WORDS: HELEN GRAVES. REPORTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS:CHARLIE MCKAY, STEPHEN PEREZ
The UK’s hospitality sector has sprung back to life after a year of enforced closures, among them a handful of places run by visionary chefs whose self-sufficient, local and seasonal approach seems savvier than ever. These pioneering cooks turned their hands to tending the soil, keen to grow heritage vegetable varieties, forage unusual herbs and even rear their own livestock. Farming is a notoriously hard business, so whyall the extra effort? Restaurants with farms offer chefs the opportunity for complete control over the food chain and the chance to cook produce at its absolute peak. It’s an approach that’s less farm-to-table, more farm-andtable. Helen Graves meets the chefs who’ve fallen in love with the soil.
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THE SMALL HOLDING, KENT
Having slogged it out as a chef in London for 10 years, Will Devlin (left) longed to move back to his home county of Kent. His plans for a simpler life were scuppered however, as a pop-up restaurant business founded with brother Matt quickly morphed into a full restaurant. “Even then we wanted it to be small scale, just a few tables,” he explains. “Let’s just say it escalated!”
It’s just a few years since he made the move, and The Small Holding supplies not only its own restaurant but Will’s latest venture The Curlew, a former coaching inn eight miles away.
“Every chef says, “Oh I use the best suppliers,” says Will, “but the things we grow are ours alone. No one else can use them.” In summer, the soil bursts open with courgettes, spring onions, tomatoes and cabbages, plus sweetcorn, artichokes and fruit such as red, black and whitecurrants. They also keep bees, along with sheep, pigs and chickens.
A big bonus for Will is being able to use parts of veg that would otherwise be wasted, such as fennel tops and seeds, which he adds to bread and ice cream. The team’s hard work paid off when they were awarded a Michelin Green Star in the Michelin Guide 2021 – for sustainable, environmental gastronomy. This and the recent hardships have spurred Will on: “Lockdown gave me the opportunity to focus and to remember what The Small Holding is about, which is the deep connection between the farm and kitchen and a sense of place. We nearly lost it all and we need to remember what we’re fighting for.” thesmallholding.restaurant
BELOW With no previous experience of growing vegetables, Will had a steep learning curve. Raised beds provide ingredients for The Small Holding’s dishes such as ‘shallot, sea buckthorn, goat’s curd’