Cooking at the fabulous Hunters Oak Retreat near Burnley, for the winter conference of a London-based creative marketing agency. ‘Up North’ for a staff party and celebration, they hired me as a local private chef to cook dinner for 19, with vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and soya-free variations for some of their team. On the menu, all made from scratch: caramelised red onion and port beef wellington (made with fillet steak from local farms); rosemary, sage and fennel roasted butternut squash and apples; creamy potato gratin dauphinois; lime and coriander chicken strips on balsamic leaves; cashew cream and chestnut stuffed field mushrooms; freshly handmade sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream; apple and cinnamon crumbles (made with gluten free oat flour and vegan butter) with cashew ice cream. I’ve no photos of the food – far too busy once I got cracking – but the ‘setting up’ and ‘putting everything back’ photos show off the swanky kitchen space.