IT would be hard to imagine more relaxed surroundings than those around Kimbridge Restaurant and Annie’s Tea Rooms.

Willow trees bend over the water’s edge, trailing into the Test, next to fishermen waiting patiently to catch trout.

This is where head chef Ian Wooldridge spends his days, preparing stunning dishes, often made from the local fish, which delight his customers.

It’s a world away from his previous career – as an international spy at the height of the Cold War.

He always loved food and when he left school got a part-time job in the kitchen at a small hotel.

But in his day job he was training to become an engineer in military communications.

“When the Cold War was at its peak I left the hotel and joined a Foreign Office department where I became involved in defence intelligence,” says Ian.

“This then lead me to a position where I would travel extensively throughout NATO Europe and occasionally the United States.

“I wasn’t James Bond but I was working as a spy,” he adds.

Although Ian had a career that could have come straight out of an adventure story, he always loved food and sampling foreign treats was one of the highlights of the job.

“My eyes were opened to a whole new world of gastronomy,” he says.

“I dined in the restaurants and street eateries, shopped at local markets and even scrutinised the shelves of supermarkets for all those authentic ingredients.

“These were the days before the Internet, where information and supplies weren’t so readily available.

“I replicated these dishes at home. This was to become my forte. Then the Berlin Wall came down which signalled the end of the need for my defence specialisation and my return to mainstream catering.”

However, Ian didn’t come straight back to the UK.

“I took over a catering business in Spain as a two-year project. Little did I know that it would take me on a 15- year journey!” he laughs.

“From rural and coastal restaurants, to golf clubs and a prestigious country club, specialising in corporate hospitality kept me busy over the years.”

Ian returned to the UK in 2010 and joined Kimbridge Restaurant and Annie’s Tearooms as head chef.

Since then, the restaurant has gone from strength to strength with general and function bookings at record highs.

Daily Echo:

In fact he has been known to get the odd round of applause for his efforts!

“If you’ve ever come out of the kitchen to a full restaurant which gives you a standing ovation, you know you’ve done something right!”

Ian is head chef at Kimbridge Restaurant & Annie’s Tearooms, Kimbridge on the Test, Romsey, tel 01794 340777/340556