Last updated 08:20, Thursday, 13 November 2008

Isabel scowls a little as she considers the complex business of sourcing only the finest ingredients for her dishes.

Geoff and Isabel Fergsuon

“There seem to have been plenty of forest mushrooms this year but the field varieties are certainly scarcer than you’d expect,” she says.

They’ve not been easy to find at all.”

Apparently, when the rest of us are queuing at the local fruit and veg shop, Isabel can be found busily scouring Wetheral Woods for the kinds of mushrooms promising the freshest and fullest of earthy flavours.

Should anyone fail to recognise her as she does so, she’ll be the one with a basket in one hand and a reference book helping her identify edible fungi in the other.

“You can’t be too careful. It can be a dangerous business picking up any old mushrooms.

“We think we’re getting the hang of it now though and to be doubly sure, I feed some to Geoff in the evening – if he’s still alive in the morning, I know we’re on the right track.”

Isabel and Geoff Ferguson have chosen a quieter life in the pretty village of Wetheral, near Carlisle, following a hectic 30-year career in the restaurant business. In their lovingly restored Georgian county house they offer guest accommodation and – because they can’t make the final break from a lifelong passion for food – they’re teaching people to cook.

Cookery days at Acorn Bank, on the Scotby Road out of Wetheral, have quickly proved immensely popular as social events enjoyed by all kinds of experienced and novice cooks eager for a day out in good company, sharing a busy kitchen and terrific food.

“It’s a simple enough idea,” said Isabel. “We demonstrate how to cook the dishes and our guests eat the results. Everyone has a fine time.”

Referring to the Craddocks, one-time TV cookery double act, she said: “I tell people that if we are Fanny and Johnny, then I’m Johnny and Geoff fannies about in the background.

“My husband is actually the chef of the family. But on demonstration days he supports me.”

All produce is sourced locally, wherever possible, and there are additional elements of home-grown ingredients from the garden, hedgerow finds and forays from nearby fields and forests – berries and mushrooms, for example.

The couple’s reputation as former proprietors of the Stanwix restaurant Number 10, has done much to draw interested guests into their roomy kitchen, eager to learn a tip or two.

Demonstration days range from instruction in how to prepare canapes, afternoon tea, bonfire food, supper dishes, festive dinner parties – even dinner party food with an aphrodisiac twist.

There are also craft days offering instruction in felt making, tassel-making and Christmas decorations.

But it’s the cookery demos – priced between £25 and £35 – that fascinate the majority of the guests at Acorn Bank.

“Most are women but we do have men here too,” said Isabel.

“There’s something very uniting about sharing food with other people around a big table.

“People have such busy lives and it’s a good way for them to escape totally from pressured routine and meet new people of all ages and backgrounds.

“The days run from around 10.30am when we meet for coffee and close at around 2.30pm, when we have cooked and eaten lunch.”