Percy's progress

Supreme raw ingredients are the passion and obsession of self-taught cook Tina Bricknell-Webb, as Tessa Fox discovers.

After years running betting shops, then a wine bar and restaurant in Harrow, north-west London, Tina and Tony Bricknell-Webb planned to retire. A quiet life on their smallholding in Devon beckoned.

But then they had a change of heart. They set about creating Percy's, an eight-bedroom country house hotel and 40-seat restaurant near Okehampton in Devon. Helped initially with a £28,000 grant from the Rural Development Agency (RDA) and a £120,000 family loan, the couple opened Percy's in April 1996. More recently they have used another RDA grant - this time for £40,000 - to create a magnificent new entrance, and they're about to complete refurbishment of the bedrooms with a separate 50% grant from South West Tourism.

These efforts have not gone unnoticed. Percy's has just won the hotel category for the South-west region in the English Tourism Council's England for Excellence Awards and it also recently earned an RAC Blue Ribbon.

Much of the hotel's reputation hinges on the food, which is prepared by Tina. Almost everything on her short, daily changing menu is produced on their 130-acre Coombeshead Estate, from the wild roe deer that Tony shoots to the lamb from their flock, and the fruit, vegetables and herbs from the one-and-a-half-acre kitchen garden. Everything else is sourced locally, if possible.

"We're totally in charge of most of what goes on the plate," says Tina, who takes pride in being a self-taught chef with a style that has "evolved". This style is simple, where vegetables take equal billing with meat or fish and quality and freshness of ingredients take precedence over elaborate sauces. Herbs are also used to bring out flavours, rather than conventional seasoning.

But Tina believes it is a style that is unlikely to earn Percy's a third AA rosette to add to the two it has had since 1995. "It doesn't matter," says Tina. "The people who endorse us are our customers, who keep coming back. If we changed, we'd lose them. In Harrow I used to cook in a more complicated way. I was trying to impress Michelin and the AA after we got our Red M [in 1985], but it nearly bankrupted us."

Tina wants to improve the quality of the lamb by breeding a flock unique to Percy's out of a Texel ram. "You'll just have to look at them to know that if you stuff rosemary and garlic into them, it will taste good."

Fish, cooked to order by Tina, is a speciality. Again, simplicity is the key: "I grill salmon fillet for a minute either side, then leave it to rest and let the tray carry on cooking it through, so that by the time it gets to the customer it's just opaque. It's a question of ultimate timing. A lot of large restaurants can't do that, which is why fish is so often overcooked."

Herbs from the garden are used in abundance to lift flavour instead of salt. Sugar snaps are cooked with sweet marjoram, or potatoes with lovage. Chives and dill have now gone to seed, but even the seeds are used in onion bread. Tina is looking forward to harvesting the fruits of their forest, too, the couple having planted 60 acres with the likes of juniper, rowan, sweet chestnut and walnut.

Despite all the work they've already put into developing the business, there is no sign that the Bricknell-Webbs are slowing down. Further plans include a series of cookery workshops and demonstrations by Tina, as well as a chef training school, and the couple have just put in a planning application to build more rooms.

So, no regrets about not retiring, then? None whatsoever, claims Tony. "I love the business. The locals call me Mr Percy, and we're spoken of in the same breath as Gidleigh Park, the Horn of Plenty and Rick Stein - and I love that. It couldn't have happened in London."

Percy's Country Hotel and Restaurant, Coombeshead Estate, Virginstow, near Okehampton, Devon EX21 5EA. Tel: 01409 211236. Web site:www.percys.co.uk

Rural problems

Foot-and-mouth disease and the critical shortage of chefs have combined to make running a rural hospitality business in the South-west extremely difficult.

When foot-and-mouth hit Devon, every booking at Percy's was cancelled. The Bricknell-Webbs received a £15,000 hardship grant and £4,000 rates relief, but the restaurant wasn't full again on Saturday nights until a month ago.

"We wouldn't have survived if we'd just been a restaurant," says Tony. "But the rooms picked up quite quickly and September was our best trading month ever. We've had high occupancy, been able to put prices up because of the improvements, and staff costs have been lower."

The irony is that the Bricknell-Webbs would love to spend more on staff - but recruitment is a major problem. The only support in the hotel is from two local women who help in the kitchen and with housekeeping, but Tina, who provides breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week, says she needs five in the kitchen.

In an attempt to solve the problem, the couple have secured £3,000 from the Learning & Skills Council to set up a project under the umbrella of South West Tourism in conjunction with Gidleigh Park, the South West Lakes Trust and the Riviera Centre in Torquay.

Tony explains: "It's a two-year course using the Modern Apprenticeship vehicle. In year one students will spend three months at each of the four places; in year two they can opt for six months with us and six with Michael Caines, or six months at the Riviera Centre and six at the Lakes. At the end they'd have a Modern Apprenticeship plus a good CV."

For the operators it will mean continuity of staff. "We have to do something," says Tony. "We're forced to limit covers to 24-28 rather than 32-40 because we can't get the staff, and we're losing £4,000 a week."

Wine recommendations

The wines that Tina Bricknell-Webb recommends are supplied by Paul Boutinot (0161-908 1370)

For the squid and scallops
2000 Pazo de Villarei Albariño, Rias Baixas, Galicia, Spain (£21)
Fresh, aromatic and dry, with ripe, peachy fruit, citrus flavours and crisp acidity

For the apple tart
1997 Clos de Cray "Signature" Montlouis Moelleux (£19.60) This wine has an exotic nose hinting at botrytis rot - it's rich, honeyed and slightly vegetal - with full-on honeydew melon flavours. (It is also superb with blue cheese, such as Harborne Blue, which is salty and also has a nice acidic tang)