| Ruth Watson | |
|---|---|
| Born | London, England |
| Occupation | hotelier, broadcaster and food writer |
| Known for | Presenter of The Hotel Inspector, Country House Rescue, Ruth Watson's Hotel Rescue |
| Website | |
| www.ruthwatson.co.uk | |
Ruth Watson (born in London), is an English hotelier, broadcaster and food writer.
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Born in London, Ruth Watson was educated in London and at Westonbirt School in Gloucestershire. After taking up a career in graphic design, she became an inspector for the Good Food Guide.[1]
In 1983, Watson and her husband David bought Hintlesham Hall in Hintlesham, Suffolk as a restaurant and cookery school from Robert Carrier,[1] which over six years they turned into a 33 room hotel, with an 18 hole golf course. In 1990 they bought the Fox and Goose Inn at Fressingfield, launching it as one of Britain's first ever gastropubs.[2] In November 1999, Watson and her husband bought the Crown and Castle hotel in Orford near Woodbridge, Suffolk, which they have fully restored and run as a modern country house hotel.[3]
Ruth Watson's hotel experience brought her to the eye of various publishers, and was asked in 1994 by friend Delia Smith to be a contributing food editor on Sainsbury's Magazine. Watson subsequently became food editor of the Daily Mail Weekend magazine, for which she was shortlisted for a Glenfiddich Award as newspaper cookery writer in 2001, and won twice as Cookery Writer of the year - in 1997 and 2000.[1] Watson has written three books: the Really Helpful Cookbook published in October 2000 by Ebury Press; the slimming book Fat Girl Slim,[4] while her cook book Something for the Weekend is in its third edition.[2]
In Autumn 2005, Ruth Watson's public profile greatly increased when she became the star of the Channel 5 television series The Hotel Inspector. In each episode of this observational documentary series, Watson would visit a struggling British hotel and try to turn their fortunes by giving advice and suggestions to the owner.[5] Watson's direct style appealed to viewers and The Hotel Inspector has became one of Channel 5's most popular series of the 2000's (the show won a Royal Television Society Award in November 2006). Despite this, Watson decided not to undertake a fourth series, and was succeeded on the programme by hotelier Alex Polizzi.
In November 2007, Ruth Watson signed an exclusive two year deal with Channel 4 to front a number of television shows, the first of which explores the commercial development of Britain's country houses.[2] Titled, Country House Rescue, the series was broadcast on Channel 4 on Tuesday nights in December 2008 - January 2009, and gained audiences of up to 2.7 million on its first run. A mini-series of catch-up episodes were broadcast a year later. A second series of Country House Rescue was commissioned by Channel 4, and started airing from March 2010.[6][7]. A third series aired from March 2011, and a further series of catch-up episodes began airing from August 2011. However, Watson has stated on her own website that she will not present any more series of Country House Rescue in the future.[8]
Watson also starred in another TV show that she described as "Grand Designs meets The Hotel Inspector" where she helped aspiring hoteliers start their businesses.[9] The programme, titled Ruth Watson's Hotel Rescue, premiered on Channel 4 at 8pm on Wednesday, 30 September 2009,[10] and continued to air throughout October of that year. However, Ruth Watson's Hotel Rescue was not re-commissioned for any further series.[11]
In April 2010, Watson guest-presented the Funk & Soul Show on BBC 6 Music, standing in for Craig Charles.[12]
Ruth Watson and her husband live in a 16th century farmhouse 20 minutes away from the Crown and Castle, which has 120-acre (0.49 km2) organic farm, harvesting some produce for the Crown and Castle.[1]