The Kitchen at Sculpture by the Lakes
I’m lucky enough to live just an hour from Sculpture By The Lakes, which is near Dorchester. It’s one of just eight fully accredited botanic gardens in the UK.
You don’t need a ticket to enter the Makers Yard which houses the restaurant, shop, pantry and gallery. But if you have time, you won’t regret buying a ticket to visit the 26-acres of sculpture park. It is, simply put, breathtaking. Over 120 sculptures - by Simon Gudgeon and 20 others - intermingle with their natural surroundings to enhance each other’s beauty. There are so many nooks in which to sit and reflect, either around the lakes or alongside the River Frome. No matter how long I spend here, it never feels like long enough. It exudes peace, serenity and tranquility - it’s a place to take a deep breath, slow down and unwind.
But back to the main purpose of my visit…the food.
I wanted to try The Kitchen. Aside from the gorgeous location and outdoor seating, the regularly changing breakfast and lunch menus are inspired by ingredients from their very own kitchen garden, which is always a draw for me.
The kitchen garden uses a ‘no dig’ approach and is full of colour and interest. We got chatting to Head Kitchen Gardener ChiChi and her friendly assistant, Copper the dog. ChiChi was carrying armfuls of sweet peas which adorned all the tables in the restaurant and she’d just picked a crateful of the largest broad beans I’d even seen. There are ten vegetable beds, three salad beds, fruit trees, a herb garden and a greenhouse full of tomatoes, peppers and chillies.
Back in the restaurant (it may be July, but it was a bit chilly to sit outside), my mum chose the daily quiche - cheddar and kale - served with kitchen garden leaves. And I had a heritage beetroot and goat’s curd salad, with Moroccan-spiced lentils and a raspberry vinaigrette. Not only did our dishes looked glorious, adorned with edible flowers and bursting with colour, they tasted wonderful too. The pastry was perfect and the salad leaves were full of bright, leafy flavour. Although I had my eye on a number of the homemade cakes, in the end we shared a dessert from the menu - a chocolate mousse with Morello cherries. From start to finish, it was a very satisfying meal - tasty and nourishing.
It’s worth mentioning that it seemed to be a menu of two halves, so if salads and Buddha bowls aren’t your bag, they also had fish and chips and burgers. (I’ll give them a go next time)!
Fellow foodies will adore the pantry too. The shop has been brilliantly curated with food and drink from artisan and independent producers across Dorset. Snacks, sweet treats, tea, coffee, ice-cream, charcuterie - all from the local area. It even introduced me to some new brands that I hadn’t heard of (and I pride myself in being a nerd/bore about such things)! Obviously, I had to stock up on chocolate and do my quality-control-taste-test-research - more about that in another post. The pantry also stocks cheese, charcuterie, breads and alcohol, plus delicious sandwiches and salads, so you can purchase your perfect picnic to take into the sculpture park with you. You can also grab a takeaway hot drink and a fresh pastry from Winfrith Bakery.
Whether you visit for lunch and a mooch around the Makers Yard, or make a day of it and see the whole sculpture park, you are in for a treat.
sculpturebythelakes.co.uk
