Well, the clocks have gone back. The evenings are darker and autumn is slowly but surely showing us her true colours – red, orange, yellow and gold. I love this time of year; love it! I love the early evening mist as it rolls in through my village, mixing with the smell of wood smoke as log burners are woken and brought back to life after their long summer break.

If you’ve ever been tempted to try your hand at shucking an oyster or dabbling in some wine tasting, do have a look at some of these food courses which I’ve taken as part of my research.

http://en.vins-saint-emilion.com/discover-saint-emilions-wines-wine-school

http://www.galwaybayseafoods.com/cookery-courses.html

The olive tree is part of the fabric of family life in Puglia. And family life is at the heart of everything.

One of my favourite places to go in Ceglie Messapica is a restaurant called Entroterra. My brother and his wife first took me there and every time I return I am welcomed warmly, like an old friend, by its owner Giuseppe and his family. This place to me is the very essence of rural country living in Puglia.

If I had to go back in time and choose another career…

I want to change career every week. Usually I want to be a different type of farmer. Right now I want to be an olive farmer.

My most memorable meal…

My 20th birthday on a beach in the South of France in a thunderstorm. The tarpaulin sides billowing. Special for so many reasons.

I remember my first oyster clearly. I think most people do. I wonder why that is? It was New Year’s Eve. The children were young and tucked up in bed. My brother, who’s a chef, had been to the fish market in Cardiff at the end of the day and bought all kinds of wonderful shellfish. There were prawns, mussels, crab claws and…oysters. They looked knarled and knobbly and didn’t seem to promise the wonderful experience that everyone talked about. How could they, looking like that?