The Agrarian Kitchen is 30 minutes out of Hobart, in the idyllic Derwent Valley. People travel from all over the country to attend its intimate short classes, which cover topics like butchery, cheesemaking, pasta-making, fermenting and preserving.

Guided by a cast of skilled local chefs and producers, a maximum of 12 students cook at moveable individual benches and over the open fire, which also warms the space. Ingredients are sourced locally or pulled from the adjacent stone-walled, one-acre organic garden. The sheltered space goes some way to combatting the cold New Norfolk conditions with its own microclimate.

The attached restaurant, the Agrarian Kitchen Eatery, is an experience equally worth travelling for. With an open fireplace, high ceilings and knowledgeable service, it puts seasonal ingredients on a pedestal, and makes you rethink how good the humble carrot or asparagus spear really can be. Out front, the Kiosk passes out fancy canteen-style food to be eaten on the lawn.

The couple behind it all, Rodney Dunn and Séverine Demanet, moved from Sydney in 2007, seeking a tree change and their own River Cottage adventure. They opened the Agrarian Kitchen the next year, drawing on Dunn’s training under legendary chef Tetsuya Wakuda, and Demanet’s background in office management.

In 2022 the business moved into the sprawling and historic Willow Court complex. Until its closure in 2000, it was the oldest operating mental hospital in Australia. Once, it was also a depot for convicts.