Nicola is a chef, cheesemaker, and baker based in Suffolk. A change of career led Nicola to train as a chef at Ballymaloe cookery school and then onto the kitchens of Quo Vadis, working with Jeremy Lee. Both proved to be hugely influential on Nicola’s style of cooking and her careful sourcing of ingredients.

Her love of East Suffolk encouraged Nicola to move to the area following her appointment as Head Chef of Darsham Nurseries Café in 2017. Under her guidance the restaurant continued to build on its success with a menu of seasonal, Mediterranean inspired vegetable focussed dishes using produce sourced from the restaurant’s potager garden and local farms.

Following its closure in 2020 Nicola was asked to help a new community project in Southwold create a cafe as part of the redeveloped old cottage hospital. The Old Hospital is home to social housing, a nursery, Southwold library and The Canteen which opened in 2022.  The Canteen aims to provide good quality, nutritious food to as wide a part of its community as possible and offers a pay-what-you-can lunch on the last Sunday of each month. Creating simple but beautifully made food, showcasing seasonal ingredients and working closely with local regenerative and organic producers The Canteen has also received much critical acclaim and its reputation continues to grow.

Nicola has also been fortunate enough to work with Julie Cheyney and Blake Bowden of St Jude cheese in Bungay learning the art of raw milk cheesemaking and many happy weekends have been spent with Ben McKinnon of e5 bakehouse baking bread and pastries in a wood fired oven at his organic off-grid farm, Fellows Farm, in Gosbeck.