Skye Gyngell is an Australian-born chef who has spent much of her career shaping the British culinary scene. Her distinctively pared-back plates first won renown in the early noughties at Petersham Nurseries in Richmond; nowadays she runs her own beautiful restaurant, Spring, at Somerset House in London, and is the culinary director of Heckfield Place, the acclaimed hotel in Hampshire. As a guest on this episode of our podcast, Homing In – on which guests discuss a home from their past, present and future – Skye gives us plenty of food for thought, which our host, Matt Gibberd, muses over below…

“I first became aware of Skye’s cooking when I visited the cafe at Petersham Nurseries in Richmond. I couldn’t believe that such elegant food could come out of a tiny shed in a garden centre – and nor could anybody else, but it ended up earning a Michelin star.

“Skye’s life story is fascinating. Her father, Bruce, was the first man on Australian TV and he met her mother on a game show. They built a little house on stilts in Sydney and filled it with modernist furniture, which informed a love of aesthetics that Skye’s carried into later life.

“She describes her life in two halves, the second being much happier than the first. In many ways, she feels that she was born into the wrong country – and potentially the wrong family – and has felt much more content after settling into the culture and softer light of Europe.

“For this episode, Skye has generously invited us into her home in west London. She is a wonderfully warm conversationalist and we talk about all sorts of things, including what it’s like being a mother to grown-up kids, why she’s currently single and her favourite things to eat at home.”

We hope you enjoy this episode – and, if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to Homing In – which Vogue named one of “The Best Podcasts To Listen To Now” – so you never miss a new one. Happy listening!