01/02/2025
Interview with Ashleigh Farrand representing South West on Great British Menu 2025 – Women In the Food Industry
Great British Menu (GBM) returned to our screens in January for season 20. The BBC2 show puts the nation’s most talented chefs to the test. At Women in the Food Industry we are continuing our series of interviews with the strong female line-up of chefs from across Britain competing to serve their dish at the final banquet. Our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, interviewed Ashleigh Farrand Head Chef of The Kingham Plough, in the Cotswolds.

How did you start working in the food industry and where did you train to be a chef?
I took part in competition when I was 15 with the Rotary Club for Young Chef of the Year and I made it to the regional finals. But along the way I met David Kelman, who worked at Ellenborough Park.
Part of the prize was a week’s work experience there. And after I completed my work experience, I was offered a job when I turned 16. I worked there part time alongside doing GCSEs and A levels. And then once I’d finished my A levels, I then went to work at Ellenborough Park full time.

How did you get onto Great British Menu this year?
The producers called the pub. I was just in the kitchen and somebody came through saying, “oh, the BBC is on the phone for you“. I thought it was prank call. They said “I’m actually not winding you up, you need to come to the phone“. It was legitimate, I had an audition and they called back a week later and said I was on the show.

Which chef have you worked with who gave you the most inspiration?
There’s a chef called Johnny Pons. I’ve worked with him on and off since I was 15, when I met him at the Ellenborough Park, and I believe he was either sous chef or junior sous at the time. He left and moved on. I stayed there. He came back for a bit. Then left and I joined the Slaughters Country Inn where he worked. I was really able to learn from him. We’ve worked with each other in fine dining settings and more relaxed pub settings. And when we first met, I don’t think either of us thought I’d end up being his sous chef and then eventually taking over from him.
He massively drilled into me that you can’t ask somebody to do a job you’re not willing to do yourself. We’ve worked with each other our whole careers. I still keep in touch with him. He actually let me borrow his kitchen to practice for Great British Menu.
He’s someone that’s definitely influenced my career.

This is your first time on Great British Menu, what was it like working under all the cameras & with the crew?
It was a really new experience. I’ve done a lot of live demos before (see photo above). And part of me thought, that skill will be quite transferable. But nothing can prepare you for how bright and white that studio kitchen is. I’ve never been in a room so well lit before. It’s actually a lot bigger in real life because there’s so many people in the room.
The camera crew were really lovely and funny. Although competing was a really intense experience, there were lots of moments that were really great off camera that will probably never make it to the final cut. They were really fun and enjoyable. Everyone really got along and they were so welcoming.

Which was the hardest course to prepare for when you were researching for GBM’s Great Britons theme?
I’d say the hardest for me would have been my fish course. I was trying to find links that would go with the brief, the Great Briton I chose, Cheltenham born Gustav Holst, and then link with the food. Well Cheltenham’s obviously quite landlocked, not really known for our fish. So I was trying to find something that would link Holst with fish and with Cheltenham.
I’d come up with an idea but I just had a terrible chalk drawing at the time, my friends were around for dinner. One had helped me with the props for dessert. The other friend saw the chalk drawing and said “You can’t go on TV with that“. She knew someone who had a laser engraver and said give me a couple of days and I’ll come back to you. She took my original idea and made an amazing design that her friend was able to engrave for me. Thanks to their support that dish and the props ended up being one of my favourites.

Did you embrace the props on the show?
Very much. They say in the brief not to go too crazy with props. Don’t just rely on props, make sure the food links with the inspiration in the brief, but also think about scalability because ultimately we’re trying to cook for a banquet. It’s all well and good having a really expensive prop which you’ve made for three people, but actually if that’s not scalable for 80 or 90 people, then your final vision won’t make it to the banquet. So I was very conscious of that, but also very conscious because props are such a big part of the show.
As I mentioned before I have two friends who luckily have two different skills sets – one in sewing and one in design – who were massively helpful. And I’d like to think I’ve come up with some fun things. I’m really excited to see what everyone else has done this year because it was such a broad theme of Great Britons.

If you were marooned on a desert island, what was the one type of dish you could happily live on?
One thing I just really love is freshly baked bread and butter and some cheese.
There’s just something about when you make bread yourself and you’re smelling it in the oven and it comes out like a little chef treat for yourself . Then just serve it with some really nice cheese.

When making fresh bread and you’d always just share a little bit. When we make muffins, we share when they are fresh out of the oven. I just love freshly baked bread.

Finally, what do you know now that you wish you could have told your younger self when you were starting out in this business?
Age is just a number. It’s experience and how you manage yourself in a kitchen that matters. I’ve always had in the back of my mind about my age, sometimes about being a woman, like, and in some circumstances, that has been true and not just in my head
I almost turned down the offer of a head chef because I was 23. The owner offered it to me and said “Do you think I’d offer you the job if I genuinely didn’t believe you?” So I went home I thought about it more and thought What’s the worst that’s going to happen? So I said yes.
It took him believing in me & giving me that opportunity. My career has grown and grown. I’ve done demonstrations. I got invited on Great British Menu, and I grew up watching that show. I remember watching that show thinking, I want to be a chef.
It’s such a bizarre turnaround because there’s been a few other shows that have been in contact. I said out loud, at the start of last year, the only show I’d say yes to was Great British Menu. And I’ll probably never get on that. Then a few months later, they said the BBC were on the phone, which is why I initially thought my staff were joking!
Ashleigh will be appearing on Great British Menu from Tuesday 4th February 2025 representing the South West. Look out for more in our series of interviews with the great women chefs on Great British Menu 2025 – this page will be regularly updated.