Course tutors
Angela Gray
Angela Gray is one of the leading lights on the food scene in Wales. Her passion for food has led to her working as a food writer, food consultant and chef to celebrity clients, including Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Angela has presented two cookery series for BBC Wales. “Hot Stuff” and “More Hot Stuff” took the viewing audience on a tour of Wales, uncovering regional delicacies, cooking talent, and looking at the variety of cooking styles found around the country. A book containing all the recipes and anecdotes from the series followed, due to its popularity. An additional series ‘Overnight Success’, saw Angela offering advice on setting up and running your own guest house.
The BBC Wales radio series “My Life on a Plate” saw Angela interviewing guests such as Kim Howells MP, Lowri Turner, Antonio Carluccio, Monty Don, Stephen Bull and John Humphries about their lives and what their favourite menu would consist of. Angela is a regular guest on the Jamie Owen show, cooking up a feast of delicious dishes using local ingredients.
Angela has been a live guest on UKTV Food, recently championing Wales
in the UKTV Food Heroes series with Gary Rhodes. She has also taken part
in the ‘Flavours of Britain’ series with Paul Roseby.
Angela’s second book ‘The Welsh Cheese Book’ is a celebration
of the wonderful cheeses now available from Wales. She regularly writes
food-related articles for local and national newspapers and magazines.
Angela also loves cooking in front of a live audience, and is a regular
at many events including The BBC Good Food Show and The Royal Welsh Show.
She is currently writing a third book and running her business ‘Food In Focus Ltd’. The company employs experts offering a range of specialised services to the food and hospitality industries. These include; food photography and styling (check out her portfolio at www.foodinfocus.com/gallery), cookery presentations, restaurant consultancy, as well as organising food events nationally and internationally for the Welsh Assembly Government. Angela has worked with many top names in the business including Paul Rankin, Brian Turner, Antonio Carluccio, Anthony Worral Thompson, Leslie Waters and Jean Christophe Novelli, to name but a few.
Angela is the face of Welsh Food on QVC presenting wonderful national
ingredients with live cooking and serving suggestions. She has just completed
writing two food series for ‘Modern Television’, the progress
report on these will be in two weeks.
Alex Beard
Alex Beard has an innate passion for great food. Born in Zimbabwe, she grew up understanding that good cooking was based on simplicity, such as the bread her mother would bake every day, and the use of fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables collected from the family garden.
Her professional career started at just 14 years of age. At 18 she joined the illustrious team at ‘Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons’ headed by Raymond Blanc where she stayed for four years. Alex assisted him at high profile demonstrations in London, and at the BBC Good Food Show. She then moved on to work with two Michelin Star chef John Cambell at ‘The Vineyard’ in Newbury. She also cooked privately for many high profile people including the HRH Queen Mother.
Alex has successfully run her own restaurant, and now focuses on delivering special occasion cooking on a very personal level. The wide range of courses she offers at Llanerch are a testimony to her wealth of food knowledge.
Priya Wickramasinghe
grew up in Sri Lanka and has lived in Britain for the past 40 years.
She is the author of the Leith’s Book of Indian and Sri Lankan Cooking, Spicy and Delicious, The Oriental Cookbook and is the co -author of the Food of India. Her TV appearances include a series that she did for Yorkshire Television’s Farmhouse Kitchens. She contributed recipes to the book that accompanied the series The Famhouse Kitchnes Book 3.
In 1993 Priya won the Cordon Bleu-Independent Cookery Competition which took her to the Cordon Bleu- Cookery School in Paris.
She has demonstrated at various food festivals including the BBC Good Food Show and the Abergavenny Food Festival. In 1997 she gave a demonstration at the Hay–on-Wye literary festival. Priya has had a long-standing association with the Leith’s School of Food and Wine where she continues to be a guest lecturer. In 2006 she was the Indian Cookery expert on the cruise ship Spirit of Adventure when she sailed along the west coast of India. Priya has also worked as a consultant to Marks and Spencer advising them on their Indian food range. She lives in Cardiff with her astronomer husband and works as a part-time teacher.
For more information and bookings:
Tel: + 44 (0)1443 225877
E mail: enquiries@llanerch-vineyard.co.uk
