Ian Webber

Coming Up

Apprenticeship remains the clearest entry point into a craft built by repetition, correction, and service pressure. Ian Webber began as an apprentice at Combe House Hotel, a formative start near Honiton that set the tone for a career built on craft rather than spectacle. The route then stayed largely within Devon kitchens, where progression meant taking on more responsibility without losing contact with the work. He stepped into the role of sous chef at Gidleigh Park Hotel in Chagford, Devon (from 2006), before rising to head chef at Gidleigh Park Hotel in Chagford, Devon (2006–2013). In that dining room, refinement had to hold against consistency, and the surrounding landscape had to register through the food rather than through decoration. Moving between country house, city, inn, and estate kitchens tests a chef’s ability to keep a point of view while changing the scale and rhythm of service. Webber went on to serve as executive head chef at ABode Exeter, Devon, bringing that experience into the city, before taking the role of head chef at The Five Bells Inn (from 2013). His path later led to Woolsery, Devon, where he worked as executive chef at The Farmers Arms and The Collective at Woolsery, Devon (2018–2024). Across Honiton, Chagford, Exeter, and Clyst Hydon, the pattern is one of accumulated judgement: different kitchens, different forms of hospitality, and a steadily narrower focus on what the dish needs. A return to a previous house is a technical proposition as much as a biographical one: the room is known, but the chef returns with different tolerances, priorities, and refusals. Webber is now executive head chef at Gidleigh Park in Dartmoor, Devon (from 2024), returning to a name already embedded in his professional life with the advantage of years spent elsewhere and a clearer sense of what should be left alone.

Where They Are Now

Ingredient-led cooking is often claimed; the useful test is whether the supporting choices make the product clearer. Webber’s own description is direct: “It’s ingredient focused, a celebration of incredible natural ingredients, ethically grown and raised with a clear focus on great flavour supported by the extensive use of herbs throughout all our dishes.” The working priorities are produce, ethics, flavour, and herbs used as structure rather than garnish. The menu example gives the approach a specific shape. Webber named the line-caught sea bass steamed with butter and served with lobster, courgettes, tomatoes and oregano as his favourite dish on the menu, saying, “It has to be the line-caught sea bass steamed with butter and served with lobster, courgettes, tomatoes and oregano.” The construction is spare: fish and butter, shellfish richness, courgettes and tomatoes, oregano for lift and direction. It is a dish language based on balance and restraint, not excess signalling. Restraint is also a learned correction to kitchen habit. “As chefs, we tend to become over-complicated – these memories remind me to take a step backwards sometimes and focus on flavour.” In trade terms, that is the discipline of removing what does not help the eating. Across a career moving through Honiton, Chagford, Exeter, and Clyst Hydon, the line of influence is legible: technique learned in kitchens, simplification learned through experience.

In Their Words “It’s ingredient focused, a celebration of incredible natural ingredients, ethically grown and raised with a clear focus on great flavour supported by the extensive use of herbs throughout all our dishes.” “As chefs, we tend to become over-complicated – these memories remind me to take a step backwards sometimes and focus on flavour.”

Honors

Recognition has followed both competition and guide assessment: Ian Webber’s honors include One Michelin star at Gidleigh Park (2025), South West Chef of the Year, Professional class (2006), and Bib Gourmand.