The first award for hospitality excellence created in honour of legendary Scottish chef Andrew Fairlie has been won by Dumfries House, the 18th-Century Ayrshire country mansion and estate rescued and redeveloped by Prince Charles.
Fairlie, who died in January after a long battle with a brain tumour, was Scotland’s only double Michelin Star holder for his eponymous hotel at the five-star Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire. The Catering Scotland Excellence (CIS) Awards, the country’s most prestigious annual competition for the hospitality industry, set up the award in his memory this year.
The award was presented by Andrew Fairlie’s widow Kate at a dinner attended by some 500 guests in Glasgow.
Chair of the Advisory Board, Andrea Nicholas, said: “Andrew was unequivocal about using the word ‘excellence’ in the CIS Awards’ name and only accepting and judging entries which lived up to the term. Dumfries House encapsulates all that. It has become a symbol of excellence in hospitality, hosting hundreds of events, as well as in education, training and restoration, and inspiring a new generation to enjoy hospitality and the outdoors.”
Prince Charles led a consortium of organisations and individuals which bought Dumfries House, set in 2,000 acres near Cumnock, together with its unrivalled collection of Chippendale furniture, for £45m back in 2007.
Fairlie, the inaugural winner of the Roux Scholarship in 1983 and described by this year’s judges as a visionary genius, was himself presented with the CIS Awards’ Lifetime Excellence Award in 2017. This year, the same award was made to Albert Roux, OBE, KFO.