Ruth was born in London and started her food writing career at the age of nine by winning a nationwide competition sponsored by Cadbury's. The prize was a large carton of assorted chocolates – she has never quite recovered from it being shared among the entire class.
In the early 1970s she was an inspector for the Good Food Guide and won an Evening Standard award for a review of Hintlesham Hall that, curiously, she ended up owning with her husband, David. Her life as a restaurateur continued with the Fox and Goose Inn in Fressingfield and the Crown and Castle in Orford.
In 1994 she became, with Nigel Slater, contributing food editor to Delia's newly launched Sainsbury’s The Magazine, and twice won the prestigious Glenfiddich award for Magazine Cookery Writer of the Year. She then became Food Editor of the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine. As well as writing for many other publications, from BBC Good Food to the Caterer and Hotelkeeper, she is the author of three successful cookery books.
She has lived in Suffolk for over 30 years, where wild ducks and fairly tame hens enjoy the 20 acres of organic garden, meadows, copses and orchards.
In 2020, and with perfect timing, she opened a new Italian restaurant, Watson and Walpole, in Framlingham. After opening and closing over the next two Covid-blighted years, it was joined by The Ice Cream Shop in 2021 and an Italian bar, Beviamo, in early 2023.
