When Kendall Smith-Franchini and her husband Laurent first saw their home, the Woodland House, 15 years ago, the real estate agent showed them the outside first – the yard, the orchard, the potential. As newlyweds looking for a place with some ground to work with, they were completely thrilled. It took a decade, however, for their garden dreams to come to life.
They had established The Cook's Atelier, the family's cooking school and culinary boutique in the heart of Beaune, France, a few years before buying their 1850s home, and were focused on building a lifestyle business with a farm-to-table ethos at its heart. From the very beginning, Kendell, her mother Marjorie, and Laurent worked closely with food producers in the Burgundy region to source the best local ingredients they could find.
