Ruth Watson

Ruth Watson is an English hotelier, restaurateur, broadcaster and food writer. Born in London, Ruth Watson was educated in London and at Westonbirt School in Gloucestershire. After taking up a career in graphic design, she became an inspector for the Good Food Guide. In 1983, Watson and her husband David bought Hintlesham Hall in Hintlesham, Suffolk, as a restaurant and cookery school from Robert Carrier, which over six years they turned into a 33-room hotel, with an 18-hole golf course. In 1986 she featured with her family in a Bisto gravy advert. In 1990 they bought the Fox and Goose Inn at Fressingfield, launching it as one of Britain's first gastropubs. In November 1999, Watson and her husband bought the Crown and Castle Hotel in Orford near Woodbridge, Suffolk, which they fully restored and ran as a modern country house hotel. In October 2017 Watson sold her interest in the Crown and Castle, stating "dealing with bureacracy [sic] has long overtaken the core business of cooking and serving good food". In 2020 they opened Watson and Walpole, a neighbourhood Italian restaurant, together with their partner and head chef, Rob Walpole. It is listed in the Michelin Guide and rated as Very Good in the Good Food Guide.