Chef

Private Chefs and cooks working in private households are becoming increasingly popular. Chefs are generally professionally qualified with previous experience gained in prestigious hotels or large country estates. Cooks will have good previous experience and a love of cooking but may lack formal qualifications.

Some will specialise in a particular cuisine, most will have wide ranging experience from British, Mediterranean, and French, to Asian, Middle Eastern, Japanese and Fusion. Chefs will prepare menus and can cater for special diets, food preferences and food intolerances; Vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, raw food, gluten free, dairy free, nut free, low sodium, diabetic, Kosher, Halal to name a few.

Estate Manager

An Estate Manager is the top level in the household. He or she works directly with the owners to plan and execute the overall management of property and service.

Estate Managers are common in large residences (15,000 square feet and above), and especially in estates with multiple properties, extensive grounds, elaborate art, antique, and wine collections, or complex technology.

Estate Managers are highly organised, intelligent, and well-versed training and managing a team. Typically an estate manager will set the standard of service and will be responsible for the hiring, training, and ongoing management of staff required to meet the service needs of the household.

Gardener

A Gardener can help with a wide range of gardening tasks, in private gardens or country estates of any size. For simplicity we group Gardeners into two main categories.

1. Qualified or very experienced Gardener/Horticulturalist – could be employed as Head Gardener/Sole or single handed gardener, Plantsperson, Glasshouse specialist, Garden designer or similar,  depending on area of expertise.
2. Maintenance Gardener/Handyperson, General groundsman or Estate worker – covering duties such as lawn mowing, edging, hedge trimming, logging, creosoting fences etc.

Chauffeurs & Drivers

Chauffeurs are a popular choice for busy households. There are differing types of chauffeur that can be recruited according to your particular needs;

Professional/Corporate Chauffeurs – generally uniformed, formal and can be employed directly by companies. Responsibilities may include collecting Principal/s from home, taking to and from the office, to meetings, lunch appointments and evening events.

Family Chauffeurs/Drivers – duties tend to be more varied according to employer’s/family’s needs such as driving for their employer’s commute, school runs, shopping trips, theatre outings etc. During any downtime, the chauffeur may assist with gardening/handyman type duties if required, and of course keeping the cars in a pristine condition. A Chauffeur/Handyman/Gardener is very often employed as part of a couple with the partner working as Housekeeper.

Security Driver – for anyone looking to step up security a Security Driver is a good option. They are much more specialised, specifically trained in security driving and handling dangerous situations and as such they come at a premium. A Security Driver is something completely different from a chauffeur who has done a security or Safety Awareness course. The latter might be well suited for families who have other types of security already in place, or do not feel the need for special security.