An Aga has always been something I’ve sort of unconsciously aspired to having. Y’know, along with a beach-fronted home, cashmere loungewear and hair that just falls right when I wake up.

Agas epitomise cosy kitchens. They conjure up warming night-time chatters, toasty toes and chubby-legged toddlers running across the kitchen floor.

So, at last night’s launch of Lower Barn Farm’s design studio (in London Road, Rayleigh) while there was SO MUCH lovely kitchen stuff to see up close and being used (thanks wonderful chefs!) there was one stand out for me.

The Everhot. It’s basically an Aga for the 21st century. A classic country kitchen look is combined with an energy-efficient heat storage range.

Like an Aga, it’s designed to stay on 24 hours a day, giving background warmth and cooking capacity. Unlike the traditional Agas, it’s electric – running from either one or two 13 amp plugs!! And while an Aga takes 24hrs to get up to temperature if turned off, this heats up in two hours from stone cold. Oh and it has an Eco control – hello energy efficiency and low running costs!

Created more than 35 years ago, it’s no new fad. And while folk like Zara Phillips have one, Everhot bods seem pretty happy to let the business grow by simple word of mouth.

Last night I sipped a glass of Prosecco while chef Graham Duke showed off the Everhot by cooking up a lamb roast in Lower Barn Farm’s snazzy new design studio. And my quiet Aga fantasy slowly retreated to be replaced by an Everhot yearn.

Admittedly, an Everhot will set you back about almost as much as a car. So us getting one is probably as likely as me having pretty bed hair. But still. I did not expect to leave Lower Barn Farm with a new fantasy last night, but that’s what has happened.

Consider yourselves warned Lower Barn Farm customers!

To find out more about Lower Barn Farm’s design studio, go to www.lowerbarnfarm.co.uk

To find out more about the Everhot, go to www.everhot.co.uk