07-05-2025
Meet the chef behind the cakes and bakes at Hutton-in-the-Forest
As part of our Meet the Chef series, we're talking to some of Cumbria's finest about their lives in and out of the kitchen. This week, it's the turn of Elaine Martin of Cloisters Tearoom at Hutton-in-the Forest
What is your current role and what does it involve?
I am the cook in the Cloisters Tearoom at Hutton-in-the Forest, a beautiful historic house near Penrith. I had worked in the tearoom serving customers for nine years when the opportunity came up to take on the role as cook permanently.
My day starts at 9am making fresh scones, both fruit and cheese. Cheese and wild garlic are on the menu now, which involves picking wild garlic from the woods on the estate. Next, I prepare the soup and get organised for lunch. Everything is prepared in our kitchen and all cakes are homemade.
How did you first get into cooking?
I call myself a cook not a chef because I am more about home baking. I started by working in the kitchen for Lady Inglewood on Friday mornings, making cakes and dinners for the family.
From this I then started working in the tearoom. I enjoyed working with the public and serving customers. Throughout this time, I had worked with numerous cooks picking up on different ideas. I remember when I'd only worked there for a few months, going on holiday and coming back to work the next week to find that the cook had left, and I had to start making scones.
My cooking started at home, when I came in from school as a teenager, I had to make hearty meals for my family as my mum worked. I've always liked baking. Homemade cakes and biscuits are always popular with a growing family.
(Image: Hutton-in-the-Forest)
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What was your first job in hospitality?
This is my first job in hospitality and I work from March until October at Hutton-in-the-Forest.
What is your signature dish?
I like to try new recipes and the latest I have made recently is a sticky toffee flapjack. It has become very popular in the tearoom. It is easy to make, and tastes really nice. I would say this is my new signature dish for this year.
What's been your worst cooking disaster?
I don't think I can recall any total disasters in my cooking. There are times things don't go well, an overcooked sponge goes well in a trifle.
What are your culinary ambitions?
My culinary ambition for the future is to continue trying new recipes and work on providing afternoon teas. Hutton-in-the-Forest is certainly a lovely place for an afternoon tea and this is something I love too. I have lots of ideas that we are putting in place over the summer.
We are open Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday but then have extra days when groups are in. We also hold events through the summer, including a very busy Potfest over three days. I enjoy my work; my home life works well around it.
Hutton-in-the-Forest is just one of the venues being highlighted by the Let's Go Culture project, which has received £99,194 from the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and is being supported by Westmorland & Furness Council.
