This week saw the launch of the latest venture in the ever-expanding food brand that is Daylesford Organic. Set among the interior design shops of Pimlico Road, the shop is white, bright and clad with reassuringly traditional glass pots of jam, butcher's tables and hunks of cheese. Guests crowded in it would seem that homemade biscuits and organic ketchup are the new Hollywood starlets. Among those quaffing and scoffing were Lord Lloyd-Webber, David and Serena Linley, Sir Terence Conran, the divine Richard E. Grant, Rosie Boycott and Nicky Haslam, an effervescent presence as always, on the stairs.
On the ground floor were the displays of fruit and veg, cheese and charcuterie. Champagne was liberally handed out, along with mini sausages (piped with mashed potato) and tiny pizzas. Upstairs are the kitchenware, books, candles and, crucially for me, chocolate and shortbread. Jo Wood, wife of Rolling Stone Ronnie, was there, too, thumbing through her own book, Naturally. How amusing that the zeitgeist of London is now the celebration of traditional farming and locally sourced foods. Rocket and bread rolls are the new, er, rock n' roll.
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If heaven is on earth, it might be in this home with a converted chapel that is now a swimming pool5 Wood Barton Town House is part of an exclusive 80-acre development in Devon that also comes with fishing rights on the River Avon and four bedrooms.
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An Italian-inspired recipe for lemon-butter pasta shells with spring greens, ricotta and pangrattatoSpring greens are just about to come into their own, so our Kitchen Garden columnist reveals exactly what to do with them.
