Annie Smithers is one of Australia's most highly regarded chefs and one of the first Chefs in Australia,  to truly epitomise the ‘paddock to plate’ ethos. Her career spans over 30 years and she spent the last 25 of them firmly ensconced in the Macedon Ranges and Hepburn Spa region in Victoria. 

Her restaurant Du Fermier in Trentham is one of my favourites, the dining room is beautiful, it feels like home and everything has Annie’s touch. A proper sense of place the food, the staff and every interaction with each customer expresses generosity of spirit and wonderful hospitality. If you peak in the kitchen, people are often surprised it’s just Annie maybe a helper of two but she does everything, baking, pickling preserving, peeling, roasting plating….planning her next menu…..idyllic and charming on one hand, but damn hard work on the other. 

She lives on a small nine hectare farm in Lyonville called Babbington Park only 10 minutes from Trenton and its beautiful! The kitchen garden and orchard is not a token bit of green that pretends to stock the shelves and fridges at the restaurant…. but it is brimming with a bounty of green and growth that needs a lot of attention, thought and hard work. 

It’s a place that is constantly evolving and Annie and Susan her wife, are not short of ideas or ambition for the future. She holds regular master classes teaching fabulous honest and wonderful French Country cooking and her recent book ‘Recipe for a kinder life’ is an inspirational read for every serious foodie and gardener. She describes it as ‘part meditation - part memoir’

 I loved chatting with Annie, she lives a life dedicated to seasonal food, aims to tread lightly on the ground beneath her feet……she says that this is the best time of her life but it hasn’t always been that way. We do talk about mental health towards the end of this podcast so if you are triggered by this feel free to skip forward……enough said…..Annie Smithers take it away!