This November, celebrated Ukrainian chef and food writer Olia Hercules takes over the Ox Barn for one night only.
Known for her brilliant cooking and her powerful storytelling, Olia brings with her the flavours of Ukraine, from beef rib borsch to rose geranium honey cake. Using both fresh and preserved produce from Thyme's kitchen garden, Olia will prepare the food of her home in Ukraine.
Profits from the ticket price will go to the Humanitarian Headquarters of the DOF Volunteer Centre, a hub in Mykolaiv, serving and delivering bread and other humanitarian supplies to military units as well as displaced and vulnerable people in the region.
On the night, Olia will be signing copies of her new book, Strong Roots; A Ukranian Story of Food, Exile and Hope. The book can be pre-ordered when you reserve your table or purchased during the event.
We will also be hosting a talk with Olia Hercules and Felicity Spector at 5pm on the evening of the event - read more here. Tickets can be bought via the link below.
Talk timings:
4:45pm: Guest Arrival
5pm: talk begins
6pm: Talk Finisihes
Ox Barn Restaurant Takeover timings:
tables are available from 6pm
If you are joining us for the talk, we would recommend booking your table between 6.15pm and 7pm
join us for a drink beforehand, please arrive 30 minutes ahead of your table
Ticket Prices:
£70 ticket includes a four course set menu
Add a Preorder book for £20
Attend the talk at 5pm for £15
please note: Dietaries will be catered for if specified on booking. Tickets not booked together will not be seated together.
Thyme will offer a 20% discount on room bookings following the event, quoting HERCULES20.
Olia Hercules
Olia Hercules was born in the South of Ukraine. She studied Italian language and International Relations at the University of Warwick. After spending a year in Italy, Olia settled in London, pursuing a career in journalism. She would later quit her job as a film business reporter to pursue her dream to cook for a living.
Dedicated to researching food culture and culinary traditions of countries less explored, Hercules is the author of the award-winning cookbooks Mamushka, Kaukasis and Summer Kitchens.
Charlie Hibbert
Charlie Hibbert grew up in a family of people who love to cook and entertain. The kitchen quickly became his favourite place to be, and he started working at the Swan at Southrop when he was 13-years-old as a kitchen porter.
Charlie went on to train at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, before honing his skills under the guidance of renowned chef Jeremy Lee MBE at Quo Vadis in London. His mother, Caryn Hibbert, founded Thyme in 2007 and in 2018, Charlie returned to the Cotswolds to open the Ox Barn - to wide acclaim. He later took over the kitchen operations of the Swan also. His recipes have since been featured in publications including The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, and House & Garden.
Strong Roots by Olia Hercules
‘I am writing this story without knowing its end: it begins long before I was born and will continue long after I die. I am writing this story to help myself heal and to make you understand.’
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ukrainian chef Olia Hercules decided it was finally time to tell her story. Strong Roots is the story of a century in Ukraine told through four generations of one extraordinary family. It takes us from years of Russification, to Olia’s grandmother’s deportation to snowy wastelands under Stalin, to her Aunt Zhenia's school protest, to her own parents’ flight from Ukraine when their town was occupied in 2022.
This is an ode to the land, to ideas of home and belonging, and to family stories and recipes passed down the generations – the tang of sour cherries, the best way to make borsch. It is an account of resilience in the hardest of circumstances. Strong Roots brims with hope and grief. It lays bare the compromises and betrayals of generations struggling and surviving through war, peace, invasion and exile. It is an uplifting reminder of how much the human spirit can endure when born from a land rich with strong roots.
Olia will be signing copies of her book on the night.
“Sweeping, intimate, defiant and brimming with love”
- Louise Kennedy
“It is the roots that keep the trees from falling during a storm. Olia Hercules tells us that the same is true for people and nations”
- Serhii Plokhy
Join the Ox Barn Supper Club for regular updates