Until 11 September we are giving a pair of these away, along with a night for two at Hever Castle and dinner at Eden. Enter the draw here.
Most collaborations begin with an introduction. This one began with a chef who had been cooking with our knives for years and simply carried on. George Blogg, Culinary Director at Eden, found us the way we would always choose to be found: by using them.
So when Eden opened in the grounds of Hever Castle and the tables needed knives, there was not a great deal of a pitch to make. His brief ran to three things. Made in Britain, made properly, made to last.
The run is eighteen Stout Yeomans, built to Eden’s own specification. George chose contoured yew for the handles, framed with a thin black liner, with the Eden name engraved along each blade.
Yew is a wilful timber, which is rather the point of choosing it. No two handles come out alike, so the set reads as a set without any two pieces pretending to be twins.
Underneath the yew they are the knives we make for anybody. Swedish stainless, machined and heat-treated in our own workshop, through the forty or so stages it takes to do the job properly, independently tested for edge retention and sold with a lifetime guarantee. We would use British steel if it were the right steel for a kitchen knife. It is not, so we do not.
They are table knives, and at Eden they are quietly doing a steak knife’s job. Guests pick them up, turn them over and ask about them, which is not what usually happens to cutlery.
A knife should be a tool before it is anything else. But a properly made one earns a second look, and at a table like Eden’s that second look is part of the meal.
The best endorsement we get is not a review. It is a chef who was already using them.
In collaboration with Eden at Hever Castle & Hever Castle’s Luxury Accommodation
In collaboration with Eden at Hever Castle.