FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Valentine Warner
What are you working on at the moment?
I’m really looking forward to heading up the Kitchen Garden Theatre with my pal Mark Diacono at the RH S Malvern Spring Festival, a fantastic gardening and food festival. Also, all hands are at the wheel of my/our distillery, where we make the very exquisite Hepple Gin in the Northumbrian wilds. This move from solids into liquids has been very immersive as there is so much to learn.
When are you at your happiest?
When I’m with my children and, if alone, when fishing.
What is your greatest fear?
Being trapped underground.
What is your earliest memory?
I’m two or three, standing on a big mossy rock in a wood in the countryside outside Tokyo. It’s raining but sun is coming through the pale green leaves. My father is holding me and I’m looking into his eyes and I feel totally safe.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
Ability to talk too much and then wish I’d listened more. Too hasty.
Who has been your greatest influence?
The people that influence you change throughout your life, but my parents were initially the ones who taught me to be inquisitive. And nature, in that nothing is better by design, colour or practicality.
What is your most treasured possession?
My father’s garnet cufflinks. On the odd occasion I think I’ve mislaid them the blood drains out of my face and I feel creeping panic. I always find them after I’ve turned the joint inside out.
What trait do you most deplore in others?
Snobbism and bullying.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My ability to inflate like a pufferfish according to what I’m eating.
What is your favourite book?
A Guide To The Freshwater Fish Of Britain, Ireland And Europe by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix.
What is your favourite film?
Where Eagles Dare and The Lavender Hill Mob.
Valentine votes for this guide to fish, the film Where Eagles Dare, Donny Hathaway’s The Ghetto and a big plateau de fruits de mer
And your favourite piece of music?
The Ghetto, by Donny Hathaway.
What is your favourite meal?
An enormous plateau de fruits de mer with unending dollops of excellent mayonnaise, good bread, and a good cold bottle of Sancerre – all eaten outside in the sun.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
My late father.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
Unrepeatable.
Do you believe in aliens?
Yes, seems logical. I also believe in quite a few things that logic doesn’t accommodate.
What is your secret vice?
Eating as much skin off the chicken as I can while carving.
Do you write thank-you notes?
Always, if not a little late.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘Darling, where’s my…?’, when I haven’t even looked properly. Inevitably I find it two seconds later.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
The ability to summon calm.
Tell us something people might not know about you.
I love buying blankets and throws when I’m abroad.
What would you like your epitaph to read?
‘Onwards!’
Valentine will be at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Three Counties Showground, Malvern, from 5-8 May: 01684-584900, www.rhsmalvern.co.uk
I’m really looking forward to heading up the Kitchen Garden Theatre with my pal Mark Diacono at the RH S Malvern Spring Festival, a fantastic gardening and food festival. Also, all hands are at the wheel of my/our distillery, where we make the very exquisite Hepple Gin in the Northumbrian wilds. This move from solids into liquids has been very immersive as there is so much to learn.
When are you at your happiest?
When I’m with my children and, if alone, when fishing.
What is your greatest fear?
Being trapped underground.
What is your earliest memory?
I’m two or three, standing on a big mossy rock in a wood in the countryside outside Tokyo. It’s raining but sun is coming through the pale green leaves. My father is holding me and I’m looking into his eyes and I feel totally safe.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
Ability to talk too much and then wish I’d listened more. Too hasty.
Who has been your greatest influence?
The people that influence you change throughout your life, but my parents were initially the ones who taught me to be inquisitive. And nature, in that nothing is better by design, colour or practicality.
What is your most treasured possession?
My father’s garnet cufflinks. On the odd occasion I think I’ve mislaid them the blood drains out of my face and I feel creeping panic. I always find them after I’ve turned the joint inside out.
What trait do you most deplore in others?
Snobbism and bullying.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My ability to inflate like a pufferfish according to what I’m eating.
What is your favourite book?
A Guide To The Freshwater Fish Of Britain, Ireland And Europe by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix.
What is your favourite film?
Where Eagles Dare and The Lavender Hill Mob.
Valentine votes for this guide to fish, the film Where Eagles Dare, Donny Hathaway’s The Ghetto and a big plateau de fruits de merAnd your favourite piece of music?
The Ghetto, by Donny Hathaway.
What is your favourite meal?
An enormous plateau de fruits de mer with unending dollops of excellent mayonnaise, good bread, and a good cold bottle of Sancerre – all eaten outside in the sun.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
My late father.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
Unrepeatable.
Do you believe in aliens?
Yes, seems logical. I also believe in quite a few things that logic doesn’t accommodate.
What is your secret vice?
Eating as much skin off the chicken as I can while carving.
Do you write thank-you notes?
Always, if not a little late.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘Darling, where’s my…?’, when I haven’t even looked properly. Inevitably I find it two seconds later.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
The ability to summon calm.
Tell us something people might not know about you.
I love buying blankets and throws when I’m abroad.
What would you like your epitaph to read?
‘Onwards!’
Valentine will be at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Three Counties Showground, Malvern, from 5-8 May: 01684-584900, www.rhsmalvern.co.uk