I came back to Northumberland 10 years ago to spend time with family and I fell completely back in love with the place. To cut a long story short, I found myself staying and I'm still here!

Now as head chef of The Treehouse, a role I took on more than two years ago, I'm thoroughly enjoying once again creating menus and cooking dishes with the fantastic ranges of Northumbrian produce available each season.

Autumn is an exciting time with great fresh ingredients available, and I very much believe in using them to create simple dishes that show them off. The Treehouse seems like the perfect place to spend a cosy autumn afternoon or evening with something rustic and delicious.

The Treehouse menus constantly evolve, and now it's time to introduce some new tastes for autumn.

The fantastic sausages from Turnbull's are always a popular feature of the lunch menus. In the summer, we served them in a wholemeal baguette with salad and a home-made relish, but now we'll serve them with a mustard mash and an ale gravy made with recently-launched Alnwick IPA.

It's a great drop, so if you're coming to The Treehouse for dinner make time for a pint in The Treehouse bar first. There will also be a smoked cod and leek fishcake, using cod from Swallows of Seahouses.

It'll be served topped with a poached Oxenrigg egg and a Hollandaise sauce. Oxenrigg is a free-range farm near Coldstream which supplies all our eggs. Follow that with a flourless pear and chocolate pudding with an Alnwick Rum and white chocolate sauce.

I'm working with Derek Guthrie, our deputy head gardener, who has helped to create a beautifully-planted and varied vegetable garden in our nurseries as part of The Garden's Roots and Shoots project.

Derek can tell me what we're harvesting when, and I hope to incorporate more of our own crop into my cooking. Some good stuff is ready now, including the last of the sweetcorn, French and runner beans, and both cooking and eating apples.

Growing your own is such a great way to get your imagination going in the kitchen, as you find ways to use up what you've got and end up preparing things you wouldn't normally.

A new dish just added to The Treehouse's evening menu is a roasted guinea fowl with thyme-roasted vegetables and a caraway-scented jus. Roasted vegetables are so easy, and you can use whatever's good, combining with a good oil and some herbs.

At the moment, in our Roots and Shoots garden, I could choose from parsnip, carrot, turnip and pumpkin, or celeriac and courgette. Served cold, roasted vegetables cheer up a salad, and we have a variety of lettuces ready to eat at the moment, as well as fresh spinach.

The guinea fowl comes from Blagdon Farm, as does our chicken.

Treehouse menus also feature game from the local estate, including venison, and lamb, beef and pork from local farms. Through my work with local farmers and producers, I'll bring you new dishes and recipes featuring their fantastic produce in the coming months.

RECIPE 1: Salmon and leek fish cakes

Ingredients
Makes 2-3 large or 4-5 small fish cakes
500g mash potato
1 egg yolk
½ teaspoon English mustard
200g smoked cod
½ pint of milk
100g finely-shredded leeks
Juice and zest of ½ lemon
60g plain flour
150g fresh bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Method
LIGHTLY brown the leeks in the olive oil, remove from heat and allow to cool.
Transfer leeks into a mixing bowl.
Add mashed potato, egg yolk, English mustard, lemon juice, lemon zest and cod flakes, combining ingredients gently to ensure that the cod flakes are not broken up too much.
Form the mix into 2-3 or 4-5 fish cakes balls (depending on size required) with hands, once formed transfer to refrigerator to chill for one hour.
Season the flour with salt and pepper; sprinkle the flour and the breadcrumbs on to separate plates.
Coat each cake first with flour, then with egg and lastly with the breadcrumbs.
Using a palette knife carefully shape the coated fish cakes on a flat surface.
Pan or deep fry until golden brown, ensure that the cakes are cooked through and piping hot before serving.
We make our Hollandaise with a vinegar and herb reduction, but here is a simler method for you to try.

RECIPE 2: Simple Hollandaise sauce

Ingredients
3 eggs yolks
200g clarified butter (unsalted is best)
Juice of ½ lemon
3 tablespoons of water
Salt and cayenne pepper to season

Method
IN a heat-proof bowl whisk the egg yolks with the water.
Place bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Whisk the mixture until it thickens and remove the bowl from the heat.
Gradually add melted butter to the thickened mixture in a steady stream, whisking vigorously (cheats may use a food processor) until all butter has been added.
Finally stir in the lemon juice and season with a pinch of salt and cayenne pepper.