'I was so much happier outside of London': How top chefs found paradise in the West Country

Summer in Somerset has been prolific for courgettes. I know this because they feature in at least three of the 10 dishes on Bruton's old pharmacy menu. “We are overwhelmed,” says its boss, Merlin Labron-Johnson. I can't decide between the tromboncino scapece - pieces of a thin, curly, pastel green zucchini from Italy, fried in garlicky olive oil then quickly marinated in vinegar, served cold as an antipasto - and a larger dish of grilled pieces of yellow courgette with candied lemon, courgette cream, nasturtiums and salted lemon almonds. I order both.

La Vieille Pharmacie's slate menu is a snapshot of what's good and in season not just in the region, but at the nearby Labron farm. -Johnson, where he grows almost all the fresh produce that he and Osip, his small upscale restaurant next door, put to work in their kitchens. "We grow all the vegetables, herbs and fruit that can be grown in the UK," he says, including all those courgettes. "And we don't need to look much further than Somerset for everything else - we have Westcombe for cheese, Bruton Organic Dairy for meat, and in the winter we go to a local hunter for game." The scapece arrives crowned with basil leaves and swimming in a golden pool of peppery olive oil; I order some bread to mop it up, which comes with a dab of freshly churned salted butter. I'm in Somerset; it would be rude not to.