THE SPACES IN BETWEEN 

The time to feel sun on our skin has arrived. If you have a place to eat outdoors, take the chance to nurture plants around the table. This way you bring can family, visitors, flowers and even trees together. John Brookes's vision of the garden as a series of outdoor rooms then also becomes an extension of the home, in this case a green dining room. You benefit from the effect of food tasting better on a picnic. And a terrace next to the house brings nature right to your threshold, making the house feel larger. 

The first building work we did when we bought Fyning Copse 31 years ago was to turn the integral garage into a new kitchen. We installed French doors and then used most of our budget to make the terrace. This has really worked over the years, creating the ideal partnership between kitchen and garden. It starts with large glass doors that can be swung back as soon as weather allows, removing the barrier between inside and out.

What are the elements of a great terrace? A characterful tree (doesn’t have to be big), nice garden benches, an all-weather table, space for kids to play on trikes, maybe a raised-height pond with a fountain, a fire bowl and beanbags. Pots galore with seasonal blossoms, plentiful herbs, some large-scale leaves and architectural plants all make up the rich dimensions of the space. Add perching opportunities for catching the sun or shade at different times of day and especially to benefit from any view corridor that gives onto landscape views and the sky. Terrace floors should feel warm and tactile with bare feet. Bricks and terracotta tiles, pebbles and stone are materials that accumulate age in a way that is sympathetic to the passing of time and increase one’s sense of settling into a place.

RECYCLE, TRANSFORM, RENEW

Talking about the passing of time, I was recently sent photos of a JGS kitchen starting a whole new chapter of life. It had been advertised on the Used Kitchen Exchange and sold to Tess and Mike Shaw. We installed this kitchen 18 years ago ago at Dullatur near Glasgow and it has now been repurposed as part of the restoration of a decommissioned Methodist chapel near Manchester.

Tess and Mike set out to find kitchen furniture of a quality not readily available new. They wanted individual items to flexibly fit their lifestyle and integrate with the rest of a very characterful house. The ‘new’ kitchen does exactly that. Its focal point is a three-part island with a terrazzo wall. It was quite a challenge to position this comfortably in a medium sized kitchen space but I’m told cooking is not just efficient but also a pleasure, and the bar behind the blue mini wall a popular spot to hang out.

What I admire so much is that the Shaws did not just restore the fabric of the chapel, impressive as that is - every floor tile was sanded and stripped of 150 years of varnish. They also took on the logistics of transporting the cement terrazzo wall weighing over a ton. On top of this they tuned in to the philosophy of the original kitchen design, its uniqueness inspiring them to introduce other bespoke pieces of artwork that complement the kitchen furniture. The quality of each element gives the whole a style that transcends current fashions and colour trends, with an overall effect perhaps closest to the Arts and Crafts movement.

GO COOKING IN THE COTSWOLDS 

A kitchen I particularly enjoyed working on was one we built for the Plater family 20 years ago. They asked us to help design an extension to their farmhouse, creating a new kitchen with bedrooms above. We pulled out all the stops to plan a real cook’s kitchen packed with unusual features. The mood is set by bright glowing colours and patterns on the furniture, balanced with the subtle hues of English hardwoods: sycamore and ash. Lucy Turner, Becca’s sister, had recently studied at Chelsea School of Art and taken up a residency in Rajasthan. The frescos she produced as a result of this inspired the artwork on the giant court cupboard in particular. This is a combined cabinet and seat, with a long bench to perch on and a bevy of willow baskets beneath. To create optimal conditions for food storage in the kitchen we collaborated with a vending machine company owned by Coca-Cola! The resulting curved walk-in refrigerated pantry is painted in pillarbox red with a thin line of painted inlay. 

Grade II listed New Yatt Farm is set in eight acres. The expansive kitchen looks out over the garden and the gorgeous Oxfordshire landscape, turning cooking into a celebratory process. The farmhouse is now available for holiday-makers to rent. Why not take the chance to enjoy this special kitchen and indeed whole environment? To book a stay, convivial cookathon included, click here.

MY FAVOURITE RESTAURANT IN 2022

If you’re in the Oxford area for whatever reason, you absolutely must visit chef and baker Simon Spence’s unique establishment. Nestled just outside Oxford, Worton Kitchen Garden combines beautiful gardens, an idiosyncratic restaurant, a farm shop, a bakery and agriculture. Farming according to Regenerative No-Dig Principles, Simon and the team have built a traditional, mixed smallholding whilst increasing bio-diversity, soil carbon levels and, most importantly, growing delicious produce. The produce is key to the whole enterprise, providing 75% of the products sold in the shop and the majority of the food prepared and served in the restaurant. Based around the freshest seasonal produce with foraged and farmed fruit and vegetables supplemented by rare breed beef and lamb from from local Pasture for Life growers, the food reflects Simon's cosmopolitan palette. Until 10 years ago, he was the EMEA Chief Information Officer for a large US corporation. This role allowed him to travel extensively throughout Europe and the World and the unique menu at WKG reflects cooking styles from many of these countries - the unifying elements being a generosity and robustness of flavour found in few other places.  

This is our number one choice for extended family gatherings. The hours slip away at a table in the garden or inside the airy conservatory space, sharing one more round of quetsche plum frangipane or grapefruit and hazelnut cake with coffee and the last of a bottle of Künstler Kirchenstück Spätlese Riesling (2003). 

WILD RECIPE

Wild garlic is fresh and lovely right now but you have to be quick a it's soon over. . It’s a perfect combination of a green salad leaf with built-in garlic. No need to do all that peeling and squashing! I love making pesto with it for a last minute dinner or lunch, either after a walk through the Hangers (steep wooded hills) behind Petersfield or, these days, gathered from our newish woodland garden. The medium sized leaves are best though there is nothing wrong with the baby ones. You can eat the flowers too. 

It makes perfect seasonal dishes, fresh and intense. You can enjoy it in multiple ways, most obviously with good pasta but it’s also fantastic on top of puy – or, more glamorously, black beluga - lentils with roasted vegetables on the side. 

I pick approx 30 leaves of wild garlic and add 50 grams of walnuts from the pantry. Almonds, hazelnuts and cashews are also fine and you can use pine nuts as in traditional pesto but it seems a bit of waste as wild garlic overpowers their flavour. Then add 50 grams of Parmesan and an amount of extra virgin olive oil that can vary from an egg cup to a small teacup depending on the texture you like. Process lightly, either in a pestle and mortar or a blender but be careful not to make it too smooth. Add a pinch of seasalt, some lemon juice and zest to taste.