A Year at Otter Farm

‘Otter Farm is all about flavour. It starts and ends with the question: What do I really want to eat?’

The taste of a perfectly ripe mulberry was Mark Diacono’s inspiration for creating Otter Farm, a unique smallholding in Devon with every inch dedicated to extraordinary produce. Sprouting broccoli, asparagus, artichokes, borlotti beans and chard flourish in the vegetable patch; quince and Chilean guava grow in the edible forest; and pigs and chickens roam freely.

Here Mark shares his colourful, beautiful recipes, all brimming with flavour and with fresh vegetables, herbs and fruit – including a warm salad of Padron peppers, cherries and halloumi, a stew made from chicken, pork and borlotti beans, a curried squash and mussel soup, and cucumber ice cream, quince doughnuts and fennel toffee apples. He charts the seasonal challenges and excitements of rural living, and offers practical advice for cultivating the best of the familiar, unusual and forgotten varieties at home. With luminous photography that captures life in the kitchen and outdoors, this ground-breaking book reveals how even the most exotic and exciting tastes can have their roots in British soil.

“Encyclopaedic and accessible … Diacono paints a wonderful picture of a farm life” –  Guardian

“Brimming with off-the-beaten-track recipes and novel ideas … This is a tale of culinary adventure” –  Sunday Telegraph

“It’s thrilling to have Mark Diacono’s account of what it is like actually to live the dream … a useful country companion/cookbook” –  Carolyn Hart, Daily Telegraph

“Excellent … full of gardening advice and palate-teasing recipes, from cucumber ice cream to quince doughnuts” –  Delicious

“Splendid” –  Bee Wilson, Sunday Telegraph

“… back at home, I have Mark Diacono’s gooseberry salsa recipe in A Year at Otter Farm waiting for me: cooked in vinegar with sugar, then infused with shallots, mint, chives and lime; Diacono suggests serving it with smoked mackerel. I obey. And then I am torn between weeping at what I’ve been missing, and doing air-punches at the idea that from now on, gooseberries are on the menu. Big time” –  Emma Townshend, Independent

“Gorgeous” –  Women & Home Feel Good Food

“The recipes are short, simple in methodology and easy to follow. The photos … portray the kaleidoscopic reach of this agriculture venture beautifully” –  English Garden

“Perfect for the gardener seeking inventive ways of using their produce” –  Grow Your Own

“Beautiful photographs, and food I can’t wait to cook” –  Saga

“The one to pluck out from the rest” –  Best Books of 2014, Financial Times

“Beautiful” –  BBC Countrylife

“A visual treat” –  English Garden

“Delicious sounding dishes, beautifully photographed” –  BBC Countrylife