The Lost Orchard A French chef rediscovers a great British food heritage

'Blanc set about the most thorough apple-tasting and cooking project I have heard of . . . [The Lost Orchard] condenses the highlights, his love letters to the forgotten apple breeds.' The Times

'I began to dream about an orchard filled with thousands of fruit trees... Today we have an orchard with over 150 ancient varieties of apple. Each one has its heritage in a village or a county that used to thrive on that particular variety. They tell the story not only of what we have lost in Britain but also what we could regain.'

Over the past seven years, Raymond Blanc has planted an orchard of 2,500 trees in the grounds of his hotel-restaurant in Oxfordshire. Yielding about 30 tonnes of fruit for his kitchen each year, it is full of ancient and forgotten varieties of British apples and pears, along with walnut trees, quince, medlars, apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums, damsons and cherries. A further 600 heritage fruit trees have been added from Raymond's home region of Franche-Comté in France.

The Lost Orchard is a love letter to each of these varieties, complete with beautiful black and white drawings, photographs of Belmond Le Manoir and fascinating information and anecdotes about each fruit, along with recipes and stories.

Raymond Blanc is acknowledged as one of the finest chefs in the world. Completely self-taught, his influence on gastronomy has been so great that he is the only chef to have been honoured with both an OBE from Britain and the equivalent of a knighthood from France. His beautiful hotel restaurant, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, has retained two Michelin stars for over 30 years and has been voted the UK's No 1 hotel and Food Hotel of the Year by the Hotelier Awards. Raymond has written more than ten books and presented many television shows. He is also Culinary Director for Eurostar Business Premier, Chef Director of the Arsenal Diamond Club and Brand Ambassador to Kenwood for their kitchen appliances in the UK and Asia.

Raymond is renowned for his passion for seasonal, sustainable and organic produce. When sourcing food for Le Manoir, he makes sure to know everything about its provenance. With his gardeners, he has cultivated herb beds, a two-acre vegetable garden, a mushroom valley and heritage orchard. Raymond champions an ethical approach to cooking with sourcing and seasonality at the heart of it. He is involved in many movements and is honorary President of The Sustainable Restaurant Association and Vice President of Garden Organic.