A CHEF who has worked with the country's best has revealed how he turned his back on restaurant kitchens to spend more time with his family.

And Mark Williamson's decision to cook at a Blackburn nursing home instead has paid off after he won through to the final of a national chefs competition.

For 30-year-old Mark, the imminent arrival of his first child in 2004 brought in to focus the punishing shifts he was working at one of the county's leading restaurants.

At the time he was a chef at the Thyme at Sirloin, a Hoghton restaurant run by Wayne Keough.

Previously, he had done stints alongside some of the UK's top chefs, including Paul Heathcote at his Longridge restaurant and John Burton Race, who starred in the Channel Four food programme Return of the Chef, as well as the famous Sharrow Bay restaurant at Ullswater.

Despite having learnt his trade alongside Michelin Star rated chefs, Mark wanted to spend more time with his wife Catherine, 22, and their baby.

This led him to swap late night kitchen stints that lasted into the early hours for the stability of a 40-hour week as a chef at Northwood Nursing and Residential Care home in Preston New Road, Blackburn.

And now his work at Northwood has been recognised after he became one of five finalists at the National Care Awards 2006 which saw him prepare a three course meal for only £4.50 at the Hammersmith School of Catering in London last Saturday.

He will find out later this month whether his gourmet creations hit the spot with the judging panel.

With his work being acknowledged and more time off, Mark, of Hawkshaw Bank, Lammack, is more than happy with his career move.

He said: "I now get to spend more time with Catherine and Thomas, who will be two in January, and that's the reason I did it.

"I only used to get four weekends off a year but now I have every other weekend to spend with the family and do other things besides.

"Working in restaurants you never quite know what's going to happen.

"You can have an idea how busy you might be but here everything is planned out and it's a lot better for me."

And while he admitted to sometimes missing the buzz of the restaurant he claims his new customers are even more particular about their food than anything he's experienced.

He said: "In many ways they are more demanding because they are a captive audience having three meals a day so to keep it interesting and keep them tempted is the real challenge.

"I'm set no real budget at Northwood as long as I keep it sensible so it's really nice to cook good food for the residents."