country pub offers solid British dishes – braised beef in Allendale bitter, Northumbrian sausages with bubble and squeak – and a fine view across the Tyne Valley.

The Sloop Inn

Porthgain, Pembrokeshire. 01348 831 449; sloop-inn.co.uk

The Sloop looks out over the tiny Porthgain harbour and is a gateway for terrific walks along the Pembrokeshire coast. A straightforward menu, with lots of fish and the promise of lobster, caught by the owners, when available in the summer.

JoJo's

2 Herne Bay Road, Whitstable, Kent

01227 274 591; jojosrestaurant.co.uk

That JoJo's still exists to be recommended feels like something of a miracle. Chef Nikki Billington and her partner Paul Watson had always made running a restaurant feel less like a business venture and more like a jolly jape. They talked regularly of shutting up shop and going travelling again, and most of the time a meal at the original JoJo's – named after Nikki's brother – felt like a long boisterous lunch, and to hell with the inevitable hangover. But they are still in business, indeed even more so. The first JoJo's was on a shopping parade looking inland. Now they have moved around the corner to what was once a small supermarket looking out to sea, with a terrace up front to take in the view of the waters off the north Kent coast.

The food suits the view. It is for the most part Mediterranean with a little emphasis on Greece and Spain, and a lot of fish. No one understands deep-fat frying better than Nikki: her calamari, often served straight onto a wooden board from the hot oil, are the freshest and crispest you will ever try. She also does wonderful things with deep fried courgettes and garlic mayo or arancini – risotto balls – flavoured with pea and mint. Meat dishes are terrific, too. But what will stay with you is the atmosphere: of good food being enjoyed with the very minimum of fuss.

Pebble Beach

Marine Drive, Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire. 01425 627777 pebblebeach-uk.com

There is something wonderfully old school about Pebble Beach: a slight, cheesy 80s Dynasty-style tang to the decor inside, and a menu crafted by Pierre Chevillard, who learnt his trade at Chewton Glen, the original country house hotel, which also made its name in Thatcher's decade. But it has the most glorious terrace with sparkling views of the sea, and a menu bulging with things like fruit de mer done perfectly. A platter of that, a glass or five and the promise of sunshine. You would need nothing else.

Due South

139 Kings Road Arches, Brighton Beach; 01273 821 218, duesouth.co.uk

Simple but good bistro food, served in smart but unfussy surroundings which open up right on to Brighton beach.