Weekend food with Darina Allen

THIS Christmas our present to all our extended family and many of our friends was ‘food from the farm’: a roll of homemade Jersey butter, a jam jar full of thick unctuous yoghurt with a nice layer of cream on top, a chunk of cheese, a bottle of elderflower cordial, a dozen or more freshly laid organic eggs, maybe a few sprouts, a big bunch of kale and some traditional home cured pork.

Not a whiff of Jo Malone (delish as it is) or Chanel in sight and the response was, unless I misjudged, unbridled delight.

Home-grown and homemade is so cool once again.