Easy recipes and a cosy space: Clodagh McKenna’s perfect summer garden party

Clodagh McKenna is living her best life in the English countryside with her fiancé, six chickens and stunning gardens. She tells Jennifer Stevens all about lockdown life on the grounds of the real Downton Abbey and shares her tips and recipes for perfect al fresco entertaining this summer

Clodagh's potato salad

There were more than a few times over the last year when Clodagh McKenna saved my frazzled brain and decided what was for dinner. Not personally, sadly I don’t have daily access to the cooking skills of one of Ireland’s favourite chefs and food writers, but through the magic of Instagram and her daily cooking videos. She began doing them at the start of the pandemic when she found herself with nothing but cancelled projects and a lot of free time.

“When the lockdown happened, I was in the same boat as everybody else and all my work got cancelled. I thought what am I going to do? I have to work out a way of making this work for me.