Scotland based event planner, photographer and food stylist Amanda Farnese Heath launched The Mad March Hare a few years ago to fully realize her passion for creating exclusive alfresco culinary experiences that are as unique as they are memorable. At the forefront of a small but growing culinary movement often referred to as ‘Wild Dining’—being in stunning landscapes, enhanced by world-class cuisine—Amanda weaves together her creative talents to craft experiential and visually stunning gastronomic events. Hardly a picnic, her bespoke gatherings unite a soupçon of chic mystique with old world communal table traditions that showcase the magic of timeless culinary storytelling – centered on foraged, seasonal ingredients, rustic dishes and organic wines – in harmony with the great outdoors. If the event itself is akin to an epic novel, the short stories that comprise it lie in the meticulous details for which she has a penchant.

With a tag line that reads “Making Life Count, One Plate, One Picture, One Place At A Time”, Amanda has curated events not only for private clientele but for organizations as prestigious as Sotheby’s and Tyninghame Hall. She has been featured in such publications as FT: How to Spend It, Elle Decoration, Vogue, and The Telegraph, among countless others. We asked Amanda how she came to create this chapter of her life by intentional design.

So, what inspired the name “The Mad March Hare”?
The name is a mixture of my birth date in March and my Chinese sign the Hare. The Mad bit, I’m not quite sure!

How did you first get into event planning and food styling?
I was a commercial stylist and still am occasionally, but I decided I wanted to combine my love of food and styling to create Mad March Hare. Food styling has always been an absolute passion of mine so I worked really hard, landed my first few jobs, and it’s just grown organically from there on.

You started by doing “pop-ups”, what was the impetus for that?
I wanted to serve food that I had been cooking but I didn’t want to have to rent and build out a brick-and-mortar restaurant full-time. So, I decided to find redundant kitchens and ask the owners if I could open a few days a week. The first venue was The Auld House in North Berwick.

How do you manage the logistics of location setup and food prep?
That’s a great question! Masses of preparation, location visits and lists, lots of lists! We will always have a plan “B” with the weather in Scotland being so unreliable.

So how do you manage such challenges, or others that are inherent in growing a young business?
Really, the main challenge is the preparation, for example location scouting and logistics, etcetera, which I pretty much do alone. There’s just not enough money in each event for me to have a full-time assistant, which would be the dream – but, because I really love what I do, I just embrace the preparation process, all of it! Physically, you need to be in great shape as the work involves a lot of lifting, and quick thinking on your feet strategically if something isn’t working out just as you thought it would. So, the ability to be physically and mentally nimble is important.

What are some of the surprising or unexpected rewards of your Wild Dining endeavors?
It’s all rewarding! Truly, when you see your vision come to life and the incredible feedback you get, it’s just so amazing. It’s such hard work and you have to be 100% dedicated, but me and my team are totally up for each Long Table.

You had a “Foodie Gathering” planned this spring in Crete, but the global pandemic has compromised everyone’s plans. How did the idea initially come about, and what happens now?
It seems that everything I do tends to flow as it wishes and I felt this urge to take a small group and show them some amazing foodie treasures the island of Crete has to offer. I also had plans of doing styling gathering just outside Barcelona in August, and another in Tuscany in October. So in that regards it seems the flow is taking me overseas. Of course now, the pandemic has changed how we will all travel and gather together safely, at least for the foreseeable, near future. So I’ve shifted these plans to 2021, when I hope to be traveling around Europe on and off for a year, popping up in all sorts of unusual spots. In the meantime though, currently we have Long Table events planned for later this year in September, and for the holidays in December. All the details are on my website.

What are you focusing your attention on now, in order to be more intentional about living life by your own design?
For some reason I have always worked for myself, and I think that makes you realize that you can create the life you really want to be living rather than being on a treadmill which I just couldn’t do. I’m free and totally my own boss which at times can be a bit wobbly financially but it definitely outweighs anything else. For me, when the pandemic lock-down came into force it was inevitable that I would slow down and think...think about a lot in fact. So I set about to re-aligning myself and how I really want my life to be. On my Instagram, I’ve recently listed a few rules that are going to play out prominently in the next chapter of my life, and these rules are based on Native American life rules that I love. They include among several others: to keep yourself balanced, make a conscious decision to be the best version of yourself, be true to yourself, and share any good fortune with others. It’s much more satisfying for the soul!

To learn more about Amanda, book an event or styling workshop, or to inquire about sponsorship and collaboration, visit her website: The Mad March Hare, and follow her on instagram at: @amanda_farnese_heath

— Christina Spearman

Amanda Farnese Heath: Making Life Count On Her Own Terms