Between 1984 and 2002, Hermione Ainley and Richard Coleman imagined, built, ran and finally sold a restaurant beside the canal in Northamptonshire. They spent two years converting a carpenter's workshop which was largely derelict, wrongly assuming that this would be the hard part. In the early days they employed a chef and a restaurant manager but, realising that they were in danger of going under, dispensed with both and did all the work themselves, helped by a willing crew of young people and one or two equally untrained adults. By the time they finally sold, they had a loyal clientele and a reasonably successful business, but it was always incredibly hard work. The story begins at the beginning, as they obtained and converted the building and began to discover how much they didn't know. It then moves on to cover different topics including Hermione's disastrous attempts as a chef, Richard's rapid transformation from can't-boil-an-egg to cooking for 40, the coffee and shortbread approach to dealing with officialdom and much else. The end deals with their attempts to sell while coping with Richard's terminal illness and an obstructive landlord, and the eventual handover to their successors. The book is aimed at anyone interested in food, but particularly at the enormous number of people who believe they would like to have a restaurant while having absolutely no idea what is involved. That said, anyone who is not put off by reading it is probably daft enough to have a go. An addendum gives a more detailed account of the menu, with discussion of the recipes and suggestions as to how they might be used at home. It also points out that cooking is supposed to be fun and attempts to debunk the myth that presentation is everything and that all recipes need to be followed slavishly.
About the Author: Hermione Ainley started out as an English teacher but felt unable to combine it with motherhood so drifted into boat hire. She then spent sixteen exhausting years running a restaurant. The aim was to sell the restaurant then travel and write, but prostate cancer intervened. She now lives alone with a cat called Henry, dividing her time between writing, caring for Alzheimer's sufferers and running a small holiday business in La Gomera