Lancastrian chef Nigel Haworth has been the driving culinary force behind Northcote for more than 30 years and has made Langho a place of gastronomic pilgrimage for foodies from all over the country. His championing of regional British produce and traditional dishes has helped define the path of modern British cooking, inspiring countless chefs across the country to follow his local, seasonal model. From humble beginnings as a student at Rossendale Catering College in Lancashire, Nigel worked at the Royal Berkshire Hotel in Ascot, Gleneagles in Scotland and London’s Grosvenor House Hotel before spending several years in Switzerland. After an 18-month sojourn as lecturer at his old college, Nigel took the head chef’s job at Northcote Manor (as it was then known) and never looked back. Northcote’s food is robustly northern, yet retains a certain delicacy, delivering big flavours but with refinement, balancing tradition with modern sensibilities. The cooking remains at the forefront of British gastronomy with a continuously evolving menu, increasingly influenced by produce from the hotel’s kitchen garden that appears in dishes such as sweet summer tomatoes, nasturtium, garden crumpet or podded peas with homemade Jersey curd and rose oil. Eighteen years of hosting the Obsession festival at Northcote has also had its influence on Northcote’s kitchens: “We do learn an awful lot from it and have done particularly over this last five years. The global chefs can’t bring everything with them so when you’re flying someone over from Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico or Argentina they can’t bring all their ingredients prepared so we learn more and we see more. You get some weird and wonderful things that you wouldn’t get anywhere else, that’s one of the attractions of it.” In addition to retaining a Michelin star for over 20 years, in 2017 Northcote was named AA Hotel of the Year and Nigel was given the Special Award at the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards. He has become a popular, jovial presence on British TV screens with appearances on shows such as Yes Chef, Saturday Kitchen, Market Kitchen, Paul Hollywood’s Pie & Puds and a winning appearance on the 2009 series of Great British Menu. Nigel has mentored many chefs at Northcote who have gone on to great success including Mark Birchall (chef proprietor Moor Hall, Lancashire), Nelly Robinson (chef proprietor nel. Sydney) and of course Lisa Goodwin-Allen.