Between 1984 and 2002, Hermione Ainley and Richard Coleman imagined, built, ran and finally sold a restaurant beside the canal in Northamptonshire. They spent two years converting a carpenter's workshop which was largely derelict, wrongly assuming that this would be the hard part. In the early days they employed a chef and a restaurant manager but, realising that they were in danger of going under, dispensed with both and did all the work themselves, helped by a willing crew of young people and one or two equally untrained adults. By the time they finally sold, they had a loyal clientele and...