Victoria Shepherd

VICTORIA SHEPHERD gave up a good job designing kitchens in Brighton to head home to Barrow. A big, bold step certainly, but the 26-year-old hasn’t had a moment’s regret since she came through the Trinity House training scheme and then started work in Lakeside’s Ruskins Brasserie. “It’s been the perfect move,” she says. “Take it from me, the North-South divide is still as wide as ever. I have no plans to live in the South again.”

Victoria worked in the South of England for seven years, first in Southampton and London before a five-year spell in Brighton with partner Mihai - a chef, incidentally -  so she is well qualified to explain just how much more inexpensive it is to live in her hometown. And she couldn’t possibly put a price on the happiness it has given her Mum and Dad, Sue and John, who now see so much more of their four-year-old grandson Joshua.

“There was never any possibility of us being able to buy our own house in the South – the cost of living, quite apart from property prices, just made it impossible. But we plan to buy in Barrow and it’s been so nice to land such a lovely job at one of the most beautiful locations in Britain,” says a lady who will always be grateful to one of her sister’s friends for suggesting that she might find work on the edge of Lake Windermere.

“I decided to give it a go – nothing ventured, nothing gained,” says Victoria. “I put my CV in, had an interview with Training Manager Sarah Kendall and started within a week, first at Trinity House and then at Lakeside. I loved the work from the start, even though I had never waited on tables before. The training is so good, so detailed, that you do feel that you can cope within a very short time.

“That’s not to say you know everything there is to know after that initial three-weeks crash course. But you always, always know that all the staff are there to help you every step of the way. Years ago, when I first left home for Southampton, I worked in a bar for a spell and then of course moved on to kitchen design, so I had at least had experience of meeting and talking to people from all walks of life. Now I love interacting with our hotel guests – they often want to know more about the Lakes.

“This job appealed to me straightaway. The work is interesting and, crucially, you have a very big input into when you work. One of the most rewarding factors about moving back to Barrow and landing this Lakeside job has been the amount of quality time I spend with my little boy. I was asked what shifts I wanted at Lakeside and elected to work a five-day week from six to eleven in the evenings, sometimes from three to eleven.

“It suits me perfectly – I’m always there in the mornings when Josh’ wakes up and that’s very important for both of us. And then in the evenings my parents look after him and they just love it.

“When I was away in Brighton it always bothered me that they couldn’t see anything like as much of Joshua as they would have wanted in an ideal world, and Mihai and me deliberated for months about moving back to Barrow. It was such a big decision because we both had jobs and the unemployment situation in my hometown is a lot more difficult than it is in the South of England.

“But the move has been everything I hoped for and more - just terrific and a huge part of that is The Lakeside. The staff were warm and welcoming from the start and you would go a long way before you could possibly find more understanding employers. Working Mums - and Dads for that matter - do sometimes have problems about not being able to be at work on a particular day. But at Lakeside they are fantastically understanding and flexible and will always go out of their way to try and grant your request to change a shift.

“All they ask in return is that you try and give them as much notice in advance as possible that you might need a certain day or days off. Sometimes, of course, you can’t tell them in advance – with young children things crop up all the time and not everybody is as fortunate as I am now to have my parents on hand – but whatever the circumstances they do try and help you at The Lakeside. It really makes you want to do your best for them at all times.”

And her final words on the joy of finding such an understanding environment? “It’s been a real eye-opener. It was apparent from day one why it is such a well-loved hotel with so much repeat business. A hotel as prestigious as The Lakeside has to have high standards and believe me nobody is ever likely to be disappointed in that respect at this hotel. The attention to detail is just terrific – it’s a pleasure to work to those standards as a member of staff let alone benefit from them as a hotel guest or diner.”

You will gather that Victoria Shepherd is one very happy lady. “In both my private life and at work I could hardly be happier,” she says. “Making that huge decision to come back to Barrow was absolutely the right choice. And landing at The Lakeside was a wonderful bonus. In the unlikely event of feeling stressed out at work you only have to step outside and you’re guaranteed, given that beautiful view, to feel a whole lot better. That’s what I really call job satisfaction.”