"It is something I have thought about a lot, " says Mr. Fidelo, who designed Ms. Williams's garden and connected it to his own, which in turn connects to the yard of a third neighbor, Ken Druse, 62, a garden writer and photographer.

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Then it was on to Neal's Yard Dairy in Covent Garden, the leading specialist in artisan-style British cheese.

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His lab was the yard behind his house and a couple of garden hoses.

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Also of note: an ambitious onsite bakery (complete with a Twitter feed about what's hot from the oven) and gourmet shop stocking Prestat chocolates, Neal's Yard Dairy cheeses, and fruit and vegetables from the kitchen garden at Conran's country home.

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Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Longhorn Steakhouse, has responded to the trend with new restaurant franchises like Yard House, which prides itself on a large draft beer menu, American-fusion cuisine and a lively atmosphere punctuated with classic rock music and flat-screen TVs playing sporting events and news broadcasts.

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