Naively, many people think it’s as easy as throwing a dinner party every night for just a few more people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Firstly, there are a lot of practicalities to consider such as whether your business model is actually practicable in the locale you’re looking at. Known for his tough love approach to advice, Gordon Ramsey has shared some invaluable tips here. If you’re still keen, you need to think about financing your project, finding a suitable property, the legal fees and regulations and how you’ll satisfy them. No small matter is the market research to ensure your idea has a chance of success. There are more tips and questions you need to ask yourself on this site.

If you’ve done your homework and are confident that you really can make a success of the venture, you can start thinking of the details. There are three key areas to consider, the style, the kitchen and the menu.

STYLE

This is arguably as important as the food. What feeling do you want the restaurant to have? There are no rules to follow but there are parameters worth sticking to. There are Michelin starred restaurants set in relaxed cafe surroundings but there are few sushi bars in Mexican tavernas. The furniture is a good place to start: Andy Thornton has some great furniture solutions for a start-up restaurant but think about every detail. The logo and design for the business is crucial. It’s a good idea to look local for a good designer; the chances are you’ll need their services more than once. In Yorkshire, Lambshop Creative do some great work!

KITCHEN

If you want to make great food, you need a great kitchen. Think about the space you have and how to make it the most ergonomically sound. The last thing you want is for you to get all the equipment fitted then realise that the potato rumbler is at the opposite end of the kitchen from the fryer. Even worse, you haven’t put in enough hand sinks or fridges: check out the food standards agency site for more information about how to adhere to food and hygiene regulations. Marshall catering are a fully registered company specialising in the sale and installation of catering equipment to suit every need and can advise you about how to stick to these rules.

MENU

Assumedly, the overall arch and flavour of the food is what got the project started but the minutiae dictates whether the restaurant will flourish or fold. Keeping the menu clear and unfussy is probably the most important thing – you do not want your guests to consider choosing their meal a labour in itself. Instead, create a coherent roster of dishes that will infuse in the mind of the diner whilst offering enough choice to invite repeat visits. Again, consider how you want the menu to be presented. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage serves award-winning local and seasonal food and lists the menu on huge black boards rather than leather-bound table menus. A burrito bar might be best served by quirky cardboard menus. Again, think image and target clientele.

As you’re building up the kitchen and hiring staff, remember you need to be inspected by the food standard agency a minimum of twenty eight days prior to opening. Get these details right and with any luck, the great food will sell itself. Good luck!

Thirty years after my husband and I descended upon London in a furore about our blossoming careers in design and publishing, we started to think that it was time for a fresh challenge, perhaps undertaken at a slower pace. Some clichés are clichés for a reason: the countryside is beautiful and as you age, you want to take the time to enjoy it.

If you’re thinking of relocating, it’s best not to rush in. Read this article in The Telegraph and if you’re chuckling at every other line, perhaps the time is not yet right for you to make your move.

FIND NEW LOVES OR REKINDLE OLD FLAMES

If you decide to go for it, there are some important things to consider. Do you still need to work or earn an income? What are the local opportunities for this? What do you expect to achieve? A lot of people dream of travelling or relocating to Australia or some other sun-kissed land but is this really what you want? A Relocation agency will help you if this is the route you decide to take. For us, we wanted to stay close to our family in the UK. I remembered my childhood dreams and decided that if I wanted to live them, it was now or never. I was always an equestrian kind of girl and I wanted to share that love with other people.  It was the New Forest for me.

TEST THE WATERS

Rather than throwing caution to the wind, we decided to explore the area first. We found a beautiful hotel in Leamington where we based ourselves for a few weeks while we explored the region. If you still have young children, the good school guide will help you choose a new school. Walk around, try to find your new favourite cafe, boutique, bookshop, whatever it may be that you know you couldn’t live without.

DIVING IN

When we were sure of our decision, or as sure as we would ever be, it was time to check out the local property market. We found marvellous property agents in the New Forest who specialised in equestrian properties. They even offer rental properties so we could have tried that if we weren’t yet ready for the plunge. But plunge we did!

SETTLING IN

In a whirlwind few months we had our new dream home and I was well on my way to the equestrian dream of my youth. It was a real challenge but not without the attendant excitement I craved. Those who say country life is dull simply don’t know that thrills are where you make them. Being my own boss is so much more satisfying and when I look at out of my window in the morning, I don’t regret a thing.

WORDS OF WISDOM

My final advice to anyone thinking of changing their life is to be realistic and remember that while only fools rush in, only dead fish go with the flow. If you’re life has stopped making you smile, it might be time to switch skyscrapers for sunsets! We did and we’ve never looked back!

Flowers and Plants
You’ll want to get planting your bulbs asap so they’ll be ready to sprout come the summer. Gardens in particular styles may benefit from plants that complement that style, alternatively an array of multi-coloured plants can really bring a liveliness to your flowerbed. Pop down to Sefton to visit Klondyke Garden Centre and pick yourself up some geraniums and paeonias to give your garden that jolt of colour, or take a look at their site at www.klondyke.co.uk/lady-green-garden-centre-ince-blundell-merseyside to get them delivered straight to your door. If you know you want colour, but you’re not sure what exactly, then check out www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3346777/Top-100-plants-Summer.html from The Telegraph for a hundred beautiful ideas to brighten your garden.

Fencing and Structures
Battered by winter winds and ravaged by the rain and snow, it’s quite probable that your fence may need a new lick of paint, or perhaps even replacing entirely. In such circumstances you have the freedom to redesign in a way that better befits the summery nature of your revitalised garden. For some kooky ideas, have a look at www.housetohome.co.uk/articles/how-to-give-your-garden-fence-a-new-look-diy_530530.html and liven up your old fence with a lick of bright paint. If it’s beyond repair then don’t despair, simply head to Formby Timber at www.formbytimber.co.uk, who will be more than happy to help you out with a selection of different fencing panel styles. Structure-wise, if your shed has taking a battering too or perhaps the children’s Wendy house, then check out www.no1discountsheds.co.uk and see how their designs can bring more to your garden than just a place to store your shovel!

Features
A well placed feature can really add an air of elegance and class to your garden. Water features that had frozen over during winter now flow again and offer an attractive centrepiece amidst the rockery. If that sounds exactly like what you’re looking for the head to www.ukwaterfeatures.com to grab yourself a stunning water feature that will complement any garden. If you’re unsure about what a water feature can bring to your garden, check out www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2012/may/29/small-gardens-water-features and you’ll surely be persuaded. If this then gives you the gardening bug then you may begin to think about redesigning your whole garden for a brand new look. Landscaping has become increasingly popular and companies like Jones Landscaping specialise in bringing your dream garden to life. You can find them at www.joneslandscaping-liverpool.co.uk where you can also take a look at some of their previous work.

As we enter the great British summer let’s leave the winter behind and make the most of what little good weather we get. It’s the perfect time to get outdoors, take to your garden and get it in tip-top condition for the BBQ weather we’ll surely get.

In the last few years local food has made a bit of resurgence in popularity. I put this down to the great farmers markets that have become a feature of most high streets up and down the country. The BBC London webpage reported on the success of farmers markets back in 2011 and in my opinion they have continued to grow since then. I really enjoy tasting food that has been produced by local farmers and bakers that actually care about their produce. It might be a cliché and a certain supermarkets tag line, but you really can ‘taste the difference’.

I have never been to Wiltshire before and am only heading there by chance this time. I was browsing on the Trip Advisor website when a featured article showing Salisbury Cathedral appeared on the home page. I love looking around old churches and cathedrals so it was enough to draw me in. After a few minutes of looking at other pictures of Wiltshire, my mind was made up about going there for my break away.

I don’t have an itinerary for my stay; instead I’m going to use a great guide I found online called Days Out  South West. There’s information on places to go, things to see, where to stay and importantly for me where to dine out! The guide is available in a print version which you can order if you have time before your trip away. In my case I’m just going to use the online version on my mobile phone and iPad.

I’m hoping to find some restaurants and cafe’s that are serving the foods that Wiltshire is famous for; namely the cheeses and of course Wiltshire ham. Looking at some of the Wiltshire made cheeses on the Cookipedia website is enough to make my mouth water. I’ll definitely be looking for somewhere that has a cheese board on the menu.

I hope that the recent fine weather continues over this weekend so that I can get out for some good walks in Salisbury and in the wonderful countryside. I’ll definitely be in need of some exercise after eating so much gorgeous food. I’ll sign off by wishing all my readers a great bank holiday weekend and well deserved rest.

I’d like to give my home a contemporary look but don’t want it to turn into one of those dreadful ‘magnolia’ houses where there are no features in any of the rooms. I fear that, left to my own devices that would be exactly what my house would become. I don’t really have much vision when it comes to decorating, so seeing some of the beautiful rooms at the Ideal Home Show was just what I needed. If you’d like to see some of the exciting displays from the show you can check out some of the highlights on the Ideal Home Show website.

Some of the room lighting on display was quite stunning. Some of the chandeliers and lights were a feature in themselves, whilst others were there to highlight other objects as a feature. Some of the really impressive displays used newer LED lighting technology. You can check out some of the impressive possibilities LED lights bring at the Light Room website. Apparently, LED lights work off very low voltage, so they are energy efficient and they don’t generate much heat so they are safe to use in materials that couldn’t normally be used for lighting.

A discussion with one of the exhibitors at the show finally gave me some enlightenment about the contemporary look and how to carry it off well. Whilst I could tell what worked when I saw it, I couldn’t quite define what made a minimalist, yet interesting living space. I now understand that the whole point of this style is to make the most of the available space.

Adding points of interest such as furniture with strong angular lines enhances the contrast between open space and furniture. Clever appliances such as the bio ethanol fires from Smartfire, are not only functional for heating but also add a focal point of interest. If like me you’d never heard of or seen a bio ethanol fire, check them out at the Smartfire website.

Possibly the biggest item on my shopping list was a new kitchen. I saw some wonderful kitchens on display. They had been designed to be efficient spaces for cooking but also had a very stylish appearance to them. It wasn’t just the kitchen units that impressed me most, the appliances were out of this world too. The hobs on the atag stand were incredible. I had never seen an induction hob before. I’m not sure I fully understand how it works but it has something to do with the type of pans that are used on it. Instead of heat escaping elsewhere, all the heat is delivered to the bottom of the pan. Incredibly the heat can be shut off instantly when cooking so that if you need to step away from the hob for a second you can effectively put the cooking on pause! In keeping with the minimalist ideals, induction hobs are very sleek and stylish – you can see some examples on the atag website.

In hindsight, I might have spent less money by taking a tour of the clothes boutiques in London. Over the next few months I’ll be bringing some of the wonderful things I saw at the Ideal Home Show to my home. If like me you’re in need of inspiration for re-decorating your home I’d thoroughly recommend paying a visit to the show when it returns next March / April. Tickets are already available for next year’s show from the Ideal Home Show website.

I love baking the kids’ birthday cakes almost as much as I love the kids. In our household the cake is always a guarded secret until it is unveiled, so the kids never know what they are going to get. Then, I can spend months thinking up cakes and about cake decorations and how to arrange it all.  So, I’ve compiled a few of my favourite resources and what-not for anyone else cake crazy, or who may be planning an upcoming kid’s party.

The Big Cake

The beauty of making kids’ cakes was that you can try new or adapt old recipes. Kids don’t care if you’ve yet perfected your piping and many cake recipes can be easily adapted for kids’ birthdays.

Last year for my daughter’s princess party, I hazarded an attempt at the gorgeous ‘Ruffle Tower Cake’ recipe on Martha Stewart’s website. I simply swapped lemon for a touch of vanilla in the sponge and shaped the top tier of sponge into a dome. Then, when I’d painstakingly piped every single pink, meringue ruffle, I popped the upper part of an old Barbie doll onto the cake and, voila! I’d created a princess.

My daughter was bowled over and, being a kids’ party, no one was too critical of my somewhat patchy piping skills. See what you can do with the relatively easy recipes on The Taste Website too –that’s where I get almost all my ideas.  

The Cup Cake

The cup cake craze, instead of losing favour has gone from strength to strength. I put this down to a number of virtues the humble cup cake has…not least the fact that dropping a cup cake causes far fewer tears (my tears, not the kids’) and doesn’t mean no one gets cake than dropping ‘a big cake’.

The real magic of the cup cake is that you can whip up a range of differently flavoured sponges at one time by simply splitting one mixture. Then, you can then decorate and arrange those cakes to impress the boys, girls and grown-ups.

In February, I made three stands of cupcakes for my son’s birthday. I had an antique stand I used for ‘the adults cakes’ and then purchased a pirate cup cake stand and a fairy castle cup cake stand complete with turrets. To see them for yourself, visit Partycare. Partycare are a new find of mine and now feature in my favourites list, as I was able to also find pirate cake wraps in place or cake cases and pink polka dot cases for the girls.

The few cake decorating supplies I couldn’t find or replenish at Partycare, I got from my usual go-to guys:  Cakes, Cookies and Crafts who have a huge selection of all natural and very vivid food colourings and sweet little extras like sugar diamonds.

The Cake Pop

Finally, for the hostess who wants to add extra sparkle but hasn’t the time or the inclination to spend her day piping icing, I discovered these little beauties. I’d never seen these before and still baked my cup cakes to fill my stands, but to add a little more magic to party bags, I thought I’d give them a try.

Cake pops, as the name implies, are lovely little morsels of velvety sponge pushed onto a stick and then iced or dunked into chocolate. You can see them for yourself on The Say it on Sticks website. The girl’s thought they were fairy wands, it was so cute. I ordered a couple of mixed boxes because I’d never bought them before, but with my mum’s birthday coming up, I’m already thinking of a full bouquet that the guests can then enjoy so my mum can keep the small cake I make her every year for herself this time round!

Food For Four
A couples night or an evening with friends presents plenty of options when it comes to your menu. If it’s more of an informal evening then I would suggest something that can people can just help themselves to, but still has a bit of something about it. Why not try a crab linguini with chilli and fennel? Take a look at the recipe here http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/apr/04/how-cook-perfect-crab-linguine, but feel free to add your own flavours if you desire – ginger is another great option. Crab is just coming into season at the moment so it’s a real spring treat to bring a bit of life to your menu. You can usually pick up some from your local supermarket, but I’d recommend a fishmonger for best results, so take a look at http://thecornishfishmonger.co.uk to see what you can pick up.

With crab and a lighter pasta like linguini I’d almost always recommend a nice white wine. A Chablis is a classic choice when it comes to crab, but if you’re looking for something a little different then I’d suggest a Viognier for its fruity, weighter qualities. Whatever you’re thinking, I’d heartily advise a perusal of http://www.donzellawines.co.uk for some fantastic, specialty wines that you won’t find in the supermarket.

An Evening For Eight
For larger parties that still require a sit-down meal you may wish to prepare individual dishes. This will take more time, but it gives you a real chance to show off your culinary skills to impress your guests. Start with this spicy parsnip soup – http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3198/spicy-roasted-parsnip-soup – for an aromatic opener (serve in small/medium sized glass tumblers for best effect), followed by a decadent main of pork fillet stuffed with stilton, the recipe for which can be found here: http://www.porkfilletrecipes.co.uk/tenderloin-of-pork-stuffed-with-stilton/. Again, the fillet can be bought at any local supermarket, but your local butcher will give you the best cut at the best price. It’s well worth a trip to your butcher for it, so if there isn’t one nearby then visit http://www.macbeths.com/ for some exquisite cuts of meat.

Your wine in this case is better being a red as you will need something to stand up to the stilton. A Shiraz is a great choice, particularly one coming out of the New World, so why not try Best’s Great Western Bin 1 Shiraz 2010. Check out the video below to see why.

Feeding The Five Thousand
When you’re entertaining many, it can either be incredibly easy to cater for them, or extremely difficult. The more people you have, the more varied the tastes, so finding a coherent menu can be a challenge. It’s here that I’d recommend good old-fashioned crowd pleasers, something you can’t go wrong with. Pizza doesn’t have to be from the shop or takeaway, and it doesn’t take much to rustle up an artisan attempt. Cast your eyes over http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/homemade-pizza if you’re thinking of taking the Italian route. Alternatively, you may want to go east and throw together a great stir-fry. Packed with just about everything, they’re also a really healthy alternative that’ll still leave appetites sated. For a truly authentic approach go to http://www.sushisushi.co.uk/ to pick up some of the more traditional Asian flavours.

Drinks wise, you’re never going to be able to please the masses this time around. In situations like this is probably best to whisk yourself off to the supermarket and pick up a couple of bottles of plonk, a case of beer and then tell folks they’re welcome to bring their own drinks too. Head to http://www.beerhawk.co.uk/ if you’re looking for some of the harder to source ales.

There’s a lot to consider when having to dish up for a party of four or more, but the good news is that there’s plenty of options available. With this guide you’ve got some cracking places to start that your guests will love.

For me, a holiday only means one thing: food!  If the food is bad, when I am on holiday then nothing  can make up for it. I can put up with a dodgy hotel, questionable locals and even awful weather, but if I’m in a Spanish town with a small cafe that makes the best paella I’ve ever sampled or in the north of France with a bakery that makes the most amazing walnut loaf, the rest of the holiday pretty much falls into place.

Since more and more people are opting for short breaks around the UK for quick getaways now, I thought I’d share my favourite haunts to eat at when I’m in the Lake District and surrounding area. Food may not be the first thing you think of when thinking about the Lakes, but you’d be surprised at the amazing food that comes out of Cumbria. Much of the food is locally sourced and produced with lots of care and passion, something you can really taste in the product I think.

A quick internet search will bring up loads of brilliant places in the Lakes to eat at. A blog by The Quirky Traveller has a list of the best of Cumbria tea rooms to drink a cup of Earl Grey at whilst enjoying the views. My favourite one from her list was Bridge Cottage Tea Shop which we visited after enjoying the stunning view from Friar’s Crag. I had a delicious cream tea and cheese scone which they make with local cheese.

The Telegraph has an article on some of the best places to eat in the region too with different restaurants according to your price range which I found useful. Some of the restaurants, such as The Jumble Room, are truly outstanding and value for money too and are particularly good if you’re looking for somewhere that’s not bog standard pub food. I had their Asian Chickpea dish.

Unusually for us, we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant we were staying at in Grange Over Sands. The Grange Hotel was a lovely hotel in itself with beautiful views and friendly service, so having such a high quality restaurant was a big plus! Their menu was varied and played on classic flavour combinations but with modern touches. I loved their tomato mousse and basil jelly with mozzarella starter which played with textures for a change to this staple trio flavour combination. Their website and sample menu can be found at www.grange-hotel.co.uk.

For cheese, The Lakes can’t get better than a little beauty of a shop in Keswick. The Cheese Delicatessen offers a huge range of cheeses as well as chutneys, cooked meats and oils and vinegars. I bought plenty from here and use a spoon of their quince jelly every time I make a roast to make my gravy extra special.

The Toffee Shop in Penrith have been making fudge since 1901 and so it is no wonder their fudge taste so absolutely delicious. They have so many flavours but all of them simply melt in the mouth and are exceedingly moreish. What’s more, all their fudge is made on site making it decidedly authentic too.

These are just some of  the places I like to have a nibble at whilst in The Lakes but I’m sure this list will keep growing as will my appetite for the truly amazing food that comes out of Cumbria!

I don’t just love to eat. Cooking is my all time passion. There’s nothing better than coming home after another stressful day at work, heating up a dash of oil in the pain and chopping that first onion, knowing that I’m going to create something delicious. I regularly get my friends round for dinner parties, but it was last Saturday that one very appreciative dinner guest suggested I try and make a living out of my love of food.

So I’ve decided to go for it. I kissed goodbye to my savings and embarked on the long journey to owning and running my very own restaurant. Now, I’ve seen all the Gordon Ramsay programmes as well as various ‘Restaurants from Hell’ episodes, so I certainly know how to NOT run a restaurant. I wanted to create simple, delicious food that caters to a small amount of clients and that ultimately didn’t stress me out. So I made it simple. And here are the steps that I took:

Budget: After spending weeks struggling with incomes, outgoings, expenditure, insurance and staff payroll, I finally emerged from my house covered in ink and receipts, clutching my battered calculator in one hand and a completed budget layout in the other. Once I knew what I could spend, I could go ahead and spend it!

Decoration: I went for simple, rustic and stylish. Cream walls with an exposed stone fireplace and flowers dotted round the place created a Spanish-y feel that echoed the style of food I was making. I even got the local newspaper in for a photo once it was done. I’ve never been photogenic and I somehow managed to pull the strangest face as the shutter clicked, but I suppose all publicity is good publicity.

Equipment: I needed affordable, good quality facilities in order to realise my cooking dreams. I searched around and found some decent catering equipment in Leeds, near where I live. It wasn’t too pricey and meant I could finally get started on making my restaurant come alive.

Opening night: With all the publicity I had gathered through newspapers and local radio, I gathered quite a crowd on opening night (mainly made up on family and friends, but at least it wasn’t a rent-a-crowd!) I cut the ribbon, opened up the doors and showed my first guests into my brand new restaurant.

Opening up a restaurant was the best thing I ever did! I could use my favourite hobby to bring in money, and spend all of my time doing the thing I loved – cooking (and eating, of course). With these simple steps you could easily realise your dreams, so think big, plan ahead and go for it!

Space

Start by clearing as much space as you can, including cabinets, drawers, anything removable or bulky. Accessibility is your main focus here, you want to be able to move about with ease, though be sure to keep your island separated from the rest of the kitchen to avoid accidents. The cooking area should be slightly more isolated, but if your kitchen feels spaced out and organised, you’ll feel more inclined to spend more time there. Check out this article on improving your kitchen without remodelling for more ways of redecorating on a budget.

Colour

Like the bathroom, the kitchen tends to emphasise colours that reflect cleanliness like white, blue and silver. While this does have a positive ‘clean’ effect, the kitchen represents the basest of needs: food. Food isn’t clinical clean it’s bursting with colour and flavour! Why shouldn’t your kitchen do the same? Channel 4’s popular segment 4Homes recommends these kitchen interior designs as inspiration for using colour in the kitchen. Why not go for a hearty brown or deep red for the splash back areas? It may sound crazy at first, but unless you experiment with colour in your kitchen, it might just feel like cooking in a laboratory.

Decor

The general tone of your kitchen can depend on which materials you base it on. For example, fitting solid oak kitchen doors as opposed to flimsy hollow core doors gives a much richer sense of home, and you want to feel like you’re completely at home when cooking. Colours, decor and space can all work together to affect your mental attitude to the kitchen. Not only do these improvements add value to your property, you may find you enjoy cooking more with some changes to your kitchen’s tone.

Experiment with your kitchen as you might experiment with food. Throw in a bit of seasoning here and there, add a few novelties, or renovate the whole thing and start from scratch! Whatever you do, be sure to rustle up something special for yourself.