Services A-Z
Representative on:
Environment & Amenities and Planning & Infrastructure Committees
stuart.ovenden@hartleywintney-pc.gov.uk
Cllr Stuart Ovenden joined the council in 2022, he has lived in the village since 2019 but has had a longstanding passion for the village and the local community. His family have historic links to the village; his wife’s grandfather was the village policeman in the 1950s, while his mother-in-law taught at Greenfields Junior school in the 1970s.
Stuart grew up in the equally picturesque village of Wittersham in Kent, enjoying rural life and the outdoors, he moved to Bath in 1999 to study a degree in Graphic Design, before settling in London to work for BBC Good Food magazine. In was here, that Stuart moved into photography, and he is currently a freelance food photographer and writer. It was his wife’s lifelong links to Hartley Wintney that brought him to the village where he now resides with her and their three children. All three children have attended the Green Oaks federation, attend village Cubs and Guides groups, Swimming clubs and play for the football team.
Stuart wanted to bring the beauty of Hartley Wintney into print, and subsequently photographed many of the pictures in his first book – The Orchard Cook, in the Vaughan Millennium Orchard on Hunts Common. Many of the recipes in the book were also inspired by the village. His second book – currently underway, will also be shot, in and around the village.
A keen forager and cook, Stuart spends much of his spare time on Hazeley Heath, enjoys walking on the commons, and as a lifelong advocate of the benefits of nature and the outdoors he very much hopes that the greenspace in and around the village will be preserved for future generations to enjoy.