A series of raised timber garden beds, installed almost a year ago, are already brimming with greenery, with golden heart cabbage, an assortment of squash varieties and peas among the produce the enthusiastic green thumb has been able to harvest so far.

Right now, he’s waiting patiently for his winter brassicas – including cauliflower and cabbages – to be ready to harvest, while also keeping a close eye on his fruit and nut orchard which will eventually provide a wealth of apples, pears, cherries and apricots as well as almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts.

The 56-year-old celebrity chef considers Tasmania his second home, having purchased a 1920s cottage on 2.8ha of pasture in the Channel region, about 18 months ago.

And while it’s only a part-time arrangement for now – as Gilmore is still enthusiastically running kitchens as executive chef at Sydney’s esteemed Bennelong restaurant and sister eatery Quay Restaurant – he eventually sees himself, and his wife Kath, living full-time in Tasmania.

Gilmore is also open to the idea of getting involved with a restaurant or other food project in Tasmania if the right opportunity presents itself.

“I may only be a part-time Tasmanian for now, but I am loving it,’’ Gilmore enthuses.

“I’ve been in love with the idea of moving to Tasmania for quite a few years now. And over the last 10 years or so, I’ve come down regularly on holidays. My wife and myself knew that if we ever wanted to get a bit of land in the country with a view to one day living there full-time, it would be in Tasmania.’’

After the pandemic hit, he and Kath decided to act on that dream. They sold their family home in Sydney and although they’re not ready to move to Tasmania full-time just yet, Gilmore liked the idea of being able to start building his vegetable garden and his orchard now, so by the time they’re ready to relocate everything will be well established. So Gilmore currently bases himself in a Sydney apartment while working at Bennelong and Quay, flying down to Tassie every few weeks to spend time enjoying a slower pace of life.

“For the moment, it’s just a bit of an escape,’’ Gilmore explains.

“I try and get down to Tassie every six weeks or so for a few days, sometimes for a bit longer, sometimes I have a week or 10 days down there. One day maybe we’ll make it full-time.’’

He says there’s a lot to love about the state – and he becomes more smitten with Tasmania with every visit.

“I just love the environment, and the climate,’’ Gilmore says.

“The fact that you get the true four seasons – it works really well with my idea of gardening, and wanting to grow European-style fruit trees. Plums and cherries and apricots, they all do so well down there in the climate.

“And being in the Channel, only about 40 minutes from Hobart, it’s really convenient to head back up to Hobart and have a really nice meal in one of the great restaurants in town. It’s not so far away that you can’t have the best of city and country life – it’s perfect for us.’’

Gilmore has already planted more than 50 fruit trees and had them irrigated so that he can actually water them from Sydney, using an app on his phone. He also keeps a close eye on the weather apps to monitor the ever-changing Tasmanian weather from Sydney.

“The technology blows my mind,’’ he laughs.

He talks enthusiastically about the work he has done on the property so far, and has been sharing highlights of his journey with his 128,000 followers on Instagram, with the water view from his deck, progress shots of his orchard taking shape, produce plucked fresh from his vegie garden and snaps of “incredible cloud formations and sunsets” wowing fans.

In fact it was on social media, back in 2017, that Gilmore publicly announced his desire to live in Tasmania in five years’ time. And while it took him a little bit longer than five years,

Gilmore says it was definitely worth the wait to be able to regularly “escape” to Tasmania and establish his fruit and nut orchard and his “dream vegetable garden”.

“I built some raised beds and every time I go (to the property) it’s very exciting to see how things have been growing,’’ Gilmore says.

“It’s something I’ve always really loved, I’ve always been interested in growing vegies myself, for probably 15 years now. It’s a fun thing, hobby-wise, but professionally I can grow different varieties of things and assess them.’’

And then, he says, when he finds varieties that he particularly loves, he seeks out growers who can supply those varieties to his restaurants.

It was Tasmanian produce that first attracted Gilmore to the state.

“Originally, it was about the produce,’’ he says, adding that he was a very early adopter of Tasmanian wasabi, and also featured Tassie produce in his 2014 cookbook, Organum.

“I love the variety – from incredible seafood, lobsters and abalone right through to white asparagus being grown in Tassie which I’ve had a long-term interest in,’’ Gilmore says.

The Tourism Australia ambassador was also involved in a Restaurant Australia campaign in 2014, when he and fellow chefs Neil Perry and Ben Shewry cooked for an Invite the World to Dinner gala event at Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art.

The event attracted some of the world’s most influential and respected food and wine VIPs, including national and international food writers, chefs and TV personalities including Maggie Beer, Matt Preston, Matt Moran and Heston Blumenthal. The event marked the culmination of the Restaurant Australia campaign, showcasing the remarkable people, produce and inspiring places that make Australia’s food and wine so unique.

“I had to spend a fair bit of time researching for that dinner down in Tasmania,’’ recalls Gilmore, whose Restaurant Australia experience was made into a series which was screened on Netflix.

“So that was my initial interest. But over the years I really just enjoyed the beauty of Tasmania. In more recent years I’ve come down on holidays and I’ve just felt such a great appreciation for Tasmania’s great food and wine and now that has extended into whisky. Also there’s a spirit of entrepreneurship in Tassie and the restaurant scene that’s really infectious. They’re kicking some great goals and doing some really amazing stuff. So I knew it was the sort of place I could see myself.’’

And while Gilmore has always been a fan of using Tassie produce in his restaurants, he admits more local produce has been sneaking into his menus since he’s been spending more time here.

“I look at myself as being an Australian chef and really embracing all of Australia’s produce, and some of the very best produce comes from Tasmania, without a doubt,’’ Gilmore says.

Born and raised in Sydney, Gilmore started his chef apprenticeship at 16, inspired by the delicious food he grew up eating at home.

“My mum is a really great cook and has always loved entertaining,’’ he explains.

“So I definitely copped that interest from her, hanging around the kitchen as a young kid, I loved the idea of making people happy through food, and hospitality seemed like what I was really born to do in some ways.’’

He spent his 20s working in kitchens overseas and in country NSW, developing his own style. He is now one of the most awarded chefs in Australia, having led the internationally acclaimed Quay Restaurant – with inspired cuisine and panoramic views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House – since 2001.

Quay has been repeatedly named on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list and has also previously held the title of Best Restaurant in Australasia. It has been awarded Three Chef Hats for 22 consecutive years in the Australian Good Food Guide Awards. In 2022, Quay placed equal fifth in the top 1000 restaurants in the world by La Liste.

Meanwhile Bennelong, located within the Sydney Opera House and overlooking the harbour, has been described by The New York Times as “the Holy Grail of Australian restaurants”, and has won a string of awards since Gilmore became the executive chef following the restaurant’s renovation and reopening in 2015.

Gilmore and his cuisine are highly regarded within Australia and overseas and he’s regularly invited to attend international festivals and seminars, as well as being named in the Top 100 World’s Best Chef list in 2022.

He is also known for being a regular guest chef and judge on MasterChef Australia. Gilmore famously created the Snow Egg – which he describes as a “diabolically hard dish” – and contestants had to attempt to recreate it in the finale of the second season, in 2010. It was one of the most watched moments in Australian television history, with four million viewers – and remains one of the most memorable dishes in the show’s history.

As much as he’s cemented his reputation in Sydney, Gilmore says he loves having the opportunity to travel overseas a couple of times each year, attending events and dinners in places like New York and London.

“Those sorts of trips are very enriching and they inform your creativity,’’ he says.

“I just get so much inspiration from travel.’’

Tasmania isn’t quite so far to travel, but it’s still a source of inspiration.

The passionate whisky drinker has already taken on an ambassador role with Lark Distillery, having been impressed with the innovation of the distillery’s founder Bill Lark.

“I’ve always been very interested in whisky, it’s my favourite drink to have, if I go out I’ll usually have a straight whisky,’’ Gilmore says.

“We’ve had a few functions for Lark over the years at Quay, Bill Lark and I knew each other over the years, he heard I was moving down to Tasmania, so we got in touch and thought ‘what could we do together?’.’’

He expects to be involved in a couple of upcoming events with Lark and also has plans to work on some whisky and food matches and share some recipes on social media.

Gilmore is also supporting not-for-profit organisation Sprout Tasmania – which supports local producers to grow and farm ethically and sustainably to bolster our local Tasmanian food system – and will speak as part of the annual Cross Pollinate Tasmania conference later this month.

Gilmore has already published three cookbooks but says it’s possible his time in Tassie will spark inspiration for a new release.

“There might be (a Tassie-inspired cookbook), you never know – I might do an ‘at home on the farm’ cookbook one of these days,’’ Gilmore says.

He’s also open to the idea of establishing a restaurant in Hobart.

“Sometimes I’ll be walking down the street and people recognise me and ask me what I’m doing (in Tasmania) … everyone would like to know if I’m going to open something down here,’’ Gilmore says.

He doesn’t mind these sorts of interactions, saying “I just find Tasmanians to be really friendly and approachable sort of people who are down-to-earth and I love that’’.

And Gilmore says that while his schedule is currently quite full with work commitments in Sydney, he would consider working in Tassie if the perfect project presented itself.

“I may look at the idea of doing something in Tasmania if the right opportunity came up in the future,’’ he says.

“I could definitely be persuaded to do something. It all depends what sort of opportunity presents itself down the track. I could see myself moving down a bit earlier, moving down to do something in Tasmania.

“I like the pace of life and the people just seem genuine. And I love the spirit of Tasmanians, there’s a really creative bent to Tasmanians, especially, you know, with what has happened over the last 10 years with Mona and that whole scene, it’s really a very interesting place to be.

“I’m reasonably tied to my work in Sydney at the moment. So it would have to be something pretty amazing, but I would consider it – I love being down (in Tasmania) so much.’’

Gilmore’s wife Kath actually lived in Tasmania for a couple of years as a teen and studied hospitality at Drysdale.

“She always said she’d love to come back down to Tassie one day,’’ Gilmore says.

“It’s a mutual thing that we both love Tassie.’’

Their sons are 20 and 23 and Gilmore says the youngest is actually thinking about moving to the state.

While living here full-time is the ultimate dream for Gilmore, he says for now he’s happy to enjoy regular visits as he works towards achieving a 50/50 split between Sydney and Hobart.

“I’m very happy to embrace my relationship with Tasmania,’’ he says. “I am so lucky that I get to escape down to Tasmania … to recharge and seek inspiration.’’•

Sprout Tasmania’s Cross Pollinate conference features events in Launceston, on Sunday June 16, and in Hobart, on Sunday June 23. Peter Gilmore will speak in Hobart. For details: sprout.org.au You can also follow Peter Gilmore’s Tasmanian journey on Instagram @chefpetergilmore