Ten Minutes With...

Model, Writer and Oxfam Ambassador

Laura Bailey

Current fascinations?

Currently googling - Paris hotels, Botswana safaris, vintage Chanel, Oxfam projects, Bon Iver and bicycles.

What scares you?

Making a speech at my best friend's wedding next weekend.

Describe yourself in three words.

Mother of 2.

Laura in Ghana for Oxfam

Perfect holiday destination?

North Island,Seychelles. But happy with Cornwall...

What would you eat at your last supper?

A vegetarian feast cooked by Skye Gyngell...

Skye Gyngell

Which five people would be joining you?

My best friends. They know who they are.

Last fashion disaster?

Packed a favourite vintage dress next to a bottle of red nail varnish ..

Favourite London hangout?

Bay 66 skatepark with my kids...Quite like a cocktail at Claridges in the tiny Fumoir bar too. Or a pizza at Pizza East Portobello.

The Fumoir Bar in Claridges

You can wear three designers for the rest of your life. Who are they?

Chanel, Stella McCartney and Isabel Marant.

What annoys you?

My failure to learn to speak fluent Italian despite it being my new years resolution for the last ten years...

What impresses you?

Loyalty and fearlessness.

What would you do with a day to yourself, no children, no work?

Big sleep,long walk in the park with my puppy,lunch with all my favourite girls..and a matinee movie.....

What's next?

Backwards and forwards from Paris to write and shoot for Vanity Fair....and hopefully the whole of August off with my kids....

Laura for Comic Relief

Full English or egg white omelette?

Proper omelette.

What was your inspiration for the Made collection?

To make a collection that was authentic,affordable and ethical...that me and my girlfriends would want to wear,and which fuses traditional skills and techniques with my own style and vision.My sketches and moodboards included tribal headdresses and the simplest geometric shapes,spears and jasmine buds...colour palettes and beading patterns....Much happy experimentation in the workshop. Plus my desire to tell the story of a business that grew out of the Kenyan slums at the same time...

In the Made workshop

Who do you admire?

Christiane Amanpour,Livia Firth,Stella McCartney,Thandie Newton,Sam Taylor Wood....I have a long list of heroic women in my life...

With Thandie Newton and Tory Burch

What's on your Autumn Winter shopping list?

Bella Freud knitwear,a Roland Mouret gold dress I wore on a shoot last week and cant stop thinking about,and a pair of scarlet heels by Charlotte Olympia.

Heaven is a Place on Earth

I have dreamt about going to Petersham Nurseries for ever. We finally made it there this weekend and it was so heavenly I am practically speechless. It couldn't have been a more perfect day for it if it tried. Beautifully sunny and warm - it felt like summer. The restaurant has just got a Michelin star which probably explains a bit about why you cant get a table for love nor money. I had burata with San Daniel ham and a broad bean and mint concoction, then a fancy lamb and chick pea number and a delicious chocolate mousse for pudding. A proper culinary sensation. Albeit a seriously expensive one. I could have bought the whole shop and am not sure quite what came over me to have left totally empty handed. Most unlike me. I must be getting a cold or something. Anyway, I will be heading back there for sure. I was even quite tempted to apply for one of their job vacancies, just so I could go there every day...

The Kitchen

Inside the Tea Rooms

HB's squid sensation

My burata and San Daniel starter which looked much better in real life

We are all in love with this lamp

www.petershamnurseries.com

Petersham Paradise

I've wanted to go to Petersham Nurseries for ever. It's basically a very swanky, beautiful garden center, with an unreal shop - you will want everything - a restaurant where the legendary Skye Gyngell is head chef - who, by the way, has just won a Michelin Star, and a divine little tea room. What more could you want?

The restaurant is booked up at least a month in advance but if you're as impatient as I am and cant wait, you can pretty much always get a seat in the teahouse which sells to-die-for homemade cakes, little porcelain jugs of hot chocolate and also some seriously tasty sounding tarts.

Its a small bit of rural paradise bang in the middle of London. The perfect remedy for when city life has taken it's toll or if you just want a really beautiful, visually inspiring day out.

Chef Skye Gyngell

www.petershamnurseries.com

Petersham Nurseries

Church Lane

Off Petersham Road

Richmond

Surrey

TW10 7AG

Red Tomato

I made these little tomato sensations last night and thought I should share them. They are a Skye Gyngell recipe and an essential part of her 'toolbox'. IE she is never without them in her kitchen. My Mama always has a huge stash of them ready and waiting to throw into a salad or pasta; they are very, very delicious. I'm used to making them with her in Wales in the bottom left of the Aga so last night was a bit of trial and error, using a bog standard electric oven. I put them in at about 120 degrees for three hours and they are a vision, if I do say so myself.

Slow roast tomatoes

About 20 baby tomatoes

sprinkling of salt and pepper

half a teaspoon of brown sugar

Cut the tomatoes in half and lay them out neatly next to each other in a baking tray.

Sprinkle with the salt, pepper and sugar and put in the oven at a very low, gentle heat, about 120 degrees. Or if you're lucky and have an Aga, bottom left all the way.

Keep checking on them as it's very easy to frazzle them. But generally leave a few hours for them to be ready.

When they are done, they'll keep for a week or so. Or if you want to preserve them for longer, put them into a sterilised jar with a bit of olive oil.

They are great for adding to a pasta, a salad or just having as a little snack when you're peckish even.