Micro-bakery and garden café launches at Borde Hill Garden in West Sussex

Baked By Cordia opened on Monday, March 31, and is the first step of Green Michelin-starred chef Chantelle Nicholson’s new culinary venture The Cordia Collective.

A Borde Hill spokesperson said before the opening: “Set within the idyllic Borde Hill Garden, the stunningly beautiful and historic 2,300 acre estate in West Sussex, the project will mark the beginning of Chantelle’s mission to bring her regenerative ethos to the countryside.

“Baked by Cordia will be headed up by Chantelle and Janine Edwards, who brings with her a wealth of experience from Little Bread Pedlar, Rye by the Water and most recently, London’s much-loved Toklas Bakery. The launch will encompass both Gloriette, a summerhouse café located within the Garden; and Ginkgo, a coffee shop housed in the Garden’s visitor entrance, both of which will serve the very best of local and seasonal ingredients, while celebrating the biodiversity and plant heritage of Borde Hill.”

Baked by Cordia offers hand-made pastries, including the signature ‘curlicue’, which is coiled like a fern. This features cinnamon and magnolia butter, rhubarb crumble and meringue, and caramelised apple. Borde Hill said the ‘savoury counterparts’ of this are wild garlic pesto with Slipcote cheese, and bacon jam and cheddar. There are also homemade focaccia sandwiches, made with local produce and mixed herbs and salad greens from Borde Hill Market Garden. There is a selection of hot and cold drinks too, as well as rose and Roebuck Estates Sussex sparkling wine.

Ginkgo – a café serving illy coffee, curlicues, apple and ginger cake and brown butter Win-Win choc chip cookies – was set to open concurrently. The menu has a focus on wholefoods such as consciously grown wheat from Bruern Farm & Stoates Farm, High Weald Dairy’s cheese, and fruit and vegetables from Shrub Provisions.

Chantelle said: “We are delighted to embark on the very first phase of The Cordia Collective with the launch of Baked by Cordia. I’m excited to be able to be immersed in nature, with our kitchen in the middle of the garden. The connection between nature and nourishment, using beautiful, fresh ingredients to create something truly special is an incredible opportunity. To have Janine on this journey, a force of talent, is also so joyful.”

Later in the year, The Cordia Collective will be in the estate’s 118 year-old Victorian Stables building, which will be transformed to feature a new café and workshop space. A glasshouse restaurant will overlook the reimagined biodynamic walled kitchen garden.