Summer is the perfect time to kick back and spend time with friends and where better than in the garden. Sharing a late breakfast with a friend or my kids is the perfect way to start the day, my morning coffee with a lovely platter of fruit and berries and mixed croissants is my absolute favourites alert to a sunny day and so reminds me of days in the sun on holidays or business trips to Italy and France, what better way to start a day.

As the day progresses into afternoon and early evening enjoying a glass of something cold and fresh, my go to choices are a crisp Sancerre or an Italian Gavi with a bowl of olives on the terrace on the sofa putting the world to rights with my besties.

Alternatively dinner in the garden is spent with family and friends, my outdoor dining table seats ten and with a family of six this is definitely needed and I do love to make an occasion of this, its definitely something to celebrate spending such quality time with your favourite people, I love to start the dinner with crudités, sliced and small pieces of vegetables and salads with one or two dips, my current go-to dips are a beetroot hummus with a good squeeze of lemon or a roasted aubergine dip with plenty of tahini. I love the idea of picking and dipping, which doesn’t interrupt the relaxed chat. For the main event the barbecue comes into its own and I have an array of go to recipes of lamb, fish or chicken always served with a couple of bowls of salads and pulse salad.

Once a week during the Spring and summer months, is pizza night. My eldest and youngest are the two that make the pizza dough and toppings for the pizzas and garlic breads, I pull together a Caesar salad and the pizza oven has everything cooked and ready in a matter of minutes, it tastes so much better with the wood fired taste and outdoors, these times, in the great outdoors are when the best memories are made.