Malcolm Riley, a self taught chef, recipe creator and entrepreneur behind 'The African Chef' brand, was born and raised in Zambia. He moved to the UK 15 years ago carrying with him a real passion for food, coming from his Mother's great love of cooking.
So, after all the planning processes and architect's meetings, it looks like the creation of the Otter Farm Kitchen Garden School will begin this summer. It's hard to imagine diggers, cranes, be-hatted builders and daily deliveries will soon be busying over this space, but hopefully they will.
One of the great advantages of gardening in Britain is the opportunity to grow an enormous range of plants. For this we owe a great debt to the plant hunters, who have furbished our gardens with treasures gathered, often under considerable duress, from around the world.
Have you taken a leaf out of West Dean's book and your garden is tickety-boo? Plants firmly pruned, spare pots washed and stacked? Paths swept and seeds sown in a timely manner?
Back in December I was absolutely convinced that my wintersweet (Chimonanthus), a shrub renowned for both its headily-scented winter flowers, and taking its own sweet time to getting around to flowering, was finally about to do the business this year.