Scott Paton

Winner of South West Chef of the Year (Young Professional class) 2009

My first experience of cooking was when I was 5, we had a French breakfast day in school where we made baguettes and hot chocolate. I have always loved cooking and as a kid I often made my family smile with my “strange concoctions”.

I trained at The Jack in the Green, initially washing dishes. It was my first job in the industry and I soon got stuck in. I worked with Matt Mason and Paul Parnell for 9 years, so they have obviously had a massive influence on my career.

I’ve won some great accolades that I’m really proud of. In 2008 I won ‘dessert of the year’ from the Association of Pastry Chefs, and in 2009 I won South West Chef of the Year in the young professional class.

There have been a couple of chefs who have really influenced me. Pierre Herme is a fabulous pastry chef who I was fortunate enough to work with for a couple of days. He’s known as the Picasso of Pastry, he’s the guy who brought pastry bang up to date.

I’ve also been hugely impressed by Tom Kerridge at The Hand and Flowers in Marlow. For me, he’s re-written the fine dining rule book. He’s just been awarded 2 Michelin stars, but there’s no white linen in the restaurant, no smartly uniformed staff, just a quirkly little pub with wonky tables and a fantastic atmosphere, but he’s managed to capture the essence of his pub in his food.

Scott took the position of head chef at The Horn of Plenty, Gulworthy, where he helped secure three AA rosettes before moving to the role of Head Chef at Boringdon Hall, near Plymouth in May 2016. Since then he has helped to achieve three rosettes and 5 AA stars at Boringdon Hall.

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