A Taste of the Country: Dorset

It's harvest time on Julius Robert's smallholding in the country, with some amazing eats and his own spin on delicious classics from pasta to pudding. The adventure begins with Julius heading up the hill behind the farm and foraging for beautiful wild flowers and herbs to hang up in his ramshackle greenhouse and dry for the winter. Then he's cooking amazing spicy Dorset clams al fresco in the greenhouse for a casual solo supper. It's a Spanish-inspired dish, with tarragon and dry sherry taking it to the next level. In the garden, he's picking courgettes, one of his favourite things to grow and eat, and turning a glut into a heavenly sauce for courgette pasta to go with his incredible quick home-made pasta dough. Julius shares great ideas for different pasta shapes — cavatelli, trofie, orecchiette and pici — which he's using in the recipe. It's another case of ‘you won't believe how easy it is to make'. On the farm, it's time for Julius to free his chicks and mother hens from the coop to roam free and, much to his amusement, the cockerel who has missed the hens is wasting no time getting frisky. Then there's one of the biggest summer tasks on the smallholding: hay harvest. Neighbouring farmers Eddie, Richard and Gemma have been guiding and helping with the harvest, cutting, turning and baling the hay, and now they're coming over to help Julius and his family gather up the bales ready for winter. Great friendship and support deserve a special treat: Julius makes everyone the legendary Italian pudding tiramisu that he first ate as a child in Florence, which they eat as they relax in the hay meadow with the work done and the sun setting, washed down with chilled local beer.