If there's one thing we love in England it's a good portion of pie and chips with gravy - it doesn't get much better than that.

And this week you have an excuse for eating as much pie as you fancy - because it's national pie week.

So, to celebrate, here's a guide to how to make the perfect pie:

The ingredients

You can’t rush good cooking, so take time and care – good ingredients make a good pie. If you’re making a meat pie, don’t hurry the filling or mix different cuts of meat to ensure it’s evenly cooked.

A long, slow cooking process will produce a rich dark stew with glossy gravy.

As an alternative to a meaty pie, try roasting a tray of vegetables in a hot oven with garlic, rosemary and olive oil – before seasoning and tossing in crème fraiche and parmesan and topping with buttery puff pastry.

Making the pastry

For those of us with busy lives, there isn’t always time to make everything from scratch– ingredients like good quality ready roll pastry, or chicken stock cubes will still taste great and save you time.

If you do want to make your own pastry, start with everything cold then use light fingers and a light touch to avoid overworking it, and never substitute butter for margarine!

For sweet pies, try scraping out a vanilla pod and adding the seeds to a rich flaky pastry – this works really well with apple or peach fillings.

Always let your pastry rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes – this will help prevent shrinkage when you bake your pie.

Before it goes in the oven

Try experimenting with different cheeses – strong ones like Parmesan or extra mature cheddar work really well and you can even add some English mustard powder for extra oomph.

I also like adding poppy, sesame or caraway seeds to my pastry for extra texture and flavour. I like to use the excess pastry to decorate the lid and make the pie more interesting. Hearts and stars are our favourite at Higgidy but you can even try to write your name in pastry. Brush with egg yolks afterwards to give it a lovely golden glaze

Avoiding a soggy bottom

If you preheat the tin the pie is going to sit on, it will help to get the heat through the bottom of the pie and avoid a soggy bottom!

Try to get your oven good and hot – pastry doesn’t like moderate or cool ovens, it will just 'sweat’ and turn soggy.

Don’t worry if your pie doesn’t look perfect, a higgledy piggledy pie is all part of the home-made charm.

The most tasty, well-loved pies are those with wobbly buttery pastry and oozy filling bubbling over the side of the dish. The most important thing is not to be afraid and just have fun.