The S’Lowdown on…Chloe

We thought it was about time you got to know the team better! Many of you have met Chloe – she’s Sarah’s right hand gal – she heads up the guest services team and of course she’s our chef too.  We asked her a few questions!

You’ve worked in the hospitality industry for a long time – tell us how it started?

Unofficially it began when I was a little girl (about 8) my mum worked as a chambermaid in a busy Eastbourne hotel and I used to help every weekend, topping up the tea trays and putting new mini soaps onto the guests towels for when they arrived. Then when I was 16 went to ECAT and studied catering and hospitality for 3 years. Since then I’ve worked in many different places, my partner and I ran a busy gastro pub for a while too. I started cheffing for Swallowtail Hill about five years ago and also began working with Sarah on the farm’s range of preserves, and I’ve been heading up the guest services team for 3 years now too!

What’s your favourite view at Swallowtail Hill?

I think it must be the view from Longview when I making the bed.

Which of the spaces at Swallowtail Hill is your favourite?

That’s a hard one, because I love them all for different reasons and at different times of the year! But if I had to choose it would be Woodcutter’s Cottage and The Roundhouse for their more obvious seasonal changes! There are the bluebells in the spring, the green leafy canopy with dappled light in summer, the warm glow of the changing colours in the autumn and the quiet frost touched empty branches of winter. 

What’s the best thing about your job?

I get to be surrounded by nature everyday and work with people who love and respect it as much as I do. It’s also really satisfying when guests comment on how beautiful everything thing is and seeing them arrive all tense and go home as if the weight of the world has been lifted! 

As our chef we know you are passionate about food! What’s your favourite food to cook for other people?

Christmas dinner and all the trimmings! Also puds, cakes and pies! They make me and the people I’m feeding very happy! 

What’s your favourite food to eat?

Again a hard one because I love most foods, I do love a particular homemade chicken satay dish that we enjoy sitting down to eat as a family.

When you’re not in at Swallowtail Hill or busy in the kitchen, where are you most likely to be? What are you most likely to be doing?

I would be in my garden, over the years I have really got into creating a garden for nature and to grow lots of seasonal fruit vegetables for us to eat too. I have bird and insect boxes/hotels everywhere. My garden, which I created from scratch, has all the plants and flowers I can possibly grow to encourage all the beneficial insects/creatures/birds that have come to live there. I don’t use any pesticides and hope that nature will deal with pests in the natural way. This year my newest addition to the garden is a top bar bee hive, to help out our dwindling honeybee population. 

What is your secret talent?

Chloe was too modest to answer this so we’ll answer for her. She’s a whizz at keeping things organised. In fact she’s the only person who can give Sarah a run for her money in the organisation/efficiency department (it’s why they get on so well!).