feature
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nown to many with his popular Saturday Morning
Kitchen TV show, we almost feel like we know
him but what about the other James, the one that
doesn’t appear in front of the TV Cameras? Life Begins
Magazine armed with some readers’ questions and
many of our own set out to find out more about him.
James was born on 30th June 1971 in Malton, North Riding
of Yorkshire his early years were spent on the farm where his
parents were farmers on the Castle Howard Estate famous for its
appearance in the 1980’s mini-series Brideshead Revisited. His
family were Pig farmers. He spent much of his childhood in his
home county of North Yorkshire in what he calls “Heartbeat”
country. Looking back he can see both the pro’s and the con’s
of living in such a beautiful part of the world, yes they had a
peaceful idyllic lifestyle but this had to be off set with, in his
words, “a load of bloody Japanese’s tourists turning up into
your peaceful lifestyle”.
Growing up as a child on a farm could be hard. “You soon get
to realise what hard work is” he quips.“Being a kid on the farm,
working with your grandmother and your parents, producing
food, gave you a real understanding even at that age, of just
how hard food is to produce. Whether it’s a carrot or a carcass
of beef it’s a lot of bloody fuss to get that food onto your plate,
so I learnt how to respect food at a very early age”
‘When you can walk you can work’, or at least that’s how the
saying goes for James, and by the age of 6 or 7 he was working
for his pocket money. He remembers by the age of just 8,
working in his first restaurant. His parents were never pushy but
were both very supportive. He is of the opinion that schools
educate kids to a ‘norm’ to try to suit everyone. “If someone
has a particular skill then I think they should be encouraged
to focus on it and improve on it” he said, “I wasn’t very good
at English, not very good at maths and am dyslexic but I really
knew I could cook.”
As he grew up he was faced with two choices: he could farm
the land or he could turn his skills to what he does best, in the
kitchen. “Unlike down here on the south coast, where it is often
lovely and warm, up in Yorkshire it gets bloody freezing so at the
end of the day do you want to spend your entire day freezing or
do you want to go into a warm kitchen?” He asks in what seems
to be an even broader Yorkshire accent. “There’s not always a
lot of money in Farming and although I loved every minute of it,
when I hit 16, I made the decision to be chef” He says, chuckling.
Though he admits that he already knew at the age of 8 or 9 that
he wanted to follow a career in the kitchens.
"ln later years, working in a kitchen on
board a ship and although l worked
long hours, it was never as hard as
working on that farm."”
Now living in Hampshire, he made his way south due to work,
he started his career as a pastry chef at the Chewton Glen in
the New Forest before, at the age of 22, setting up the Hotel Du
Vin in Winchester. He has made Winchester his home for many
reasons: he loves it down south and also because he used to
have a yacht on the Solent. More recently his love of flying has
taken over from his love of the water. He’s now got 9 years of
having a pilot’s licence under his belt and has recently turned
his attention to learning to fly helicopters at Goodwood. “Flying
in our part of the world is lovely with such great places to see,
and it’s more difficult to get lost if you keep the sea to your left!”
he adds cheekily.
Above: FERRARI 288 GTO takes pride of place in James’ car collection.
As well as fast cars, planes and helicopters James also has a passion for
his Lhara Apso named Ralph (below)
Spaniel called Fudge, and a little Lhasa Apso called Ralph. It’s
well documented that he has a passion for cars and admits that
when not in the kitchen or the TV studios, he loves spending
much of his down time tinkering in the garage with his cars. His
love of Ferrari is well known but when pushed, he did admit
to me that if it is not a Ferrari then is has to be a mini. “For me,
it has Ѽ