Horticulturalist Richard Vine has established a new Eden in the already idyllic grounds of Lucknam Park Hotel and Spa. Within six weeks the organic kitchen garden he planted in April started providing fresh vegetables, fruit, herbs and micro-salads
Horticulturalist Richard Vine has established a new Eden in the already idyllic grounds of Lucknam Park Hotel and Spa. Within six weeks the organic kitchen garden he planted in April started providing fresh vegetables, fruit, herbs and micro-salads for chef Hywel Jones’ Michelin-starred restaurant, The Park, at the old manor house’s main building.
Situated six miles outside of Bath and on 500 acres of land, Lucknam Park is a veritable retreat: a bastion of calm and classical refinement, and a culinary terminus in its own right. “This place has got a tangible warmth and joy to it,” says the aptly-named Mr Vine, as he shows us around the brick-walled garden which is only a short walk from the house. We talk about how kitchen gardens are a growing trend in growing, with increasingly more chefs committing to sustainability and dedicating themselves to using the freshest produce available. Vine, who is also a horticultural consultant at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, loves nothing more than to work with chefs who embrace his nigh-on obsession with seed-to-plate. “I’ve worked with top chefs for years, and Jones is something a bit special,” he says of Lucknam’s head chef of the last seven years. “He’s so genuinely passionate about food – he understands about freshness and flavours and the importance of growing your own produce.”
Amidst the flavoured tarragon, sea kale, leeks, lovage, lemon verbena, red cabbages, yellow chard, red gooseberries, blackcurrants, pea shoots, broad beans, radishes and potatoes – to name but a few of the garden’s delights – are the baby beetroots and carrots and other micro-vegetables that have made Vine such a desirable consultant to chefs across the industry. These tiny plants are sown close together, expertly-handled, and picked before their increasing size diminishes their taste – and the flavours are rambunctious, to say the least. Next to the garden is a greenhouse containing the smallest, most delicate and flavourful salad leaves imaginable. These are Vine’s micro-salads, the result of a natural growing system he has spent nearly twenty years perfecting, and his leaves and shoots have found their way into some of the UK’s top restaurants, including The Park. "This is freshness, depth of flavour, texture,” he says of the mini greens. "This is beauty on a plate."
The Park’s dining room is comfortably formal and sumptuously-decorated, with an ambience that encourages you to take the time to savour the menu’s gastronomic delights and the excellent wine list. The slow-cooked Burford Brown egg with butternut squash, violet artichokes and truffled leeks is inspired, and the braised fillet of turbot, buttered iceberg lettuce and Cornish crab with hand rolled macaroni, baby artichoke and truffle butter sauce is as decadent as it sounds. The best end of Welsh lamb, crushed peas, sweetbread and potato fritter with girolles mushrooms is a perfectly-balanced French salute to the British countryside, while the fine banana tart and mousse, salted caramel ice cream and popcorn foam is a sweetly complex (and almost utterly mad) finish.
With much of the produce from the first planting season still to come, the garden has only started to influence Lucknam’s kitchen. Looking forward to the future, Vine is hoping to offer tours to Lucknam’s guests. “People want to know where their food comes from,” he says. “Garden tours will allow them to connect with the food.”
Text by Ananda Pellerin
Ananda and Neil visited Lucknam Park from Tuesday 12 – Wednesday 13 July. Ananda Pellerin is a London-based writer and Neil Wissink is a visual artist also based in London. More from The Hunger, and contact The Hunger here.
