A YEAR-long project involving artists and chefs came to fruition on 2nd October at Lydford last week.

Seventeen artists, six chefs, their friends and all who enjoy good food gathered at The Dartmoor Inn to launch 'Cook the View' — a book combining recipes and artwork. 

The event marked the completion of a limited edition artists' book which celebrates the landscape of Devon with handmade prints of etchings, wood cuts and wood engravings, and with recipes, contributed by some of Devon's most notable chefs, which use the food produced in that landscape.   

The book illustrates how painters, printmakers, sculptors, use the landscape for their inspiration.  the idea is that chefs use the food produced in the region, and the food creates the landscape.  The book seeks to bring the two together.

The project is the brain-child of Joanna Radford, who in 2003 received lottery funding to produce a similar collaborative book, of Alice Oswald's prize-winning poem, 'Dart'. 

That was launched on a steam train along the River Dart. 

The launch of Cook the View was held in the restaurant of one of the contributing chefs, Philip Burgess, who cooked food for a special dinner using recipes contributed by himself and by the other chefs to the book.

The chefs are Jane Baxter, of Riverford Farm Field Kitchen, whose contributions figure in the Riverford Cook Book,  Rose Prandi who is chef in the new café at Greenway House, the National Trust property where Agatha Christie once lived, Nick Legg who trained as a chef and now owns and runs the Fish Deli in Ashburton, Archie Wilson, head chef at Dartington Hall White Hart and his mother Caroline who used to run wine bars in Totnes and Newton Abbot.

The printmakers were recruited largely through Devon Artist Network which seeks to bring together artists for such joint projects as well as for its keynote event, the annual Devon Open Studios. 

One of these is Peter Randall-Page, best known as the sculptor of the 'Seed' at the Eden Project. 

Peter was approached for one of his 'Walnut' linocuts which features in the book with a recipe using walnuts. 

A spokesperson for the new book project said: 'Part of the fun of the project, has been meeting at Riverford Field Kitchen to eat and discuss the project, at Kenton Vineyard — Jo Talbot Bowen, one of the printmakers, and her husband Matthew, converted a dairy farm to this vineyard — to sew up the book, and at the Dartmoor Inn to plan the launch and partake of an excellent lunch.

'They certainly like eating good food, and Joanna, who breeds Shetland sheep on Dartmoor, counts herself as a producer creating or maintaining the landscape as well as a printmaker and book artist using it for artistic inspiration.'

There will be an exhibition of some of the prints from the book in the bar of the Dartmoor Inn which will stay in place after the launch evening, until 31 October. 

The hand-made limited edition is not for sale — each participant will receive one of this edition, but they will be on exhibition at the launch. 

A limited edition facsimile is being made and orders will be taken from Joanna Radford on 01364 631287 or by email from [email protected]">[email protected]