The Wild Strawberry Cafe – Peterley Manor Farm – Buckinghamshire

If, like me, at times the green fields beyond London call to you and a vacation from sweaty Oxford Street beckons, I know just the place. Head north of London; head out along the West Way past Harrow and into the green wilds. Admittedly, ‘wilds’ may be too dramatic a word to describe the polite and rolling hills of rural Buckinghamshire, but do allow me this one small extravagance. In a terribly English village called Great Missenden you’ll find Peterley Manor Farm. The Brill family have farmed this estate for 4 generations, producing fruit, vegetables and Christmas trees. The farm has a farm shop that manages to be both quaint and sizable. Excellent cheese, vegetables, meats and many other delights are sold there – it makes for a merry potter. However, the topic of my post is not this dear shop, its plant nursery, nor even its orderly rows of pick-your-own. For nestled on the farm estate is the real reason I’ll continue spurning the Big Smoke to face these Buckinghamshire wilds.

In a striking converted yurt erected amidst rows of pick-your-own berries and ringed by bales of hay, is the Wild Strawberry Café. This surprising enterprise, quite at odd with its surroundings, is run by eldest Brill daughter, Katy, recently returned to the family fold from a successful career as a private chef for the world’s rich and famous. Having cooked alongside this girl for many years, in my days of teaching cookery classes, I can vouch for both her talent and passion for truly stunning produce.