Stone restaurant owner amazed by Michelin guide listing

Jake Lowndes said he and Sophie Hardman started Little Seeds with "bare minimum money"

A restaurant owner says it is "amazing" to have his venue feature in the renowned Michelin Guide.

Little Seeds in Stone, Staffordshire, was opened by Jake Lowndes and his fiancée Sophie Hardman just over six years ago.

They learned last month the restaurant was to feature in the Michelin list of the best places to eat in more than 30 territories across three continents.

Mr Lowndes said: "It still hasn't fully sunk in."

In the guide's entry on Little Seeds, it says: "Great quality regional ingredients are used to create eye-catching British dishes."

Mr Lowndes said the venue was tagged in December in a social media post by Michelin about restaurants newly added to the guide.

"It was a bit surreal because we knew the other places which were new, big money openings and then there was us, Little Seeds, that had been working our way up for years," he explained.

"It was a crazy feeling."

Mr Lowndes first began as a chef in Stone 15 years ago, going on to work in other restaurants and completing a business degree in Manchester before opening Little Seeds. Ms Hardman also worked in hospitality.

"To get to this point, from nothing when we opened six and a half years ago - it has been a dream to be honest," he told the BBC.

"We opened with just bare minimum money, we had no family help apart from them helping us with things at the restaurant in terms of making the chairs with us, making the furniture - no financial help from anybody; just some start-up loans that we secured ourselves."

Mr Lowndes said since the coronavirus pandemic there had been a "lot of challenges" for hospitality businesses but he hoped the Michelin listing would give a "boost" to the restaurant.