Croeso! (Welcome!) to the Beach House Kitchen! We are a Welsh hill-side refuge for lovers of hearty and healthy vegan food; real simple, home cooked fare using seasonal and local produce with regular global twists. Our food is always bursting with bold flavours and bags of creativity. Food to make you sparkle and zing!
The Beach House is located near the spectacular Snowdonia Mountain Range in North Wales, a 200-year-old slate cottage with a cosy kitchen that is home to all our inspiration and recipe hatching. Jane painstakingly renovated the house over a period of six years with her Dad, Keith. I then met Jane in 2011, on a tiny beach in the Philippines, and the rest is this!
The Beach House Kitchen blog grew out of a desire to share the food that we enjoy with the world. We love food that is both healthy and delicious and feel that there are no compromises needed when eating nourishing vegan grub.
We have learnt so much over the past nine years about blogging and nutrition; food photography and worldwide trends. You can see from our earlier posts how far our food photography has come for example!! We fit the Beach House Kitchen in between our relatively busy lives and hope to project a purely positive, fresh image of all things plant based.
We are passionate about all things vegetable, fruit, bean, pulse and of course NUT! Vegan food in all its lovely forms and textures, both cooking it and sourcing it. We try to grow some of our own ingredients when we can and normally keep you posted on how our garden grows. The Beach House garden is regularly lashed with storms and high winds, the soil is very acidic….we do our best to eek out the occasional beetroot up here on Tiger Hill.
I do the cooking and occasional burst of writing; Jane, the washing up, proof reading and perfect cups of tea. Each year we go RAW vegan for a month or so and love the process. Energy is abundant and we feel lighter than a feather. A very pleasant experiment.
We live a mostly peaceful life up here in this remote corner of Britain. We love to enjoy the surrounding nature; walking, running and occasionally swimming/ surfing. We play music regularly and practice yoga by our fire. The Beach House has become our haven for expressing ourselves freely and we hope this comes across in our blog posts. We sincerely wish that the Beach House Kitchen will give you a healthy slice of health and happiness.
I am now a full blown vegan. Our posts are purely vegan and we both love the non-violent, animal friendly, environmentally conscious approach to living; not to mention the highly creative and imaginative food. Veganism seemed like the natural progression from being a vegetarian, especially the more we learned about the meat and dairy industries.
We like to make cooking simple and fun. Our ingredients are normally local and organic (when we can!) and always as fresh as a daisy (always!). We have some great local organic farms who gift us with intensely wonderful produce. We share everything on the Beach House Kitchen, all the knowledge we glean and the tasty morsels we munch; all the things we learn and the good times we have.
TREATS
As well as focusing on the healthy style of cooking that we love eating everyday, we will promote as many moments of pure decadence as possible. Vegan food can certainly be tantalising and rich. Our desserts will take care of those times of much-needed indulgence. Curled up in a corner with a slab of brownie or a drop of sloe gin, we all need a hearty dollop of sweetness in our lives.
TRAVEL
We both love to travel and our journey has taken us all over the planet. You will see this in our food. We revel in experimentation and regularly mingle global flavours and techniques with time honoured classics. At the minute it’s wet and windy so I’m making a hearty bean stew. The beans are from Panama, the veg is from the organic farm down the road and the spices brought from my favourite spice shop in Mumbai. These are treats of course, we are striving towards a ‘zero food mile’ ideal. Therefore, I sometimes walk to the farm over the valleys with my backpack on. Something like a vegetable triathlon.
Jane and I, my first day at the Beach House after India – Summer ’11We feel a deep connection to environmental issues, which is one of the main reasons we choose a vegan lifestyle. We will give regular tips and links on how to minimise general consumption and impact on the environment as we take baby steps towards a more sustainable lifestyle. We are also interested in nutrition and most Beach House posts will have some nutritional information, our ‘Foodie Fact’, highlighting the magical and healing properties of plants.
I am also a devoted wine and beer sipper and will unselfishly sample different tipples and give my verdict (everything in moderation of course), always trying to think of new ways to pair vegan food with quality drinks.
Let us know if you like our stuff. Contact us here. We are always open to new suggestions/ feedback. We’d love to hear from you.
Put the kettle on and have a look around. There are posts and recipes here for everyone. Make yourself at home!
Iechyd da! (Cheers!)
Lee and JaneXxxxxX
beach house kitchen 
brother Lee….I love it. keep up the good work with this blog….I believe it has some legs!
Love and peas, All at Antipodas tavern in sunny La Azohia XXX
Brother Dorada, Que pasa? How’s Mercadona treating you? Thanks for the comments sir, I’ll be quaffing a cana with you in late April…can’t wait. Its beautiful here, but I can’t feel my face (cold, not sedated). Viva la puta vida. Peace and Much Love to allXXXXX (whats Rachs email, I have two and neither work)
stunning, I wish this was the view I had from my back garden 🙂
Love Jude xx
Thanks for the kind feedback Judith. Those hills are covered with snow at the minute, which makes it even more breathtaking!! Wow. I may go and take a picture now and stick it on the blog. Jane says ‘HELLO’XXXX
Hi I’ve nominated your blog for a Kreativ blog award, you can see the post here http://veghotpot.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/kreativ-blogger-award/ xx
Hello VegHotPot, Many thanks for the nomination, we are chuffed to bits that you are enjoying the Beach House flow. We love your stuffX Jane.
It appears that you may have created the perfect life for yourselves. 🙂
Thanks for that, we are having a ball! Spring is here and we’ve been in the garden all day. Life is good on the hill. Wishing you a lovely time. Jane and LeeX
My son studied at Atlantic College, and we visited that ruggedly beautiful country while we were there. If your Beach House Kitchen were open for paying clients, I’m thinking (and judging from the looks of your blog) that it woud be well worth the trek should we ever return! 🙂
Hey Lee and sweet Jane – wonderful to have found you both. Just reading this felt like I have started on a healthier life. Would look forward to future posts on BHK!
Cheers Ishita. Just returned from a weekend visiting Janes folks in Stafford, plenty of cake and tea…had a lovely Indian meal last night but always look forward to our fruity and veggie BHK lifestyle. Roll on the smoothies. Raw diet is coming soon, no muesli! Ouch!
Hi! I really enjoy your blog and have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. You can check out the post here: http://morethangreens.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/versatile-blogger-award/
Have a great day!
– Sarah
Hello there Sarah, I totally forgot about this. Oops. Thanks so much for nominating us, I will attempt a post tomorrow. Have fine times, lee
Great site design and photos! I grew up on a different kind of beach in Sarasota, Florida. It’s always strange to see people at the beach in coats, haha. 🙂 Beautiful life you have there, though. Cheers!
Thanks a bunch! Great to gave you here. You are always welcome in wild north wales, the beaches are dramatic and normally windswept, but some have white sand and on occasion, the sea calms enough for a swim. A long way from Florida…Happy days, lee and janeX
I LOVE THIS SITE! I’ll read the entries one by one by one when I have the time. 🙂
Thank you so much, it means alot……..Have a great time reading and please keep in touch. We are off to see what you are up to….Happy days, lee and janeX
Hi Jane & Lee! Thanks for visiting my blog and liking some posts. And thank you, therefore, for bringing me to your own blog. Awesome, very creative and inspiring!! Congrats with your beach house… and of course its very kitchen corner.. for sure I’ll be checking BHK regularly.
All the best!
Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! Great to have you here, the door is always open for great people. Happiness, lee and janeX
You guys are too cute! Great work. 🙂
Thank you beverly hills! We have hills here, but they aren’t quite as glamorous! Thanks for dropping by, lee and janeX
Hello Jane & Lee! Thanks for liking our blog; I’m happy to have found a new favorite site in your blog. I’ll have to make that raw Thai soup sometime soon!
That That soup is a real treat, hope you enjoy. Happiness, lee and janeX
From my Beachy Vegetarian Kitchen to your Beachy Vegetarian Kitchen!
Hello Beachy great to have you here! Happy days, lee and janex
Cheers, Leroy! I listed you in my One Lovely Blog list! Participate if you like! I’ve noticed that these awards go around a lot.
http://veganmonologue.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/one-lovely-blog-2/
That’s great news, thanks for that, always nice to be lovely! Happy days, lee and janex
You have a great & cool blog here! 🙂 I love it! Thanks for visiting my blog so that I could discover yours! 🙂
Many greets from Belgium!
Great to have you here for a while Sophie, your blog is very tasty and lots of fun. Have great times, lee and janex
Hi there, I have nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award! I truly enjoy your site; keep posting! 🙂 Make sure to click the link.
http://amoonfull.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/my-first-award-lovely-blogger/
That is so very sweet of you. We love reading your blog too, your writing conveys your joy and happiness. You make us smile and for that alone, you are our hero. Peace and light (and many thanks), lee and janeXXXXX
You’re welcome and thank you dearly for your words. It is great to know that through my writing others can sense my sense of joy in life. 🙂
Love and Light,
Moon
Your writing emanates peace, I am thoroughly enjoying reading your blog!
I just moved from Alaska (after breaking all our records for snow this past winter) to the beach, Charleston SC USA…My toes haven’t been cold in 6 weeks!
From my new beach kitchen to yours, I look forward to reading more 🙂
Ive heard alot about Charleston, many people seem to go there. Warm toes are so important! Lovely to have you here, looking forward to checking out all your plant based adventures. Viva beachy kitchens! Happy days, leex
I am really enjoying your blog (love vegetarian) and am nominating you for the Beautiful Blogger(s) Award. See my post for details (http://karinwiberg.wordpress.com/2012/08/12/one-lovely-blog-beautiful-blogger-awards/). Thanks for the great work! –Karin
Hi! What a sweet photo of you and Jane. Your blog is very inspiring. I also have to say that after reading this little bio here I googled images of the Irish Sea and the mountain ranges you mentioned — seems like a dream away to my husband and I over here in Lakeland, FL! What a pleasure to be able to walk over to the farm & get fresh produce. We have very few here, and we cannot walk to them unfortunately. However, we will be starting another garden soon! Thanks for the inspiration!
Wren
Funnily, we just saw a beautiful wren on our walk today. Tiny little bird with a big voice! Lovely to have you here, thank you for the kind words. Peace and Happiness, lee and janex
I had nominated you for One Lovely Blog Award… http://ybertaud9.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/one-lovely-blog-award/
Wow! How lovelyX It is always a real privelege to be nominated for such a shining award. Loveliness, lee and janeX
Hey there Lee and Jane! Thanks for liking a post on my blog. I live by the beach in California – I can’t imagine living inland. Anyway, I like the philosophy you guys have about food. Great blog – keep it up! Celeste
Great Celeste, lovely to hear of other people living near the beach. Ours has sheep, yours has palm trees, fancy a swap!!!!! Happy days, lee and janex
Hmmmm… that’s something to think about:)
Lovely vibrant blog! Have followed now gonna take a look around. Cheers 🙂
The picture of the mung beans did it for me. As soon as I saw those sweet babies I was like ‘follow’! hahahaha, beautiful pics, beautiful site, I’m looking forward to your posts!
Thanks Sammy, mung beans are close friends of the beach house. Its a little cold to sprout in the cottage at the minute, we look forward to summer, the season of the sprout here in Wales. Thanks for dropping by, have great times. Lee and Janex
Pingback: Thai Mango and Coconut Forbidden Purple Rice with Basil (Vegan) | the beach house kitchen
You have such a unique story and life!! I’m enjoying looking through your many versatile and wonderful recipes!
Kristin
Brilliant to have you here Kristin, have a great look around. Hope you get to try a few out one day! Happy days, lee and janex
Thanks for visiting my blog. I am excited to look over your blog. My husband and I are vegans and I am always looking for new recipes. By living in Virginia we are able to grow most, unfortunately not all, of our own food. Have already found some recipes to try. Blessings to you my friend.
You lucky guys! We try and get a veg patch going, but its hard going on these rainy hills. Last year we got a few veggies from the land, but the slugs got most. This year we are going for it again, with greater slug defenses. Looking forward to reading more of your blog too. Happy days to Virginia
Pingback: Friday Faves, July 12 | Living Simply Free
Thanks for sharing guys!!!!!!
Really lovely blog and story 🙂
Sophia
Thank you Sophia, you are more than welcome in the BHK anytime! Happy days, lee
Hi Jane and Lee.,
Your garden view is amazing., being a vegetarian myself and from India where it is so common, I really appreciate it when people are willing to try out veg food., looking forward to reading more of your posts..
Beena
Thanks for stopping by Beena, great to have you up here in the hills of Wales. It is a spectacular place to live and we are so lucky, especially with the weather at the moment which is radiant. Have great times, lee and janex
Thanks Lee for Following my blog and Liking my posts….good to also see your work with vegetarian food here…I’m a vegan for many years myself….wishing you much Light and Peace along your Journey, and tell your Jane she’s Lovely…you’re a lucky man to have a Beautiful Lady like her in your life…Wishing both of you Love Always…Noel
brother noel, thanks for dropping by and especially your Janie comments. I will pass them on (and she will smile and laugh alot!). we are heading to India in Jan and will be passing by Auroville for a time. Its a special corner of the world, just like your blog my friend. I am always looking for new vegan recipes to try and of course, Indian food is sublime. Peace and Pumpkins, lee
Thank you for your kind words…interesting that you will be passing by Auroville…I am actually in the U.S. at the moment, possibly passing through Europe/London when I return most likely in January…perhaps we’ll cross paths…you can keep in touch through my Contact page, as you wish! Peace and Light….
Pingback: Jane’s Easy Seeded Wholemeal Loaf | the beach house kitchen
Your blog, recipes and garden are stunning – I’m so glad to have found this blog and have taken a huge amount of inspiration from it.
We’re currently in the process of selling our flat and buying a house with a south facing garden and I’m very excited to have my first ever vegetable patch – I will be dropping by very frequently for gardening tips!
Wow! Thanks Sian, its amazing what you can do with a few camera angles. The Beach House garden is wild and unruly this year and we have not had a great deal of success on the growing front. Blackberries and plums have been a bumper crop, but we didn’t have to do anything to them! Nature has been kind. We are grateful that you made it across here and we’re looking forward to exploring your cheeky vegan-ness. We can share gardening tips as we learn together! Peace and Pumpkins, lee and jane
Hi Lee, thanks for stopping by on my blog! Your recipes look amazing! Have a nice day, Corina 🙂
Nice one Corina! Thanks for stopping by the BHK, hope you had a nice look around. Peace and parsnips, lee and jane
Pingback: Liebster Award | Andrea's Garden Cooking
Looking forward to exploring your blog! Everything looks fantastic!
Pingback: Lee’s BBC Radio interviews with Steve Wright and Eleri Sion | the beach house kitchen
we visited snowdonia in 2007. Beautifull, although I can’t pronounce the names of all the place we visited 😉
glad to have found your blog. cheers from belgium,
trudi
Cheers to you Trudi! Wales is a beautiful place and Snowdon is looking good today in the summer sunshine. Take care, lee
So lovely to stumble upon your blog. Am vegetarian and need to cut out fat, so dairy is obvious choice to cut out. I thought this would be nearly impossible time wise and given that I’m in North Wales not London, but your blog is inspiring and sounds delicious! Do you shop locally?
Fantastic Allie! We get a veg box in Bethel from a cooperative and will soon be able to buy organic veggies from Trigonos in Nantlle Valley. We also go to the health food shops in Bangor and Porthmadog. North Wales has loads of great places to source top veggie produce! Thanks for stopping by:)
Pingback: Pumpkin, Ginger and Kaffir Lime Soup | the beach house kitchen
Pingback: Turkish-Style Spinach with Creamy Tofu Ricotta + Peace & Parsnips cookbook GIVEAWAY | the taste space
Amazing Amazing.
When are you coming to California?
Khalid
No time soon unfortunately Khalid. Hopefully some day. Hope all is well and good over there. Peace, Lee;)
I just made my first recipe out of your Peace and Parsnips book – which i bought for myself and 2 copies for my veggie friends. It was Green Pea, Cauliflower, rosewater Pulao and coconut and mint chutney. Absolutely loved it. How long does chutney last in fridge? Veggie food and now vegan is having its time I think. When i first became a vegetarian in late 1970s it seemed like that was a good time and then things sort of dipped with less vegetarian restaurants but with Ottolenghi and your recipes things are so much more wonderful in terms of flavour and new ingredients. I found you when i googled beetroot leaf soup – which i made and it was fantastic. So thanks for your stuff. I just discovered Kefir made with soya milk – any thoughts on using this? kind regards Diana
Hello! Great stuff!! Veganism is certainly getting popular all over the world. Long may it continue!! Lovely to hear you’re enjoying the recipes, I love Ottenlenghi’s style. Kefir with soya milk sounds interesting, my partner has used it before but I have not. Jane ate it before bed for best effects in the gut. Amazing health properties. Otherwise I’d just substitute it for yoghurt in things. Happy cooking, Lee
Dear Lee and Jane,
Your excellent website contains such a glorious riot of vegan cuisines that your dedication towards a holistic lifestyle is highly commendable. I would like to reciprocate with some tempting and mind-bogglingly presented food in one of my posts entitled “🦅 SoundEagle in Edible Art, Glorious Food and Festive Season 🍣🥗🍜🍲🍱” published at https://soundeagle.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/soundeagle-in-edible-art-glorious-food-and-festive-season/
Please enjoy! Happy May to you!
Many thanks! We’ll certainly be stopping by✌️🌞👍
You are very welcome! Please be informed that you might need to use a desktop or laptop computer with a large screen to view the rich multimedia contents available for heightening your multisensory enjoyment at my websites, some of which could be too powerful and feature-rich for iPad, iPhone, tablet or other portable devices to handle properly or adequately.