Born and raised in Horsham, West Sussex, Matthew started professional cooking at the age of 15 whilst at school. Knowing that he would not spend his future in academia, he planned from a young age to train as a Chef. He made use of his weekends working in a country house hotel. Since then, his career has taken him to Toronto, Scotland and France, before returning to the UK and Le Manoir aux quat’ Saisons.
In 2005, Matthew moved to Bath to continue working with Chris Horridge at the Bath Priory Hotel. Whilst climbing the ladder to Sous Chef, he learnt a great deal about flavours and the ‘out of the box’ thinking that goes hand in hand with creativity and originality.
His focus at Ston Easton Park is to ensure all the great produce from the kitchen garden is being cooked to maximise individual flavours. In addition, with the use of various different cooking techniques, the aim is to make each composition visually appealing as well as paying special attention to making all the dishes balanced. Over next few months Matthew is looking to contact local farmers and artisan producers in hope of making the ingredients used in Ston Easton Park’s kitchen have as little food miles as possible.
In a review, what’s on Somerset magazine described Matthew’s food to be “The most delicious starter I have ever had in my life.”
Matthew spends his personal time with his wife, in a small village in West Wiltshire. Continuing his passion for fresh produce, he spends a lot of his spare time managing his own garden which is taken up mainly with vegetables and edible flowers, some of which are used in the menus at Ston Easton Park.
Matthew Butcher, Head Chef
