CELEBRATING THE FLAVOURS OF SUMMER
THE NOTSWOLDS x FERN SUPPER CLUB
JUNE EVENTS_
THE SUMMER SUPPER CLUB
At the end of June, we joined forces with Fern in Uppingham for the first Notswolds Supper Club. Long tables, flowing drinks and a menu made for sharing, bringing together a roomful of people for a long summer evening.
We took over Claire Langley’s extraordinary rooms, filling them with work from makers across the Notswolds for a 10 day celebration of craft.
The evening began with aperitifs and a chance to wander. Drinks in hand, discovering the rooms, the objects meeting new friends and old, before everyone found their place at the table.
For our summer supper, English asparagus became a delicate tart, while crab was piled onto crisp rice crackers with lemon aioli. Peaches appeared alongside caramelised fennel and stracciatella; seabass ceviche came bright with grapefruit, orange, jalapeño and caper berries; and seared sirloin was served with Café de Paris green sauce alongside Laude lamb meatballs. Even the rainbow carrots arrived under a crumble.
Everything came as small plates, passed around long tables and eaten as it landed. A menu rooted firmly in the British summer, but with its collar loosened: fresh, abundant, deeply flavourful and very good fun.
It was one of the hottest evenings of the summer. Low lighting, glasses continually refilled and fans blazing in the makeshift kitchen as plate after plate made its way out to the tables. Ali’s generosity with the food meant that by pudding, many of us could manage little more than a bite — though peach panna cotta trifle, tiramisu and brown butter miso blondies made a convincing case for finding room. A long, full, slightly unruly summer supper, exactly as we’d hoped.
THE SUPPER CLUB CONTINUES
The Summer Supper was the first in a series of Notswolds gatherings around good food, interesting places and the people who make this region what it is.
On 17 September, we’re doing it all again — this time within the galleries of Gladwell & Patterson in Stamford.
FIND FERN IN UPPINGHAM
You don’t have to wait for the next Supper Club. Fern can be found in the heart of Uppingham, with Ali’s seasonal small plates and produce from the family garden on the menu throughout the year.
RELATED READING
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THE NOTSWOLDS SUMMER MAKERS MARKET
A ten-day celebration of craft rooted in local making, the Notswolds Summer Makers Market brings together the leading independent artisans, craftspeople and makers from across the region. Full programme and ticketed events launched 19 April to newsletter subscribers.
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SIX MAKERS ON GOOD CRAFTSMANSHIP
Good craftmanship isn't a style. It's a way of working. It shows up in decisions most people never see. The choice of material. The time taken. The restraint to leave something as it is, rather than overwork it.
We ask six makers whose work we respect what good craftmanship means to them. Not as a definition but something lived out in practice.
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IN CONVERSATION Rose Raw-Rees
“It is rare that any two days are the same, as every piece varies so significantly. There is a constant changing of scenery in the studio and I love that. I love a transformation story.”
Rose discusses the changing pace of her studio, the appeal of transformation, and the instinct that underpins both her work and the homes her pieces go on to inhabit.