The Sourdough School was an idea that began 25 years ago when Vanessa started teaching small classes around her kitchen table. She taught in schools and village halls until, in 2011, she and her family bought a dilapidated Victorian house. Initially, she taught in the kitchen, but juggling a young family and pets, along with the children repeatedly eating her ingredients before a class, meant rethinking how she taught. She did not want a cookery school or commercial kitchen environment, so to retain the authenticity and connection, she decided to tutor students in a home environment which has been central to the way has taught throughout her career.
In 2015, Vanessa and her family opened a dedicated classroom, transforming the coach house into a home-based learning environment. The restoration used materials rescued and brought from France, giving the space a French feel. An old sink Vanessa stopped from being smashed in the village in the dordogne was given to her brother who brought it back, the linen cupboard from her childhood home was repurposed as a proofing cabinet, a church door that Vanessa spotted as an old chapel was being demolished in Oxfordshire was incorporated. Even the workbench she teaches was originally a fabric bench which she repurposed as a kitchen bench by filing coffee tins with concrete to raise the height. This is far more than a classroom, it created a warm, personal space for sharing knowledge which was central to implementing the Japanese theory of Ba.
