FOOD TVPhil Vickery's good life

This Morning chef Phil Vickery on why he and his green-fingered wife Fern Britton are champions of home-grown British produce

Move over Tom and Barbara – Phil Vickery and his TV presenter wife Fern Britton are the new King and Queen of The Good Life.

"We grow everything we can," the TV chef tells us proudly. "I’m the fruit man: I’ve got an orchard full of fruits like peaches and greengages, while Fern grows our family’s vegetables.

"She built her own patch last year and it’s doing fantastically well. We’re really reaping the benefits now with potatoes, runner beans, garlic, herbs and the most delicious fresh peas that I cooked this week.

"What’s nice is that the kids love the home-grown stuff. I cooked some leftover lamb in garlic, cumin and turmeric last night; threw in some fresh spinach from the garden and the smell made our daughter, Winnie, come downstairs and want to try some. It opens their eyes to how tasty British produce is."

Great as he is at cooking Fern’s home-grown veg, Phil credits his wife with all the hard work.

"It’s all down to Fern, she puts the effort in, although I do help: I watered the patch last night! One of our sons couldn’t be bothered so it was down to me."

Phil, who also rears his own pigs, has always advocated growing, buying and eating British produce.

"I guess it’s because I’m a country lad at heart," he says. "As a kid I lived next door to a farm and my father grew vegetables 40 years ago, like my wife does now.

"He grew sweetcorn, which was unheard of, and had a grapevine, which we’ve still got. I buy 95 per cent British and in my cooking – especially on TV – I keep it seasonal and regional because ingredients are at their best and cheapest."

He’s looking forward to August’s rich harvest at their Buckinghamshire home.

"The early blackberry and plum crops will start coming; greengages; the second crop of potatoes and runner beans and some early apple varieties.

"I adore Bramley apples, they’re simply the best cooking apple in the world," adds Phil, who shares an unusual cheese and apple pie recipe with us.

"I really like old-fashioned pairings of sweet and savoury items," he explains. "I grew up with it: my grandmother was from Yorkshire and I always remember she’d have Christmas cake with a thin slice of mature Montgomery’s Cheddar on top.

"Eccles cakes with Lancashire cheese is another example of lovely textures and flavours working really well together.

"When I cooked this pie on This Morning, lots of people emailed saying they didn’t expect it to be so nice – it’s the best of British, of course it is!"

FOOD TVRecipe

Full Recipe: Phil's Lancashire cheese and Bramley apple pie