Wirral’s vibrant food and drink scene is the inspiration for a gourmet vegetable cookery school, as Jade Wright finds out

IT’S just before 9am on a glorious Sunday morning and I’m sipping a nice cup of tea. Nothing unusual there.

But rather than sitting half awake under my duvet, surrounded by the papers, I’m in a field surrounded by acres of fruit and vegetables, ripening gently in the sunshine.

It’s all part of the new taste of vegetables course run by Vegi-Table. And as well as the tea in one hand, I have a piece of cake in the other. Courgette cake, to be precise. It’s delicious, like a moist carrot cake, and a good taster of the day ahead – a feast of vegetables cooked in impressively creative ways.

It’s all part of the ethos of Vegi-Table day, I quickly discover – finding new ways to incorporate more vegetables into your diet.

Run by vegetarian chefs and expert nutritionists Mo Hall and Sarah Kearns, it’s an informal course inspired by the fruit and vegetables growing at Claremont Farm in Bebington.

“As a nation we’re pretty poor at doing justice to vegetables,” says Mo, a trained chef and expert in dairy free cooking.

“I live in Moreton, and I’m always impressed by the produce that comes from this part of the world. But we find that so many people don’t know what to do with vegetables once they get them home. They either do the same old things or end up leaving things to go off.”

“Vegetables are such a great source of nutrients, but that only applies if you actually eat them,” laughs Sarah, who is based in Lymm. “It’s much easier to eat your five a day if you can cook creatively with them.”

Today, we’re using lots of the fruit and vegetables sourced from the farm.

Wirral, with its rugged coastline and lush green interior, is the gastronomic garden of the North West.

One theory as to why so many artisan producers have sprung up in this small corner is that, being a remote location, people have taken to growing their own food rather than making the journey into town to buy it.

Whatever the explanation, the produce is certainly delicious.

After inspecting it growing, it’s time to head into the kitchen and start learning how to cook up a feast.

First on our itinerary is muhummara, a delicious North African dip of roasted peppers and pomegranate molasses.

It’s a small group. There are just five on today’s course – two young women, a father and his teenage daughter and me. Thankfully, no experience is needed. The small group means they cater for everyone individually, from beginners to experts.

We watch Sarah and Mo make each dish before giving it a go ourselves.