Method: 

​STEP 1: Get the chicken out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you want to cook it to allow it to come up to room temperature. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C.

Pick the leaves off the thyme sprigs and roughly chop the sage. Halve the bulb of garlic, put one half aside and finely chop the other half. Mix the sage, thyme and garlic with the butter and season well with salt and pepper. 

STEP 2: Gently push a rubber spatula between the skin and the breast meat of the chicken at the neck to create a pocket, then push in 3/4 of the butter and smooth it down with your fingers. Rub any excess butter from your hands over the skin, getting into all the nooks and crannies. Season the chicken skin and drizzle across some olive oil, put the halved garlic bulb in the cavity along with the quartered red onion. 

STEP 3: Place the chicken onto a baking tray and place into the oven. Immediately turn the oven down to 190°C and cook for 1hr. 

STEP 4: Remove the chicken from the oven after an hour and add the rest of the butter to the chicken. Just roughly spread it across the bird. Then lay the rashers of bacon across the chicken in a lattice. Return back to the oven for 20 minutes or so until the bacon is nice and crispy. By this time the chicken should be cooked, remove it from the oven and rest for 15 minutes. 

STEP 5: Once the chicken has rested, take the juice that has come from the chicken and add it to your gravy. Then calve and serve.