Thursday 11 October 2012

In Hockney's footsteps

Maxine with artist Robert Fuller at
Hockney's Three Trees at Thixendale
DAVID HOCKNEY apparently painted his view from Garrowby Hill from memory - but as my car chugs up the steep incline behind a struggling lorry, I reckon the Yorkshire artist freeze-framed what he could see in his rear-view mirror.

It's at the point where York thrusts itself up into the Wolds that we enter Hockney territory.

I half expect to see a plaque: "Yorkshire welcomes you to Hockney Country", but there are no brown signs to indicate that here, in this forgotten corner of God's favourite land, is where a master has been at work.

The Bradford-born artist was first famous in the 1960s for his paintings of Californian swimming pools. But his fame has peaked once more, now in his 75th year, with an acclaimed exhibition at the Royal Academy featuring scores of art works featuring the Yorkshire Wolds. The show then travelled to Spain and Germany.


Hockney's Three Trees at Thixendale
Hockney began painting in East Yorkshire at the behest of his great friend Jonathan Silver, owner of Salts Mill, near Bradford. Silver was dying of cancer and wanted Hockney to paint the Yorkshire landscape.

Many of the scenes that were to grace the 12 rooms of the Royal Academy earlier this year were discovered as Hockney drove daily from his home in Bridlington to West Yorkshire, often via Sledmere, to see Silver.

He would weave off the main routes, criss-crossing the tree-lined country lanes in the middle, stopping by the roadside and sketching what he saw. Hockney would be out in all weathers; in all seasons. Some of the most dramatic pieces capture one location at four points in the year. His Three Trees at Thixendale series is painted on four giant canvases, depicting winter, spring, summer and autumn in glorious succession.

And glorious is the right word; for whatever the weather or time of year, Hockney paints the Wolds as if through a Polaroid lens with the colour saturation switched up to the max. Vibrant violets, Aegean blues, chilli reds, dusky pinks and sharp lime greens are applied to ploughed fields and bare trees; hedges heavy with hawthorn and piles of chopped timber. It's Yorkshire, but not as many of us know it.

And yet it is to this undiscovered part of the county that the art tourists have come, determined to see Hockney's playground for themselves.

But how easy is it to follow in Hockney's footsteps?

Tourist chiefs have brought out the obligatory mini guides, telling people where to eat, where to stay, and where, roughly, Hockney liked to paint. Keen to encourage visitors to explore the area, they stop short at giving the exact locations of the artist's paintings.

This is why we find ourselves driving up Garrowby Hill and over to Thixendale in search of his "three trees". As we turn off the A166 Bridlington road for Thixendale, the view across the patchwork fields is straight out of a Hockney painting.

I see three trees standing in stark silhouette on the horizon and I begin to wonder: could that be them? Moments later a pile of just-cut logs lie artfully by the side of the road. Photographer Anthony and I almost clap our hands in glee. Hockney would have been just as thrilled.

Few people know the local area like Robert Fuller, the wildlife artist with a studio and gallery in Thixendale. Hockney has even painted Fuller's house in one of his Wolds' landscapes; "Though not the attached gallery, " says Robert, smarting slightly.

Many visitors have come through the gallery doors this year with one question on their lips. "Where are the trees?"

Robert and his wife Victoria sympathise. "There are five roads into Thixendale; you can't just drive through and find the three trees, " says Robert.

He kindly offers to take us to the exact spot. We head off on the road out of Thixendale to Burndale, although Robert points out the trees are easier to spot coming in the opposite direction. "I always tell people if you get to Burdale, it's one field behind you."

And suddenly there they are. Three trees.

Or is it four or five? Deceptively they are not in a clump on their own; neither do they stand out dramatically like the ones I saw from the Garrowby Hill turn off. Dare I say it; they look, well, just like a group of trees. But Robert gets there first. "There's nothing unusual about this place, " he says, almost with a shrug.

We follow him back, climbing the narrow road high above Thixendale, where he takes us to some other road-side pit-stops where Hockney set up his easel. "It was always by the road side so he didn't have to walk very far, " says Robert.

Like Hockney, Robert knows this landscape, and he understands and shares the painter's fascination.

He says: "When you go to the Dales, it is obviously beautiful. When you come to the Wolds, you have to search out the hidden beauty."

This is the message being peddled by the local tourist industry. Jane Evison is a councillor on the East Riding of Yorkshire Council with responsibilities for economic development and tourism. She says the area is making the most of the Hockney opportunity.

Although there are no hard facts and figures yet, anecdotally, the reports are of an increased interest in the Wolds and the expectation of a good season.

A bumper-sized tourism brochure, Yorkshire Wolds & Beyond, has been published for summer, featuring a rough guide to the Hockney Trail as well as scores of other interesting things to do in the area including walking and cycling trails and local attractions such as Sledmere House, Burton Agnes Hall, The Wa lled Garden at Scampston and the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs.

The clear message, says Coun Evison, is that there is more to the Wolds than Hockney.

"We believe Hockney is a wonderful attraction and we are delighted, but once people get here, they need something else.

We want them to see more of the area and we want them to come back, " she says.

Moreover, they want to press the point that the Wolds are a destination all year round; that there is more to a vacation in the area than a summer break at Brid.
"We want to expand our tourism calendar to far more months in the year, " says Coun Evison.

And who better to help with that than Hockney, who through his Yorkshire paintings captured the Wolds in all their wonder through every week of the year. From the hedgerows buckling under the heavy hawthorn blossom in mid-summer through to the bleak silhouette of bare trees on a valley ridge in winter, Hockney captured Yorkshire's hidden corner like never before.

And put the Wolds rightly on the map.



TRAVEL: France for all the family

Odette Siko, the first woman to complete
 Le Mans 24hour race
STORIES of derring-do led on to rows of gleaming racing cars in this temple to testosterone. We had come to the Musée Des 24 Heures-Circuit at Le Mans to find out more about the characters and cars who had faced the ultimate motor-racing challenge.
Famous competitors included Hollywood actor Paul Newman who came second in the 47th race in 1979. It was life imitating art: just a few years earlier, film star Steve McQueen played a racing driver in the movie, Le Mans.
However, as I toured the museum, I found a story equally worthy of Hollywood treatment. Back in 1930, Odette Siko made history as the first woman to compete and finish the race when she brought her Bugatti T 40 home in seventh place. The original Bugatti is now on show in a far corner of the museum. After immersing ourselves in the high-octane world of motorcars for the morning, it felt rather flat climbing into our boring family hire-car for the short drive into Le Mans city centre.
But we had a tour of the historic city booked - and within half an hour we were transported back to the time of the Plantagenets. As we followed our guide around the imposing gothic cathedral which dominates the centre of Le Mans, we learned how it was within these walls that Geoffrey V of Anjou married Matilda, heir to the kingdom of England. Their son was Henry II, the first of 15 Plantagenet monarchs who ruled England until the line died out in 1499.
At its heart, Le Mans has an impressively preserved medieval centre, with a warren of streets to explore as well as one of the finest examples in the world of original Roman walls.
We were on holiday in the Sarthe region of France with our ten-yearold daughter, which meant we had to make room for child-friendly activities every day.

Historic Le Mans
That wasn't difficult given our base at Luché-Pringé, a sleepy village about 40 minutes' drive south of Le Mans. We stayed at the wellappointed Camping La Chabotiere, in the centre of the village, with a pleasing aspect on to the river Le Loir. Our chalet was luxurious by traditional camping standards; it came with a kitchen, shower room, inside loo and dishwasher, with a washing machine in an adjacent hut. The site had a swimming pool and tennis court as well as plenty of table tennis stations.
There was a green field on which to play football and a sand pit for boules. Our daughter found it easy to make friends despite the language barrier - she soon discovered you didn't really have to converse too much when there was a football to kick around.
She particlarly enjoyed a visit to Papéa Park at Le Mans, a sprawling amusement and water park with rollercoasters and a leisure pool, where getting wet was the name of the game.
The zoo at La Fleche is a regional attraction and rightly so. It boasts rarities such as white lions and black panthers. It is open until 7pm; we arrived in the cool of the early evening and were rewarded by seeing the animals in energetic form, particularly memorable were the chimps play fighting.
Our days quickly took a new shape; a tourist visit in the morning and afternoon sandwiched either side of a long and leisurely lunch. At Malicorne, an arty village known for its local pottery, we savoured local dishes at the traditional restaurant La Petite Auberge.
Sitting outside on a riverside terrace, we took our time to work through the lunch menu which consisted of a scallop terrine, followed by guinea fowl and floating islands for dessert. Later we toured the impressive Espace Faience, the pottery museum, and bought some one-off pieces in its shop, making the most of the much improved exchange rate between the pound and the Euro.
We finished off the day trip by taking a motor boat out on the river.
Gardeners should not miss a visit to the Petit-Bordeaux Garden, an oasis of the exquisite, tucked away in a secluded spot at Saint-Biez-enBelin. The 1.5 hectare garden boasts some 3,800 varieties of flowers, shrubs, trees and grasses, looked after by a husband and wife team. There are ample seating areas around the garden, inviting you to linger over the loveliness.
More joy, this time of a culinary nature, came with lunch at the award-winning Le Poesies Palatines at the neighbouring town, SaintOuen-en-Belin. The set menu, for about £15 a head, was a steal. The setting was stunning; in a rural farmhouse, the dining room set with white linens and giant mirrors. Another husband and wife team were at work here, but this time it was madame who was in the kitchen.
The farmhouse paté was served in a robust, rustic style, artfully accompanied by home-made bread, mini gherkins, and a red onion chutney. Next came a choice of grilled salmon with a rich creamy sauce or roast duck. We finished with a dish of perfect crème brulée and a deeply satisfying chocolate mousse.
The next day, driving home after a ferry crossing from Caen to Portsmouth, we stopped at Little Chef for lunch.
Stabbing at my rock-hard jacket potato, there was no surer sign that the holiday was over.

FACT FILEFor a range of ideas for holidaying in the Sarthe area visit:
tourisme-en-sarthe.com

Brittany Ferries (britannyferries. com or 0871 244 1400) has return channel crossings from Portsmouth from £89pp for a car and two passengers




Thursday 17 May 2012

Hospice is a haven for families

Alfie Oliver with his pet dinosaur Dave at
Martin House children's hospice, near York
Martin House children's hospice provides a lifeline to families in our region. Ahead of its annual fundraising week, I paid a visit with a young family from York




LITTLE Alfie Oliver is sitting next to his toy dinosaur Dave watching a DVD of Shaun the Sheep.

Dave wears a bib and, every now and then, Alfie feeds Dave a biscuit.

We're in Alfie's colourful bedroom at Martin House, the Children's hospice at Boston Spa, about 15 miles from York.

Three-year-old Alfie, from Clifton, is well-known at Martin House as is Dave.

“Whenever Alfie comes to Martin House, Dave comes too,” says Alfie's mum, Tracey. “Alfie thinks it's hilarious that Dave gets all this attention from staff. Dave sits at the dining table when everyone is having lunch and tea and they always bring him a portion of food.”

After watching the DVD, Alfie joins hospice worker Helen Scouller in the colourful art room where they play with some Peppa Pig Fuzzy Felt.

Alfie is a big fan of Peppa Pig. He had a front-row seat when the show came to York earlier this month and this week he is going to Peppa Pig World near Southampton for a three-day holiday with mum Tracey and dad Rob.

The trip has been organised by Yorkshire charity Make A Dream, and the family have been looking forward to it for weeks.

But the family also look forward to coming to Martin House. For them, they say, coming here is like having a holiday.

The hospice is for children with life-limiting conditions and illnesses and covers North, East and West Yorkshire. Eight in ten families using Martin House come for respite, or rest, rather than end-of-life care.

This means the hospice feels more like a “home from home” than a hospital for many patients and families albeit with round-the-clock support from a team of expert medics and loving carers.

Colourful murals cover the walls; the library is stacked with DVDs and books and the play room has everything from computer stations and a table football to a wooden train set and mini grocers.

In here, we watch Alfie and Tracey play at shopkeepers, the three-year-old manning the till while Tracey puts mini packets of cereals and tins of sweetcorn into a bright pink plastic trolley.

“He loves coming here,” says Tracey, at the end of the latest four-day visit. “And so do we.”

Alfie was born with a heart defect and suffers from pulmonary hypertension which affects his lungs and heart. He needs round-the-clock care and is fed through a special tube in his tummy. A second tube, a “Hickman line”, supplies vital drugs to keep him alive. He requires nourishment through the feeding tube every hour and regular oxygen. His condition causes a host of side effects, especially reflux, or heartburn, which prevents him from sleeping well. There is no cure for the condition, only treatments to alleviate symptoms and prolong life.

Most of the time, Tracey and Rob care for Alfie at home, taking it in turns to sit with him through the night; dozing when he does; giving him his regular medicines and feeds; reading him stories when he is distressed; massaging him when he is in discomfort.

Rob also holds down a part-time job and the toll of endless sleepless nights is punishing.

Tracey says: “As a carer, especially over a long period of time, it does affect your physical and mental health. We get headaches and migraines that make us feel dizzy. You can feel quite depressed at times.

“We come to Martin House to have respite; to get some sleep. It makes you feel human again.”

It costs almost £5 million a year to run Martin House and a whopping 88 per cent of that has to come from good causes and charitable giving.

Next week, fundraising comes to the fore as Children's Hospice Week takes place. The challenge this year is for people to dress up as a superhero and make as much money as possible for this good cause.

Martin House is celebrating its 25th birthday this year. It can cater for up to 15 children and their families at a time, including six teenagers in a purpose-built annexe.

Alison Wragg, of the hospice, said: “We are celebrating 25 years which it is a huge accolade to the people of Yorkshire who have supported us over this time.

“Children's hospice week is a great opportunity to remind people of the important way we can support families in need.”

Tracey can't stress enough how vital Martin House is to her family. Although Alfie is under the care of doctors at Great Ormond Street in London, the consultant at Martin House, Mike Miller, now looks after the day-to-day management of his symptoms.

It's a huge relief, says Tracey, having a doctor who knows Alfie and sees him regularly at the other end of the phone and just 30-minutes' drive away.

Alfie's health has deteriorated since Christmas, meaning the family is using Martin House more regularly.

“At first, we came about four times a year but now it's every six weeks,” explains Tracey.

While Alfie is in safe hands, Tracey and Rob can enjoy some of the things other couples take for granted.

“Rob's a runner, so when we come here, he goes for a run. I might go to Tadcaster for a swim or meet a friend for coffee. Last time, we went out for dinner one night.”

During this stay, Rob and Tracey achieved a first a night away without Alfie. Tracey won The Press's SuperMum award, entitling her and Rob to a luxury spa break at Middlethorpe Hall in York.

“It was fantastic,” says Tracey, still beaming at the memory. “We really enjoyed it.”

The couple say they have been on a rollercoaster ride with Alfie since he was born. Doctors have feared the worst many times, yet Alfie has defied them every time, says Tracey. When he first had his Hickman line fitted two years ago, doctors gave him just a few months to live. Alfie's fourth birthday is in July and he is due to start school in September; he already attends nursery at Hob Moor Oaks in Acomb two mornings a week.

“The future is a complete unknown,” says Tracey. “Alfie has far outlived his initial prognosis as well as the second, third, fourth and fifth. We never thought he'd see his second or third birthday and now it is coming up to his fourth.

“We deliberately don't look too far ahead. We live in the moment as carers for Alfie and, whatever the current demands are, we respond to.

“We appreciate what we have got. It's a blessing and we don't see it as a negative thing. We are honoured to see him grow up into an intelligent little boy. We never thought we would see it.”

Tracey says she is particularly pleased that Alfie has managed to go to nursery.

“I've loved to see him go to nursery dressed in his school uniform, he looks so smart.”

She adds: “We make the most of it and take him everywhere despite his illness. He has done loads in his short life. In one sense, he has a very limited life physically, in another sense he has a very full life.

“He's a very special, strong, and brave little boy.”


For more information about the hospice and how you can help with fundraising, visit martinhouse.org.uk





Thursday 3 May 2012

Sam's hot stuff!

Sam Stern serves up a slice
of  Victoria sponge
Sam Stern is about to publish his sixth cookbook and he is still only 21. I catch up with him at his York home over a pot of tea and some scrumptious home-made cake


SAM STERN’S manners are impeccable. As my car pulls up outside his family home in York, he is at the door, ready to welcome me.

I’ve barely got my coat off before he’s offering me “tea, coffee, cake, an apple scone?”

I’m easy tempted, especially when I see the cake he has just made: two thick tiers of golden sponge bursting at the middle with whipped cream and a home-made lemon curd with passionfruit.

The recipe comes from Sam’s new cook book, Virgin To Veteran: How to Get Cooking With Confidence, about to be realised by Quadrille, priced £20.

The title is apt; Sam published his first cook book at 14, then a further four while still a teenager.

The latest, though, is a seriously grown-up affair. It’s thick in the way coffee-table books are, and besides scores of tempting recipes there are pages of advice on how to master everything from jointing a chicken and cleaning mussels to getting perfect pork crackling and making pastry.

The aim is to give people the confidence to get in the kitchen and rustle up tasty meals. Recipes also have a series of variations. “This allows people to mess around with the original recipe,” says Sam.

Sam has had some fun trying out new flavour combinations. The sponge he made that morning is a good example. He had a hunch the passionfruit would work well with the lemon curd – tried it and found it did.

“I’ve made some mistakes but you learn from mistakes by learning how to fix it,” says Sam, who cooked his first roast dinner when he was nine years old.

As the youngest of five siblings, he grew up in a large family, where food was at the centre. He learned the ropes at the apron strings of mum Susan, whom Sam describes as a “good home cook who makes rough and ready, rustic, tasty dinners – just what you want when you come home”.

Homecomings loom large in Sam’s life of late. Besides his culinary career, Sam is taking a politics degree at Edinburgh University. He has one more academic year to complete before he graduates, then he wants to concentrate on cooking full-time.

This summer, he will be back in York, working on the next book. The following year, once he has graduated, he will write that cookbook and then focus on promoting the Sam Stern brand.

He admits he’d like to make it big. At 21, you have to admit it looks like he’s got the world on his plate.


Sam’s new book, Virgin To Veteran, How to Get Cooking with Confidence, will be published by Quadrille, priced £20, on May 10.

Friday 27 April 2012

FASHION: The Macs Factor

 
Blue belted trench coat, £59,
from very.co.uk



 The weather is wet, wet, wet, so why not cheer yourself up with a trendy rain mac?



APRIL is a wash-out –  we shouldn’t be surprised, after all April and showers go together like ham and eggs.

But it was all so different 12 months ago. Do you remember when York was basking in the 20s as April brought a heatwave rather than rain?

But every rain cloud has its silver lining – and in this case, it comes in the shape of a ultra-chic rain coat.

Whether you opt for a sophisticated trench, a sassy mac or an on-trend
parka-style, you will be making a fashion splash as you dodge the puddles.

 You can opt for a classic look, picking a belted coat in neutral tones such as stone, or make more of a style statement with a coloured mac, maybe with some piping on the edge.

There’s even a lace-print mac out there, for anyone determined not to let the rain ruin their fashion parade.


Ruched detail trench, £119,
Mint Velvet
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



Piped mac, £65, M&Co



Try for size...


Blue belted trench coat, £59, from very.co.uk

Piped mac, £65, M&Co

Lace print mac, £45, Marisota

Ruched detail trench, £119, Mint Velvet

South striped belted mac, £75, Littlewoods.com

Grey nylon coat, £29.50, Dorothy Perkins





























From America With Love

Inside Bison Coffee, York
Check out the York café and vintage shop where even the table and chairs are for sale



SIT down for a strong flat white at the Bison coffee house in York – and be prepared to hang on to your seat.

For this is a café with a difference. Everything inside the compact two-room space at the foot of Heslington Road has a price tag – from the simple wooden ex-school chairs to the aluminium coffee pots and even the café workstation.

Owner Gavin Burke, 28, is a classics graduate from Newcastle University, who settled in York a few years back.

His vintage style of choice is ‘Americana’, which he defines as “American vintage, anything from the 1920s to the 1950s”. Or anything, he adds, before the ‘Space Age’.

There’s a heavy lean toward the functional and kitchen items in the shop: Gavin clearly likes things with a purpose.


Bison Coffee owner Gavin Burke
 “We sell lots of glass jars, crates, racks and vintage pigeon holes – we sell a lot of them for shop fittings.”

Items for the home don’t come more desirable, he reckons, than a 1940s French coffee pot made in Bakelite and stainless steel.

Step inside the back-room café and there are shelves of coffee pots on display, again all for sale.

But there are also teak tables, chests, mirrors, angle-poise lamps and even a set of deer antlers on the wall, all with a price tag. Friends needn’t fight over a choice piece either as Gavin says he can easily order more. “We’ve got a full deer’s head on order!”

Fancy the beat-up leather chair lingering in the café corner – it’s yours for between £150 and £200.

Why Americana? “I like the battered style of it,” says Gavin. “I like wood and metal and I like the rough and readiness and the functionality of it. These are useful objects with a faded utilitarian grandeur. It’s lovely.”

Vintage is in his blood. “I never had anything new. I grew up in a house that looked like this,” says Gavin, surveying his premises.

His mum, Sharon Bradley, is a vintage dealer based in Dorset. A few years ago, she moved to France to run a hotel. Gavin, originally from Middlesbrough, followed her, working in bars and ended up as a DJ, eventually landing his own show on Radio Nova in Bordeaux, where he had to speak French.

It was quite an achievement because he when he arrived in France he could barely speak the language.

“I spoke French with a Yorkshire twang!”

After two years in France, he moved back to the UK, settling in York and keen to open a café on the bustling route to the university.

“It took me a year and a half to find this place. There’s not really a coffee house in this area and there is a high density of students and dedicated local people.”

Customers can pick from a selection of drinks and snacks. Nine types of coffee are chalked up on the café blackboard, from espresso and French press to mochas and cortados.

On our visit, the intriguing sounding “Hasbean, Jailbreak Blend” was the brew of the day, which Gavin explained was “sweet and balanced, but quite bold”.

He said customers could request their preferred type of coffee via the Bison website. “We are quite malleable as far as customers are concerned,” says Gavin.

There is also a selection of breakfast snacks, toasties, and treats such as brownies on sale as well as soft drinks and teas.

Gavin sees Bison as more than a coffee house and vintage shop. “I want it to be a community space. People can book it for events in the evening. We have free WiFi and people come in here to work.”

It also operates as an exhibition space, showcasing work from local artists.

Friday 6 April 2012

FITNESS: And baby came too!

Mums and babes together at the
 novel Yumi Mummy fitness class in York
TINY Samuel Stephenson is just four months old – but already he’s attending a fitness class.

For while four-month-old Samuel writhes around on the padded floor of the gym, mum Fay is breaking into a sweat in a vigorous Legs, Bums and Tums workout for new mums.

The class is one of several offered by Yumi Mummy Fitness, a new venture which allows new mothers to lose weight and get fit while still looking after baby.

As the women warm up with some gentle lunges, babies watch from the sidelines, strapped safely into their portable car seats. Some are playing happily with each other – or with soft toys – on the giant padded floor of the Chokdee Academy at Nether Poppleton, which doubles up as a Thai Boxing studio in the evening.

There’s a play pen to place tots in, but toddlers are allowed to roam around – and even join in on some of the moves.

The novel idea is the brainchild of Jo Cadden, a qualified fitness instructor and personal trainer, whose husband Richard runs the Chokdee Academy.

When she had their first child, Oscar, 14 months ago, Jo realised how hard it was for new mums to take exercise.

Gym memberships can be prohibitively expensive, particularly when you have to factor in extra charges for childcare or use of a crèche.

“I realised there must be lots of mums who want to get out and exercise but are struggling with child care,” says Jo.

So the solution was to invite them to bring baby along too!

Classes can be noisy and chaotic at times, admits Jo, but mums understand.

“Some weeks they can all be making a noise but the mums are able to get up and down – and even breastfeed if they need to. I just carry on teaching!”

Yumi Mummy offers four classes every week – Bokwa (like Zumba) at 10am on Tuesdays and fitness yoga at 11am on Tuesdays; Legs, Bums and Tums on Thursdays at 10am, followed by Pilates at 11.

Prices range from £5-£6.50 for the hour class.

Fitness trainer and mum-of-three Sarah Vincent teaches the Tuesday classes. She said it was important for women to start exercising as soon as safely possible after giving birth.

“As soon as you get the all-clear from the GP, which is usually after your six-week check, you should get out and do some exercise,” advises Sarah.

“It takes three days to form a habit and three days to break one, so if you get into the habit of sitting on the sofa with baby, telling yourself you’ll lose the weight next year, then go on and have another baby, you will be putting fat on top of fat.

“There is no magical quick fix to losing weight; just have to work hard.

“You don’t have to be at it forever – just until you get it off.”

Fay Stephenson also has three children – the latest, Samuel, was born four months ago. For the past six weeks, Fay, has been coming to Jo’s class and has lost a stone in weight.

Fay, originally from Scotland, but now settled in York, said: “The appeal of coming here is that I can bring the wee fella with me. I don’t have to put him in an expensive crèche on top of the price of a class.”

First-time mum Sherrie Wood had some personal training sessions with Jo before the birth of her daughter Matilda two months ago. Now she is coming to the classes to try to shed the three stones she put on while pregnant.

Sherrie said she felt really motivated to get back into shape. She added: “I’m really looking forward to getting my fitness back.”

Yumi Mummy Fitness runs at Rose Avenue, York Business Park, Poppleton, York, YO26 6RR. Telephone: 07949 761292/ email info@yumimummy.co.uk or visit the website yumimummy.co.uk

Friday 30 March 2012

FASHION: Back to the jazz age

White dress and coat from Carla Ruiz (£325)
from Fenwick, York
Fashion’s in a flap as the Roaring Twenties take centre stage this spring. MAXINE GORDON throws the spotlight on the trend, while FRANK DWYER takes the pictures…

ARE you ready to become a flapper girl? Fashion continues its love affair with the past and this season it is the turn of the 1920s.
Dropped waists, beaded dresses and layers of pearls are swinging this way for spring and summer.

Taking its cue from movies such as the Oscar-winning The Artist and the upcoming remake of The Great Gatsby, the Twenties are the style decade du jour. Top designers are at the helm of this revival; their collections for spring/summer were brimming with feather trims, crystal beads and sparkling sequins.


Dress from All Saints (£295) at Fenwick's
For Ralph Lauren, the flapper dress reigned supreme; over at Gucci, it was all about the dropped waist. Feathers were the trim of choice for Michael Kors and Oscar De La Renta. Marc Jacobs worked the straight silhouette (think Twiggy in The Boyfriend) and Matthew Williamson went for all-out Gatsby glamour with a classic combination of gold, beading and feathers.


But you don’t have to cough up couture prices to copy the look. We teamed up with Fenwick’s department store in York to stage our own Twenties-inspired photoshoot.

The look is all about shape. Waistlines should be dropped, of course, but look for other features such as tunics with banded hemlines, or light knits with kimono sleeves. Opt for sheer shifts or straight-line dresses covered with beads and sequins. We found a perfect example at All Saints, now available at Fenwick.


Kimono top, Mint Velvet (£59),
at Fenwick

Accessories make the look – and add a splash of glamour. Have fun with feathers and headpieces. Take a beaded hair band and wear it around your forehead rather than in Alice fashion for instant Twenties feel.


Shoes should make you want to hit the dance floor. Pick strappy sandals in gold or some daintier court shoes with straps – perfect for a spot of tap dancing. We found the perfect selection at Kurt Geiger in Fenwick.

Handbags are catching the mood too. Clutches covered in pearls and boxy bags with crystals would complete any outfit.

We staged our shoot at York’s fabulous Grand Opera House, which is paying its own homage to the Twenties in April with a return run of the hit musical Chicago.


Starring Ali Bastian as Roxie Hart and Bernie Nolan as Matron ‘Mama’ Morton, the award-winning musical – based on real life events in the 1920s when nightclub singer Roxie Hart shot her lover and tried to escape death row – will be taking over the Opera House from Monday April 16 to Saturday April 21. For tickets, call 0844 871 3024 or visit www.atgtickets.com/york


Photoshoot thanks to:
Model: Beth Argile
Hair and make-up: Beckie Stirk (www.beckiestirk.co.uk)
Stylists: Pauline Robinson, at Fenwick, York, and Hannah Clugston
All clothes and accessories from Fenwick, Coppergate, York
Venue: Grand Opera House, York




TV chef Peter's pasta tips

MAXINE GORDON reports on the Pocklington lad who failed his cookery GCSE but went on to become a TV chef


TV chef Peter Sidwell
PETER SIDWELL has his hands full. Not only is he putting the finishing touches to a new cook book, he is opening a new restaurant and has become a father for the second time.

“I’m living on espresso at the moment,” laughs the 35-year-old from Pocklington and star of Channel 4’s cookery series Lakes On A Plate.

Yes, you read that correctly. It’s Lakes not Yorks on a plate, because Peter lives in Cumbria, running a successful foodie empire that includes a restaurant/café; a bakery and cookery school.

He lives in Cockermouth with wife, Emma, a primary teacher also from Pocklington, and their children, Poppy, four and two-month-old Thomas.

Peter’s heart still belongs to York. He loves York Market and when he meets up with his mates they return to their old haunts, Fibbers and the Stone Roses bar.

“I always come to the food festival and have a look around,” he adds.

Peter attended Woldgate school. He is dyslexic and struggled academically, even failing his cookery GCSE. He left at 16 and got a job in a pub.

“I was chopping carrots, buttering bread and making prawn cocktails up in wine glasses,” recalls Peter.

But he soon got the bug and was taken on at the Ambassador Hotel on the Mount. It’s long since given way to swanky flats, but Peter has fond memories of his time there and later at the York Pavilion Hotel.

His next move was to HSBC bank, doing corporate catering, often at its capital base at Canary Wharf. However, the regular commute from York to London became too much.

“I was spending too much time on the East Coast main line and wearing a suit rather than a chef’s jacket,” recalls Peter.

So he and wife Emma took the gamble of their lives; they sold their house in Pocklington, packed a van and drove to the Lakes, where they took the lease on an old clothes shop and using all their savings revamped it into a café and deli.

“We wanted to create the sort of place we would like to spend time in,” explained Peter. They decked it out with leather sofas and the like. “But we never got to sit on them because we were so busy!”

Peter has now sold that business and focussing his energies on his latest outlet, Peter Sidwell @Rheghed, his café at the Rheghed outdoor centre at Penrith.

He is also working on a new TV series, finishing a fourth book about family meals and promoting his latest publication, Simply Good Pasta.

Divided into seasonal sections and based around Peter’s down-to-earth tastes, the emphasis is on taste and speed, as well as using good ingredients, many of them British.

This makes for some unusual combinations, such as Brussels sprouts with cream, garlic and pine nuts, but Peter makes no apologies for breaking down culinary barriers.

“Pasta is so familiar to us. If we are in a rush, we can just hit a bag of pasta and some sauce. I wanted to fuse that with British seasonal ingredients. Italian food is all about simplicity; how maybe two, three, or four ingredients at the most can make a perfect, quick, dish.”

Among the home-grown ingredients he suggests trying with pasta include purple sprouting broccoli, asparagus and even parsnip, with a dash of chilli.

“If you get the opportunity, walk through York Market and just buy what you need each day, the way the Italians do,” advises Peter.

Pasta dinners can be cheap too; especially if you avoid meat and follow some of Peter’s cooking tips.

“Slow cook some onions with garlic then add some Parmesan, and some pasta. It is as cheap as chips; you could feed a family of four for £2 or less.”

Spoken like a true Yorkshireman.

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Trainspotting in luxury

HERE is the perfect hotel for trainspotters – the St Pancras Renaissance in London

The St Pancras Renaissance
TRAIN announcements as your head hits a pristine Egyptian Cotton pillowcase may not bode well for a great night’s sleep.

But happily, the announcement was to say that St Pancras station was about to close for the night.

Our suite, in the newly refurbished St Pancras Renaissance hotel has the sort of view trainspotters would sell their grannies for – straight on to the tracks.

Looking out from our 20-feet window we could also see Paul Day’s gigantic bronze, The Meeting Place, depicting a couple embracing, which has become an icon at the station.

Size matters at St Pancras. The scale and proportions of the station and hotel are hard to take in close-up. It’s only from a distance, as you exit King’s Cross and turn right that you can appreciate its full gargantuan, Gothic glory.

The soaring red-brick façade with its turreted clock tower looks as if it has escaped from the pages of a Grimm’s fairy tale.

The Gulliver scale continues inside. The corridors to our suite were as wide as a street; the windows in our room as high as a bungalow.

The hotel is a perfect stop for London or Europe-bound Yorkshire folk. Take the train to King’s Cross, disembark, and cross the road to St Pancras, home to the Eurostar terminal, as well as an upmarket selection of shops, cafés and even a Carluccio’s restaurant. And, of course, the St Pancras Renaissance.

Opened in 1873 as the Midland Grand Hotel and designed by George Gilbert Scott, this hotel was an architectural sensation. Of it, Gilbert Scott said: “It is often spoken of to me as the finest building in London. My belief is that it is possibly too good for its purpose.”

Sadly, some 60 years later, the hotel was closed. There were calls to knock it down, until a campaign succeeded in having the building listed. It was used as railway offices for the next 50 years.

However, some £200 million has been spent returning the hotel to its former glory, including restoring the ornate interiors. After 13 years hard slog, the hotel re-opened last May and is already winning accolades: it was recently voted the best hotel in the UK by The Sunday Times Magazine.


The gothic staircase in the heart of the hotel
 Its grand focal point is a magnificent Gothic staircase that coils up through the centre of the building giving you reason not to take the lift.

The former booking office has been turned into a café-restaurant, simply named The Booking Office. We enjoyed a tasty dinner here, the beetroot salad with blue cheese and walnut offering a fresh and earthy starter with a perfectly cooked (medium-rare) rib eye steak with thrice-cooked chips (super crispy) to follow. Lemon tart with meringue and berry compote finished things off on a satisfyingly sweet note. A quaffable bottle of Chianti and a coffee and hot chocolate rounded things off nicely – the meal for two, with drinks and tips, cost around £100, which we though was good value.

The hotel is also home to the The Gilbert Scott, a brasserie run by top chef Marcus Wareing’s team and named in honour of the building’s original architect.

Our suite was in the Chambers section of the hotel, which gave us access to a sprawling and relaxing lounge, opened from 6.30am to midnight, and the place to unwind with the newspapers or a magazine, catch the news on TV, and enjoy complimentary drinks and snacks. A buffet style breakfast is served here, and light afternoon tea is on from 3pm-5.30pm while pre-dinner canapés and drinks are on offer from 5.30pm-7.30pm.

Our trip to London was a whirlwind one; we took in two art shows (David Hockney at the RA and Japanese artist Yoyoi Kusama at the Tate Modern), as well as a trip to Spitalfields Market, fashion shopping in Oxford Street and Regent Street and to the home stores of Tottenham Court Road. So it was bliss to recharge our batteries in the hotel spa. Deep in the vaults of the hotel, the spa interior continues the Victorian theme, with ornate tiles on the wall and cavernous, pillared, spaces.

Luxury suite at the St Pancras


We loved the little touches too; gorgeous Ren toiletries in the spa and hotel bathrooms and a butler service, which we called upon once when we realised we had forgotten our toothpaste!

Oh, how the other half live.





Fact file

St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel
www.stpancrasrenaissance.com
0207 841 3400


Chambers Suites are from £330 plus VAT which includes access to the Chamber’s Club offering 24-hour refreshments and breakfast. In addition you also get a £30 voucher redeemable in the spa, a wetshave or haircut in Melogy, the men’s grooming salon in the hotel and also VIP transfers to Eurostar and the WIFI is complimentary too.
































Putting on The Ritz

One of my toughest assignments(!)...
lunch at The Ritz with Simon Girling, from York,
voted 'Best restaurant manager in the world'
by Michael Winner
I track down Simon Girling, former York luggage porter, now working at The Ritz and voted the 'Best restaurant manager in the world'...


SIMON GIRLING has a folder the size of a pillow detailing his meteoric career.

This means the man described by Michael Winner as the "Best restaurant manager in the world” can easily lay his hands on the letter of appointment to his first job in the hotel trade back in 1986.

It was for a post as luggage porter at the Forte Hotel in Tadcaster Road, York.

“The wage was £80 a week,” recalls Simon, laughing at the memory. That’s around £4,000 a year – about the price of the most expensive bottle of wine at Simon’s current place of work, The Ritz in London’s Piccadilly.

We’ve come to the capital to find out how a former Yorkshire choirboy and son of a York vicar scaled the glittering heights of the hospitality industry.

It was a VIP day out; we travelled first class with East Coast, restraining ourselves at the complimentary breakfast mindful of our luxury lunch invitation from Simon.

And luxury is the right word for The Ritz. Opulent, lavish, magnificent and all the other synonyms fit perfectly too.

The interior is palatial, so it is no surprise that the Royals are regulars – the Queen had her 80th birthday party here and the restaurant was a favourite of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. It was at The Ritz that Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowes decided to make their first appearance in public together.

On arrival, Simon greets us in the Palm Court, where some 420 people take afternoon tea daily – spread over five sittings.

Then it is into the restaurant, where the jaw-dropping begins. You wonder where to look first – at the enormous 20-plus-foot windows that flood light into the grand room, made lustrous by gilded ornamentation and a ring of ornate chandeliers. Then there is the mirrored wall, again reflecting the light, and making the restaurant appear twice its size.

Sitting down for lunch with Press photographer Frank Dwyer, we look around to see if we can spot any famous faces. We have been told to keep our cameras away as guests do not wish to be inadvertently photographed.

There are no celebs to be spotted. Instead, the real stars are the food – plate after plate of perfection sent up from the kitchen by chef John Williams – and the exceptional staff. Service, as you imagine, is faultless, and the waiters and sommeliers offer their knowledge and insight as each course arrives.

We work our way through a light apple jelly amuse-bouche and a crisp and fresh crab and apple “cannelloni” starter before turning to the more robust dishes of turbot with mushroom and chicken jus, followed by Barbary duck with quince, swede and a walnut and Madeira reduction.

Simon Girling expertly flambés
Crepe Suzette in the dining room
at The Ritz, London
For dessert, a portable stove is wheeled out and Simon flambés some Crepe Suzettes to be served with ice-cream.

Armchair cookery fans may have seen Simon before. The 43-year-old took part in Michel Roux’s Service on BBC2, training participants in how to prepare Crepe Suzette.

As one of the leading hotel managers in the UK, Simon was an obvious choice for the TV series which aimed to instil the values of good service into young Brits.

Encouraging more home-grown talent into the industry is one of Simon’s passions. “In France or Italy, what we do is seen as a respectable profession. But this isn’t so in England, that’s why we have so many people from overseas working in London.”

And yet, Simon is the exception. His career spans 26 years, during which he has worked in some of the UK’s leading hotel restaurants and with top chefs including Phil Vickery and Gary Rhodes. He has amassed many admirers and accolades en route.

And yet Simon’s feet remain firmly on the ground, in solid Yorkshire style. Of Michael Winners’ proclamation, he says: “I am very proud of it… but how can someone have eaten in every restaurant in the world? I’m sure a lot of French maitre’d’s would have something to say about it!”

Winner is just one of the scores of celebrity guests and clients Simon has served. The Ritz has six private dining rooms and, as we arrive, Simon has to dash off to meet and greet a VIP. Quizzed later, he refuses to divulge the identity.

“The reason people come here is that we are very discreet,” he says.

Simon has recently been promoted and is now an executive in charge of food and beverage at the hotel. It’s a world away from his first job lugging luggage at the Forte in York.

And yet it was almost by chance that Simon happened upon his career.

He left his home in York aged nine to board at Ripon Cathedral Choir School – and didn’t return until he was 18.

Instead of taking A Levels he joined the RAF as a trade musician, playing the flute, saxophone and piano. But Simon’s real passion was for sport. He wanted to change to PT instruction, but the RAF wouldn’t allow it. So he left and returned home to his parents in York.

His dad, Andrew, was the reverend at the St Edward the Confessor Church on Tadcaster Road.

“I left home aged nine then went back at 18,” recalls Simon. “That’s really awkward when you have been you own man since the age of nine.”

“By sheer coincidence, the only reason I fell into this business was that there was a hotel next to dad’s church. I went round, knocked on the door, said I lived next door and needed a job. They said they had a job as a luggage porter. I took it and thought it was something I would do for three or four months. But I loved it. It wasn’t so much carrying bags but the whole hotel environment that I loved. I knew this is what I wanted to do.”

Simon hopes his story can encourage other young people. “You don’t have to go into a job or a career at a high level. Just get a job and work your way up,” he advises.

It takes stamina and attention to detail to succeed in the hotel industry, two qualities that Simon has in abundance.

His days are long, often stretching to 12 to 14 hours. It begins with the school run before taking the train from his family home in Surrey into central London. At The Ritz, his day is split in half: in the morning and afternoon there are meetings as well as overseeing the staff and lunch service, for which Simon and his team wear morning dress. After 5pm, he changes from tails into a DJ, ready for dinner.

He has Sundays and Mondays off. Sunday is a family day, usually spent ferrying his children, Oscar, eight, and Zara, five, to various sports activities. On Monday, he goes swimming or does a spot of gardening. He admits the schedule is gruelling and says it’s just as well his wife, Jenny, also works in hotels and understands the demands of industry.

“There is a price to pay,” says Simon. “I work long, hard hours, but I enjoy it so I don’t mind.”

During our visit, Simon displays his forensic attention to detail. Outside, he notices some of the light bulbs on the iconic ‘Ritz’ sign are out and is straight on to his mobile, calling housekeeping.

“I’m very particular,” he says. “I’m very fussy with the way things are. And I am very organised. I believe these are the strengths that relate well in this business. If you look around this building, you will see that everything is immaculately placed.”

Ultimately, says Simon, The Ritz’s appeal lies in its fabulous interiors and faultless food and service.

He says: “There is just no place like it. We fly the flag for British cuisine in an opulent hotel.”

Fact file
Lunch at The Ritz starts at £45 for the three-course menu of the day. The five-course tasting menu prepared by chef John Williams costs £99 or £160 when matched with wine for each course. Afternoon tea in the Palm Court costs £42.

Find out more at theritzlondon.com


We travelled by East Coast trains to London. Standard advance returns booked online via eastcoast.co.uk start from £21. For times and fares you can also call 08457 225225 or visit staffed stations and agents.

COMMENT: Why we need to read to our kids

EARLY LEARNING...  An old picture of me reading to my
daughter  Eva at York Library back in 2004 when she was about two!
A WAR of words has broken out between the chief inspector of schools and teachers over literacy standards in primary education.
Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of Ofsted, claims England is being overtaken by other leading nations because progress on literacy has stalled.
Sir Michael said one in five children was not reaching the standard expected (level 4) at the end of primary school, arguing that this puts them on the back foot moving up into secondary school and then into the jobs market.
Teaching unions take issue with Sir Michael's claims, discrediting the data used. Undeterred, Sir Michael is laying down the gauntlet, with a ten-point plan to improve literacy levels in primaries. This includes phonics checks on five and six year olds to make sure they are picking up the building blocks for reading and giving parents information about their child's reading age as well as how they are doing against national targets.
These moves should be welcomed. Anything that improves children's ability to read and write has to be applauded  especially methods proven to work, such as the phonics which focuses on the sounds of letters and groups of letters.
Giving parents more information about their child's reading age should help too. This way, parents can make sure the books they buy for their children, or the ones they choose at the library, are age-appropriate. There is nothing more guaranteed to turn a child away from books than a text that is too difficult. Teachers advise applying the five-finger rule: ask your child to read a page of a new book and count on your fingers how many words they struggle with. If it is more than five, the book is too advanced for them. Put it back until they are more confident and skilled readers.
Of course, this all presumes that parents are actively involved in their child's literacy development  and this is not always the case.
Research by the National Literacy Trust found that a third of parents did not recognise that they were the most important influence on their child's language and literacy development.
It also discovered that learning at home had the biggest influence on the achievement of a child and was a more accurate predictor of future success than the family's income.
On the back of this, the trust has launched a Words For Life campaign, urging parents and carers to commit more time to helping children develop their literary skills.
A quick browse of its website (http://www.wordsforlife.org.uk/) provides plenty of ideas and tips on how to get involved with your child's reading and writing.
It provides a helpful “milestones” section which you can use as a checklist to measure your child's development. There's also a section on “fun things to do together”, again broken down into age categories. Here, you can download stories to listen to, learn how to create a family history book together and even write your own comic adventure, using an exciting template of ready-drawn images.
There are some tips for reading bed-time stories from top children's author Michael Rosen as well as lists of recommended reads, split into age groups, including stories for football-mad kids and fact-based works for children not so keen on fiction. There are even some “free books” to download with related fun worksheets attached.
The aim, clearly, is to make reading enjoyable. The key to turning the reluctant reader is not just to help the child learn the fundamentals of the process, but for them to discover the pleasure in it to.
World Book Day takes place every March and this month pupils have been dressing up as their favourite characters and spending free £1 tokens on books of their choice.
That's all well and good, but we have to make sure that the association between having a good time and reading a book is not just a one-day-a-year affair.



Thursday 15 March 2012

RECIPE: Slow cooked pork ribs

Slow cooked pork ribs
I LOVE pork ribs, but never made them, fearful they would be a faff.
But I have just bought a slow cooker and with a slow cooker, nothing is a faff.
With this recipe, adapted from Heather Whinney’s The Slow Cook Book, I could have put the ribs in the slow cooker, poured over the marinade and turned up eight hours later, dinner done.
But I couldn’t resist letting the ribs soak overnight in the lovely treacly-looking marinade. I’ve no idea how this affects the ribs, but the end result was sensational. The meat was dark on the outside, amazingly tender and flavoursome underneath.
I have given the method too for cooking these ribs in the oven. Serve with rice and some stir-fried veg to make a meal of it.

Chinese sticky ribs

(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:
Two racks of pork ribs, about 20 ribs (about 1.5kg – ask your butcher to chop them up for you)
salt and pepper to season

For the marinade:
2 tbsp oil
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp clear honey
6 tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 tsp five-spice powder
Juice of two limes
Pinch of dried chilli powder or flakes

Method:
In the slow cooker:
You can either:
1.Season the ribs, put them in the slow cooker, pour over the marinade, and cook on the “high” setting for four hours or “low” setting for eight hours
OR
2. Season ribs, pour over marinade then leave overnight in fridge. Then cook in slow cooker as above.

Oven method:
1. Season ribs and put in a large heavy-based pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, partially cover with the lid, and cook for 1–1½ hours until the meat starts to come away from the bone. Remove the ribs from the pan with tongs and set aside in a baking tin until they are cool enough to handle.
2. Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3. In a bowl, mix together all the marinade ingredients. Put ribs in a large flameproof casserole. Pour over the marinade and turn the ribs to coat. Cover with the lid and put in the oven for about one hour, keeping an eye on them to check they don’t dry out completely – they may need turning in the marinade.

To serve:
Eat on their own, or for a more substantial supper, serve with egg-fried rice, sprinkled with spring onions. If you are really hungry, make some stir-fried veggies using some of the left over marinade as a sauce.

Breadmaking at Pattacakes

Here's something I made earlier...
BREADMAKING has been on my to-do list for far too long.

Full of good intentions, I even bought some bread flour – only for it to sit in the cupboard next to the abandoned packets of dried yeast.

So what’s stopped me? Well, if truth be told, it all seemed a bit tricky.

Despite my colleague and fellow Too Many Cooks columnist Julian Cole sharing his bread recipes within these pages every month and insisting that anyone can do it, I was never truly convinced.

Also, it looks so messy, and physically tiring (all that kneading) – and it seems such a lot of effort when you can pop to the shops and buy a loaf for about £1.50.

So I was more than ready to be converted when I drove over to Welburn one Sunday morning to enrol on a breadmaking course at Pattacakes, the charming Ryedale bakery and patisserie and café-shop, just a stone’s throw from Castle Howard.

Owner and chief baker Anita Tasker runs a series of courses from the Pattacakes kitchen.

There were four of us on the breadmaking course, and after a caffeine boosting cappuccino in the café, we set to work.

We started making a rye bread. Soon our hands were covered in a cream-coloured stodge as the flour, water and yeast turned into a sticky gloop.

Undeterred, Anita kept on working her dough, until it became smooth and pliable. She pulled a chunk off and teased it apart, holding it up to the light, displaying translucent patches. “When this happens, you know it’s ready,” she said.

If our hands were getting too sticky, Anita advised us to wash them in cold water (“not hot, that will just bake the dough on to your skin!”) or dip them in flour and rub them clean.

The second method worked best for me and soon my dough started to behave. We left it to rise in a wicker basket while we got on making a batch of white bread.

This was less sticky and within minutes, we had all worked it into submission. The kneading was energetic, but satisfyingly hypnotic too.

We each used a kilo of flour, so had lots of dough to work with. Some of us made baguettes, others tin loaves and also some baps, which we topped with an array of seeds.

Fellow novice baker Dave Ferguson, on the course with his mum Sue and girlfriend Gemma Wilson, wanted to make hedgehogs. “I remember making these at primary school,” he said.

Within minutes, we’d assembled a whole tray of doughy hogs. We used scissors to snip into the top to create the spikes and added raisons for eyes and nose.

We also made a bread plait; taking three long snakes of dough and weaving them in and out until the desired shape was made. After applying a layer of eggwash, for glossy colour, we sprinkled them with the seeds.

After a break for lunch – home-made soup by the team at Pattacakes and some of our own baguettes – it was back into the kitchen and on to the final straight, olive bread.

This was my favourite to make; I found it the easiest to knead, and it was the tastiest. That was no doubt on account of the delicious produce we stuffed inside.

The trick is to roll the dough into a large rectangle, smother it in the topping of choice, fold up like an envelope, give it a twist as if wringing out a dishcloth and then leave to rise. We stuffed our loaves with a tangy red onion marmalade relish from Yorkshire’s Braken Hill Preserves and lots of grated cheddar as well as a mix of olives and sun dried tomatoes.

After five hours of breadmaking, it was time for a final cuppa and a catch-up. Here, with clean hands, we quizzed Anita on the methods we used and crib her top tips.

Then we each filled a box with the spoils of the day. I drove home with a boot full of bread – enough to have something different for every day of the week.

What’s more, I left with the confidence to finally open that bag of bread flour in the larder.


The breadmaking course costs £50. For more dates and to find out about other courses, ring Pattacakes on 01653 618352.


Anita is also involved in a new venture, Cake Together, where people bake and bring their results to Pattacakes, where Anita will host a supper and where everyone can try each other’s bakes. The aim is to raise funds for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The next event will be on April 17. To book a place or find out more, telephone 01653 618352.