MY COUNTRYSIDE TOM KERRIDGE
The chef and presenter on the joys of country pubs, great local food and being a dog owner
MY COUNTRYSIDE Chef Tom Kerridge
Roast beef sums up brilliant British cooking
Having grown up in Gloucestershire, I’m a big fan of the West Country – it’s definitely one of my favourite places.
I have childhood memories of visits to the beach in Weston-supermare in Somerset, but now I like to travel further south to Devon and Cornwall, where you get a great mixture of fantastic coastline and so much wonderful countryside.
I grew up on an estate, the type of place that could be anywhere in the country.
But where I live now, outside the village of Marlow in Buckinghamshire, is very different. Marlow itself is a fantastically vibrant, community-led town. It’s great that it’s quite close to London, too, so I can travel there for meetings and then be back in the country in just over an hour. When a pub came up for sale here, I knew instantly it was the one for us – it just ticked all the right boxes.
I like being able to retreat to the middle of nowhere.
Where we live now, I wake up in the morning to fantastic views across the fields. After I’ve finished a late shift at The Hand and Flowers, I love driving home down the country lanes – you get to see so much wildlife. When you’ve spent time living in a city, you forget there’s so much out there. Deer, badgers and foxes come to life at night. There’s also an owl that lives in the woods near us – sometimes it will fly over the car as I’m driving.
We’re really fortunate to have so many great pubs in the UK.
The Beehive, just down the road in White Waltham, is a fantastic country inn with a village green at the front. I’m also a huge fan of The Sportsman in Seasalter – it’s right on the beach and Stephen Harris, the chef there, cooks the most amazing local fish.
Pubs are often at the centre of a community – places where people can go and socialise.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a rough-and-ready one where you pop in for a pint or a two-michelin-star pub like ours – it’s about the hospitality and I think that’s something we get spot on in Britain.
One of the bestsellers at The Hand and Flowers is our roast beef on a Sunday.
Done well, you cannot go wrong with that – great ingredients, a pudding from Yorkshire, seasonal vegetables and delicious gravy. It sums up brilliant British cooking – it’s robust and hearty and all about local produce.
July is a great time of year for summer berries.
We’re not seen as a nation of fruit lovers, even though we’re actually great at growing berries. British strawberries are just phenomenal, and I love gooseberries, too – they’re often overlooked but they’re a truly amazing ingredient.
Being healthy means different things to different people.
When I was trying to lose weight, the meal I most enjoyed eating was an omelette – you can pack it full of flavour with fresh herbs, meat and vegetables. And a little bit of cheese if you fancy.
I’m a big supporter of British farming.
Our produce is the foundation of the hospitality and catering industry. At the moment, no one knows the impact Brexit is going to have on everyone – from fruit pickers to dairy farmers. Anything that supports British farming is something I feel strongly about.
When it comes to city versus country, it’s a bit selfish but I like to have my cake and eat it.
Getting out in the countryside with my two dogs, Inky and Sponge, is one of my favourite things to do. I look at them running through puddles and think, ‘What a life.’