Watch: Our Winter Chefs’ Residency with Pippy Eats at Glen Dye.

FILMED BY LUKE RIPLEY

To prove winter's wonder, we invited a number of exceptional, city-based chefs to join us at Glen Dye for a few weeks of great food and drink.

We challenged them to cook over fire, forage for seasonal ingredients and find new perspectives on their food as they cooked in new surroundings at the heart of the beautiful 15,000 acre private estate.

We hosted supper clubs and food demos in The Byre and Garden Camp.

There was be hiking, campfires, wild swimming, dog walking, stargazing, laughter, friendship and endless fresh air.

Our guests learnt in the company of true experts.

Introducing: Pippa Middlehurst

Photo: Christina Holmes

Pippa is known by most as her Instagram handle - Pippy Eats - where she showcases her favourite recipes, most of which contain noodles.

Pippa's interest in Chinese cookery began when she was a young child and her grandfather would take her for dim sum. Over the years, it blossomed into a passion. She has been learning about East and South-East Asian cookery for over 15 years. She attended Lanzhou Noodle School in 2019 whilst travelling in China.

Pippa graduated with a degree in Microbiology and molecular biology before starting her career as a cancer research scientist with Cancer Research UK in Manchester. She has now combined her love for science with her passion for cookery and hosts supper clubs and cookery workshops, with a focus on noodles and broths, paying particular attention to the molecular biology at play in our cooking.

In 2018, Pippa won Britains Best Home Cook, hosted by Mary Berry and Claudia Winkleman.

Her new multifunctional event space, Noodlehaus, will open Autumn 2020 and will be a creative hub for workshops, supper clubs and events.

During the Coronavirus lockdown in 2020 Pippa began jarring her homemade chilli oils for friends and family. Demand quickly grew and they now sell out in under 2 minutes.

Pippa's first cookbook Dumplings & Noodles was published August 2020 by Quadrille.

Her recipes have been featured in Olive magazine, BBC Good Food, Nigella Lawsons Cookbook Corner, Metro, Sheer Luxe and more.

About: Pippa’s Biang Biang noodles

Introducing: Glen Dye

Glen Dye is a private estate of around 15,000 acres and our cabins and cottages sit slap bang at its centre, surrounded by wilderness forest and moorland on the banks of the River Dye.

The location is fabled; watched over by the massive granite tor of Clachnaben and at the northern end of the Cairn o Mount mountain pass. This is where the Howe of the Mearns finally gives in to the Highland boundary fault; wild, beautiful and very, very quiet.

We have a handful of perfect holiday cottages, many with outdoor, wood-fired hot tubs and one with its own private cabin. We have also converted the old estate sawmill into a private outdoors paradise; here you’ll find a 1955 Airstream with a giant bed, a fully restored foresters’ kitchen and sitting room, a spectacular outdoor shower and a wood-fired hot tub.

These cabins and cottages combine jaw dropping wild locations with perfect comfort and style.

Later that day: Pippa’s Supper Club

And then came Storm Arwen…

Photo by Department Two

Eight days with Arwen and some reflections on how to treat small businesses when things go wrong.

📆 FRIDAY 25TH NOVEMBER, 8AM
📍 HAWARDEN, NORTH WALES

“It was my idea to promote the joys of being outdoors at Hawarden and Glen Dye in winter.

So I put on a brave face when the night’s wind scatters our twenty something market stalls across the park outside our Farm Shop. Many are twisted beyond repair, their covers smeared in the molasses of clayey mud.

A few hours later, soaking wet and mud smudged, the Team have cleared the mess and the Winter Market and launch of the Winter Art Garden is postponed until next Saturday.

The Market and Winter Art Garden are part of our project to get people outdoors when they don’t feel like it; winter is good, it’s as good as summer. Or so our argument goes.

We have commissioned twelve outdoor installations on the themes of light, change, optimism and love to get people into the fresh air when Netflix and a sofa seem more inviting.

That seems to be that but, as it transpires, this is just the beginning…”

Read Charlie’s diary from that week by clicking the button below.