I am originally from Kent but moved to Suffolk 10 years ago and I must say I would now not live anywhere else.
My working life in Suffolk began at The Butterfly Hotel in Bury St Edmunds and from there I moved to The
Swan Hotel in Lavenham where I was general manager. Today I am general manager of The County Hotel in
Chelmsford and operations director at Seckford Hall Hotel in Woodbridge.

The tourist and hospitality industry is certainly hard work, and I strongly believe that to succeed in this environment you need to know everything about the running of a hotel. From the workings of the kitchens to reception and front of house, the running and management of the restaurants through to housekeeping. I spent my younger days as a chef, so I really have a solid understanding of the workings of hotel kitchens and restaurants. I am very passionate about food, continuously sourcing fresh local produce for the hotels. We are lucky to have an abundance of this in Suffolk, which I take full advantage of.

I enjoyed my days as a chef but I wanted more, and later qualified in Tourist and Hospitality Management moving into hotel management roles. People ask me what I enjoy most about my job and I always say the variety. It might sound like a cliché but the variety ofthings that I have to deal with on a daily basis certainly keeps the job interesting! No two days are the same! At the moment I am dealing with refurbishment, which is keeping us all busy! But I also have to deal with so many other things, for example looking at driving our costs and CO2 emissions down, liasing with food suppliers, local producers, discussing menus with chef and of course getting involved with functions. Running a hotel is a huge jigsaw puzzle, there are so many pieces to put together and you never want a missing piece!

If you asked about any one thing that I haven’t particular enjoyed it has to be that I had to work 22 Christmases in a row, and my poor family had to endure celebrating Christmas Day on Boxing Day! Luckily now I do not have to work Christmas every year, much to the delight of my wife! I am married with a small son aged eight, one red setter and a mad cat and I relish my free time here in Suffolk. The scenery, beaches and quaint villages makes our county such an unknown jewel. Although I have no real time for hobbies, I do enjoy the cinema, walking and camping with the family when I can.

I don’t think I could do a job where I knew exactly what was going to happen each day. As I am managing two hotels my time is split between Chelmsford and Woodbridge and I am continuously being challenged. I have certainly had many funny moments in my career as you can imagine, but one of the funniest has to be when I was working for another hotel and the bride was arrested at her own wedding. The police had to be called as she was outside with her new husband chasing him around the gardens, not for fun mind you! I often wonder if the marriage survived! I have also been fortunate to meet the late Queen Mother, Peter O Toole and Mark Thatcher at some of the previous hotels I worked in.

I am extremely lucky that I am now working with Michael and Christine Bunn at Seckford Hall Hotel. I was appointed as operations director a year ago with a remit to help re-position the hotel to a 4 star from a 3 star. This has involved a huge refurbishment programme redesigning the hotel’s 32 bedrooms. Christine and Michael have championed the refurbishment with the help of a local interior designer who specialises in historic buildings. I am pleased to have joined the team at such an exciting time and to play a part in the next chapter of the building’s 500-year history. To the present day bringing Seckford Hall Hotel up to date is one of my biggest challenges. The hotel deserves a 4 star status and I am proud to be part of this new phase in its history.