Executive head chef Dan Ottaway on the grounds of the Tulfarris Hotel & Golf Resort in Blessington, Co Wicklow. Photo: Gerry Mooney
“Lots of people say that one day Disney will ask us for the movie rights,” laughs Dan Ottaway, referring to the meeting of he and his Irish fiancée Deirdre Colgan in the regal surroundings of Buckingham Palace. “I was a chef in the palace and she was a footman.”
It’s a love story that embraces both the real-life Upstairs, Downstairs scenario and offers a ‘cast of royals’ that far outshines that of Downton Abbey. Nine years later, and now with two young children, Roise and Ada, to escape the hustle and bustle of London the couple have relocated to Ireland with Ottaway taking up the role of executive head chef at the Tulfarris Hotel and Golf Resort in Blessington, Co Wicklow. The relocation deal, of course, was sealed by Colgan enticing Ottaway with the possibility of having his own beehive on her family’s farm in Tullamore, which Ottaway absolutely loves visiting.