You’ll have seen Adam Simmonds representing the South East on BBC1’s Great British Menu.

If not, his accolades speak for themselves; a Michelin star, four rosettes in the AA Restaurant Guide and a consistent 8/10 rating in the Good Food Guide, placing Adam and his restaurant at Danesfield House 12th in the UK, rendering him in addition, ‘one of the top ten chefs to watch this decade.’ You can watch Adam in action yourself this weekend at the Thame Food Festival alongside the likes of Festival Ambassador Raymond Blanc and fellow Michelin starred chef Tom Kerridge, to ensure the sixth year of the Thame Food Festival is even bigger and better than last year when 20,000 people flocked to the Oxfordshire market town to taste, cook, eat and drink.

“I’m honoured to have been asked to appear at the Thame Food Festival,” Adam says. Demonstrating one of his signature dishes on Saturday – a scallop cerviche with apple, ground almonds and camomile tea starter – will we be able to make that at home? “The challenge is to translate your dish to people who aren’t in the profession which I love because you can go into far more detail about the dish, so no technical jargon I promise.”

Anyone who’s eaten his food will know what an enormous pleasure this will be, and yet Adam has had to fight hard for his current recognition. “When I found out Danesfield had finally been awarded a Michelin star I was obviously delighted but also enormously relieved that all the hard work had finally paid off.

“It was great for morale because getting a star is always at the back of your mind and you have to keep at it because you are the driving force in the kitchen and I drive my boys hard because I’m a perfectionist and I want the best for them.”

Budding chefs should take heart from Adam’s story. Severely dyslexic, Adam knew that he wanted to be a chef from the age of 14. As one of only two boys in his school Home Economics class, he became a pot washer and sandwich maker in a local pub in Leighton Buzzard, aged 16, and by 18 was an apprentice and then commis chef at Le Gavroche.

“I was a working class lad who worked really hard for the glory,” he reflects. Rising quickly through the ranks he worked with some of the greats including Marco Pierre White, Jean-Christophe Novelli and spent three years at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, with Raymond Blanc, gaining his first Michelin star in 2006 at Ynyshir Hall in Wales. He joined Danesfield House, near Marlow, in 2007 gaining his Michelin star there as well.

But catch him while you can because Adam is leaving our neck of the woods, to set up on his own in London. “I need a new challenge so I’m going to help a friend start up a concept restaurant while I look for my own place. I’m very aware of what I want and I will give it the same enthusiasm and motivation that I put into all my work, but yes it’s like jumping off a cliff without a parachute.”

So what can we do to get him to stay? “I’m open to suggestions,” he laughs. “But I’m 42 now and I want two Michelin stars so if I don’t go for it now I never will. My aspirations are still the same and I think about food 24 hours a day. It’s what I enjoy, its an expression of myself, and I’m always pushing the boundaries, although as I’m a perfectionist I’m not doing very well with my work/life balance at the moment because I’m always here,” he says gesturing at the Danesfield kitchen walls. “But when you are hungry and driven everything else falls by the wayside.”

Excited then? “I always think of it like a football team, I’m the manager and look after the players while the Board of Directors run the place. We just have to make sure we stay in the premiership because failure is not an option so the pressure is on.”

Adam Simmonds will appear at the Thame Food Festival on Saturday to promote local produce alongside local, talented master bakers, chocolatiers and brewers.

The Thame Food Festival takes place from 9am to 6pm. Full details of the stall line-up and the events are available at thamefoodfestival.co.uk