THE owner of a local cookery school achieved a life-long ambition by working with her food hero Nigel Slater from BBC1 show Eating Together.

Yvette Farrell, principal of Harts Barn Cookery School in Longhope, worked behind the scenes of the new series, which started last week and will continue every Monday night at 7.30pm.

Her main role was to prepare food and catering for Nigel and the crew during the long days of filming.

"It was a great honour to work with my food hero, Nigel, and he was every bit as likeable and caring as I had imagined he would be. His approach to food and cooking is very much in line with my own beliefs and ethos – one that I try to bring in to the cookery school every day.

"My highlight was Nigel saying I made the best flatbreads he has ever tasted – which is a great boost as I have plans to develop the Forest flatbread for production and put the Forest of Dean on the map in the same way the Cornish pasty has done for Cornwall," Yvette said.

"I run a 'Hire A Chef' catering service as part of the cookery school, so I was well prepared for the hard work and the rewards really were fantastic."