It felt entirely fitting that Cowdray should choose Fortnum & Mason – that venerable home of British seasonal abundance – to launch its first ever cookbook. There are worse ways to spend an evening than being handed a glass of Gusbourne’s finest before being plied with a menu including a jewel-bright Nutbourne tomato, green olive and maize kernel salad that seemed to bottle the last of summer’s sun, and a venison cottage pie so rich and velvety it may well ruin all other cottage pies forever.
But then, Cowdray has never done things by halves.
The West Sussex estate, famed as much for its Tudor ruins and polo fields as for its venison and honey, has marked the 15th anniversary of its Farm Shop and restaurant with Seasons: A Taste of Cowdray. It is, as you might expect, not just a book of recipes but a kind of edible almanac, a hymn to the turning year. Spring brings herb-crusted lamb racks, summer the Nutbourne tomatoes (elevated here to near-religious status), autumn a venison wellington that ought to come with a fanfare, and winter a filo-topped apple pie as crisp and golden as a frosty morning.
Yet the charm of Seasons lies not simply in its dishes but in its sense of place. Threaded between the recipes are interviews with the forager, the deer manager, the sheep farmer – the people whose lives shape the 16,000-acre estate. There are tips on keeping a pantry as ordered as a Downton larder, ideas for the perfect polo-side picnic, and even wine pairings from Gusbourne, because what’s a cottage pie without one of England’s finest pinot noirs to hand?
Viscount Cowdray describes the project as a reminder that food “tastes best when it is grown slowly, harvested gently and shared generously.” A gentle manifesto, perhaps, for the kind of seasonal living that most of us daydream about while scrolling through delivery apps.
As the evening at Fortnum’s drew to a close, with the promise of Seasons tucked under the arm, it was hard not to feel that Cowdray had achieved something quietly triumphant. They’ve captured the spirit of the estate – its food, its people, its rhythm – and served it up for our kitchens. And if that venison cottage pie is anything to go by, we’ll all be cooking in step with the Cowdray calendar before long.
‘Seasons: A Taste of Cowdray’ retails at £35 and is available to purchase at Fortnum & Mason, in stores and online, as well as online at Cowdray.co.uk and at Cowdray Farm Shop and Lifestyle.
