Busy Hands Make Honest Conversation

This is Odette's take on networking, reimagined: less pressure, less force - more about what connections and meaningful conversations stem from doing something together. Somewhere in the middle of doing something - chopping, stirring, reaching past someone for the salt - the real conversation tends to sneak in sideways. This lunch is built around these moments. It's an Odette get-together with one job: bring people together and let something real happen between them. No agenda beyond the table. No pressure to work the room. Just a group of women, a kitchen between them, and whatever conversation grows out of it. It's timed around the release of Cook Together, Dorothy Woods' new book - out this September - which makes the case that connection happens best when you're making something together, not talking at each other across a table. We loved the idea enough to build a lunch around it. Dorothy will join us to talk through the thinking behind the book, before we put it straight into practice - bringing the meal to life together, as a group. All of it happens at Hadspen Valley - a new cider orchard and farmstay tucked into a secret valley between Bruton and Castle Cary, newly opened this year and the work of Chloe and Ed Sandeman. Chloe, who left a career casting and producing shoots for the likes of Paul Smith, Net-a-Porter, ELLE and Harpers Bazaar, has led the build of the space itself - a handful of quietly beautiful huts, shaped down to the last detail - while the two of them farm the 12-acre orchard together, slowly and with care rather than for yield. It felt like the perfect backdrop for the occasion: a space made by creative people who've built something new by hand, in much the same spirit as the lunch itself. Chloe will talk us through the space, what's coming next for it, and the cider they're making - we'll be tasting it straight from the source. So: come hungry - for food, and for a bit of connection - and let the conversations find their own way.​ What's included: Canapés, lunch and light refreshments Date: Friday 2nd October, 11am - 2.30pm Location: Hadspen Valley Orchard, Lime Kiln Lane, Hadspen BA7 7 LX Odette is a curated creative network for women shaping the future of the creative industries. Founded in Somerset, we bring together founders, designers, artists, writers and entrepreneurs who believe ideas grow through dialogue and shared knowledge.