A Student Finds Her Way To Ballymaloe

The story starts in East Cork, at an old house on a working farm. In 1964 Myrtle Allen opened Ballymaloe House as a restaurant^[1]. Her idea was bold for its time. Put local, seasonal food at the centre of everything^[1].

Myrtle cooked on an Aga with the help of two local women. Farmers' wives brought their spare blackberries, elderflowers and watercress to the back door^[1]. The menu changed with whatever the land gave.

The Allens had bought the estate years earlier and run it as a mixed farm, with dairy, eggs, meat, fruit and vegetables^[1]. Myrtle knew her food well and even wrote a cookery column for the Irish Farmers Journal^[1].

A Tip From A Tutor

Meanwhile, in Dublin, a young woman was studying hotel management^[2]. Her name was Darina. She wanted to cook, and she wanted to learn from someone who really cared about ingredients.

One of her tutors pointed her to Myrtle Allen^[3]. Myrtle wrote her menus every day, built around what was fresh and local^[3]. For a curious student, it sounded perfect.

On her very first day at Ballymaloe House, Darina met Timmy, the son of Myrtle and Ivan Allen^[3]. The two fell in love^[3]. It was the start of a partnership in life and in food.

A New Home At Kinoith

Tim and Darina married in 1970^[3]. They moved to Kinoith, a Regency house nearby that once belonged to a Quaker family, the Strangmans^[3]. Together they brought the old gardens back to life and ran a busy farm shop next to the greenhouses^[3].

In the winter months Darina helped Myrtle teach cooking classes at Ballymaloe House^[3]. She loved it. Soon she started giving classes of her own, at home in Kinoith^[3].

Nobody knew it yet, but those small classes were the seed of something big. The young student from Dublin had found her place, her teacher and her calling^[2][3].