A family home becomes an outstandingly lovely English agriturismo

The East Devon agriturismo run by Hugo and Olive Guest is truly a family concern. Combining a B&B with a restaurant, as well as a smallholding providing home grown produce, Glebe House draws upon the talents of Hugo and Olive themselves but of the wider family as well, especially Hugo’s parents who also live on the farmstead. Combining Hugo’s particular passion for cooking with Olive’s love of interiors, the farmhouse itself has become a welcoming focal point for guests interested in slow food, seasonal cooking and a crafted menu.

‘Glebe has been a family home for forty years and I grew up here with my parents and my two brothers,’ says Hugo. ‘But my mum and dad were thinking about downsizing and Olive and I wanted to make a change to our lives back in London. We were inspired by spending some time in Italy and also the model of agriturismos, where working farms also have places to stay and great food, so we started thinking about bringing that concept to England.’

Now in its second year, Glebe House has proved a great success despite opening during the pandemic. The fifteen acre Coly Valley smallholding, set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and just a few miles from the Jurassic Coast, has benefitted from the staycation boom, which has seen guests embrace characterful rural retreats. Making best use not only of home grown vegetables and livestock but also the pick of Devon’s artisanal producers, Hugo’s Anglo-Italian kitchen has proved to be a particular enticement for Glebe’s B&B guests as well as occasional diners.

‘I’m very passionate about cooking and the idea that I might quit my old job and throw caution to the wind was always in the back of my mind,’ Hugo says. ‘I thought I was going to try and climb the corporate ladder but after three or four years my priorities changed. Mum is a very good cook and cooked professionally, so that was a big influence, but my two brothers also love cooking. We got to the point where we keen amateurs but then I decided that I really wanted to pursue this dream.’

Hugo and Olive first met in Cornwall as teenagers, staying in touch through university and beyond. Hugo studied business management and then went into the world of insurance while Olive took a degree in psychology before working in advertising. They settled in South London, but neither were completely fulfilled by their jobs and both Hugo and Olive, who grew up in West Sussex, were increasingly tempted by the idea of returning to the countryside.

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‘I grew up on the South Downs and when Hugo and I got together in London we always knew that eventually we would come back to the country, because that’s where our roots are,’ says Olive. ‘My parents moved to Le Marche in Italy when I was in my early twenties and we started spending some time out there, which was the Italian connection. That’s when we started thinking about agriturismos, good food and wanting to recreate that idea in Devon.’

Hugo decided to give up his former job and spent six intensive months at a cookery school in Dartmoor gaining all the skills he needed to work in a professional kitchen. He then went on to work at The Marksman in Hackney and the Anglo-Italian restaurant Sorella in Clapham run by chef patron Robin Gill. A year at Sorella immersed him in the kind of cooking that he was interested in bringing to Glebe House, including antipasti and desserts. It marked a two year apprenticeship, of a kind, before launching his own restaurant intimately linked to the smallholding itself.