Introducing Hils and The Abinger Cookery School

For those of you who don’t know me yet I am Hils (Hilary) and I have recently joined the Fish&Pips team as a full time member based at The Abinger Cookery School in Surrey.  My role is deals with all holiday sales, be on the end of the F&P phone and I will also organise all pre-holiday care.

With a few winter seasons under my belt as a chalet chef in Meribel, and plenty of experience as a PA in London, I am very excited to have joined the brilliant F&P team,  I am also especially excited to be able to talk about skiing all day every day!

As my office is based at The Abinger Cookery School I thought I would write a little about my fabulous new home.

What was The Abinger Arms pub is now a state of the art cookery school and brings the 18th century inn back to life. The Abinger Cookery School is located in the village of Abinger Hammer right in the heart of the beautiful Surrey Hills.  Home to some of the most stunning English countryside and surrounded by rolling hills and quintessentially English villages, a real change from my home in Australia.

The Abinger has been founded by a small team of culinary enthusiasts with a wealth of experience and a passion for all things foodie. They have teamed up with Fish&Pips, to teach people about excellent food and diverse recipes. Their courses are hands-on, practical, inspiring and most of all fun!  The Abinger team believe in utilising the best produce Britain has to offer, my favourite part of Abinger Village is the Kingfisher Farm shop, which sells such amazing local produce it’s a real gem. The Head Chef Vincent Clist comes with 3 years’ experience working with Fish&Pips and has contributed to their successful chalet cookery book ‘A portion of Fish&Pips’.  Vinny was also in the kitchen when Fish&Pips won the Times Chalet Chef Award 2010.

If you have stayed with Fish&Pips and have been inspired by our Chalet Staff to do a ski season then the signature Chalet Cooks Course at Abinger is your pathway to the winter or summer season you’ve always dreamed of.

Not only will you be taught by the talented Vincent Clist, you will be living in an environment where you will be trained to “host” as well as cook, making you perfect candidates for the winter and summer seasons.

Aside from the cookery school, The Abinger also has 4 beautifully appointed bedrooms with a contemporary farmhouse feel.   Rooms are available to students who want to stay the night before or on a Bed & Breakfast basis during the course. So far this has been brilliant as I have got to meet lots of lovely people who have thoroughly enjoyed staying and cooking at The Abinger.

So all in all life has changed dramatically for me, moving from hectic London to the rolling hills of Surrey to work for Fish&Pips, but I love it!

I better leave you there and go and sample what the Chefs have whipped up today …

Hils x