When their 20 years of working on large private yachts owned by the ultra wealthy came to an abrupt end in 2020, it caused Chris and Andrea Ashton-Worsfold to rethink their options.

With Chris as the captain and Andrea as chef and mate, they had been running yachts in the Mediterranean and Caribbean with the final eight years spent working for the same family.

Chris says: ’Just before Covid they decided to sell their boat and that put us in a position of looking at what we were going to do and that suddenly came lockdown with Covid.’

The couple retreated to their cottage in Fistard to take stock. Chris goes on: ’The problem for our world was that all the places we were used to being in, whether it be Mediterranean or Caribbean, were in a very bad state [because of Covid].

’Then came Brexit which was a double whammy as suddenly all our qualifications were no longer accepted in Europe.

’So we had to really think on our feet and we thought: "Let’s look at what we can do with what we have".’

The previous two decades had given them a pretty good idea of the standards the very rich expect and it wasn’t too much of a leap to use their skills to create a luxury brand of their own.

They were inspired by two of their most cherished possessions, as Chris explains: ’We have two classic cars, a 1954 Austin Healey BN1 and a 1948 MGTC. One’s called Angelica and one’s called Belle so that’s how Angelica Belle came about and they are our mascots. They come out on special occasions and they’re lovingly looked after.’

The first products the couple have produced are a range of candles and some very special cookies.

Andrea says: ’The candles started by making them as presents and grew from there. It kept me very busy during lockdown.’

They are created from natural essential oils, clean burning soya wax and eco wicks. They come in three signature scents and the range now also includes diffusers.

Andrea’s lemon cookies were inspired by their frequent sailing trips round Sardinia. They are gluten-free and use fresh Manx eggs, so earning them an Isle of Man provenance label. They were launched at last year’s Food and Drink Festival and an orange version was brought out for Christmas.

When they sent some to Anthea Turner, who is an old friend, she posted a picture of them on her Instagram page, describing them as ’off the scale delicious’.

It’s hard to disagree: these tiny goodies, with a snowy coat of icing sugar, are enticingly cracked and crisp on the outside and deliciously soft and almondy within.

Like all the Angelica Belle products they are beautifully and thoughtfully presented.

Chris says: ’All our packaging is eco-driven it’s either compostable, biodegradable or reusable because we realised that if we’re starting from fresh "why not?"

’Living on an island and being very eco-aware ourselves we wanted to champion that particular cause.’

The next step is using Andrea’s AA Rosette chef skills for a new purpose: offering cookery demonstrations and masterclasses in their kitchen in Fistard. Chris says: ’It’s a very relaxing environment and what you make is bespoke to you.

’So it’s about "what would you like to improve upon?" or "Are you nervous about making souffles?"’

If it’s the latter then you’ve come to the right place.

Before going sailing the couple ran their own boutique hotel and restaurant in Dorset and the editor of the Daily Mail once wrote in their guest book: ’Andrea’s souffles are better than Marco Pierre White’s.’

Of course, setting out to sea on a week’s charter presents a very different set of cooking challenges to running a land-based kitchen.

Working on the yachts Andrea would have to plan a week’s meals in advance and make sure they had all the provisions they needed.

’But I was very used to being told that it was somebody’s birthday when we were, say, in Grenada and the supply boat hadn’t come in.

’I can’t tell you the number of occasions when that happened,’ Andrea says.

The boat could take 10 people who, as Chris says ’were not wanting your average meals’.

Andrea says: ’A typical day would be get up and get the table all set ready for breakfast and then I would do fruit platters with as much local produce as I could. They would be really imaginative and colourful and I would change that every day.

There would be yogurt and then always something cooked - American pancakes with bacon and maple syrup and then toast - and then maybe somebody would want carrot juice with fresh ginger in it. Breakfast was quite a big thing.’

It also took a lot of clearing away afterwards, a job which had to be done as quickly as possible so that they could get underway to the next place on their route.

It would then be time to start lunch.

Andrea says: ’I’d do a super duper salad from scratch while the guests were off snorkelling and then usually it was on to the next place where we would be staying for the night.

dinner

’As as soon as we got there it would be watersports and things like that and then a three-course dinner with canapes on the top deck before that.

’You’re constantly thinking about food - what do I need to get out of the freezer?

’What do I need to get out for dinner?’

Chris says: ’Luckily when you’re dealing with a private family you know them and you get to know their friends.

’But we’ve done a lot of chartering as well where suddenly you’ve got six to eight guests arriving and you know very little about them. You would give them a preference sheet but sometimes they would fill them out incorrectly.

’So every charter is very different.’

For the future they would like to create experiences, hopefully employing their beloved classic cars: afternoon tea served in a glen or on a beach is one idea on the horizon.

Whatever it is, it will be a taste of the sort of luxury only the very wealthy usually get to enjoy.

Chris and Andrea Ashton-Worsfold(DK220120-1)