KITCHEN staff at a leading Wales restaurant are anticipating opening arguably the best Christmas present of all later this month - a £125,000 kitchen.

In the meantime staff at The Crown at Whitebrook, near Monmouth, put their feet up as the restaurant closed for three weeks over the festive period while the state-of-the-art kitchen was installed.

The Crown took the well-earned rest after experiencing its busiest year ever after the awarding of its first Michelin Star in January.

Head chef James Sommerin said: "The year has been a roller coaster ride. It has been fantastic, exhilarating, exhausting and rewarding, all rolled into one both for me and my team.

"Securing the Michelin Star was a dream come true and was tremendous recognition not just for me but also for the great team we have.

"I can think of no better way to round off a truly magnificent year for us all than having this new kitchen installed."

James designed the kitchen to his own precise specifications. The design will see the existing kitchen turned through 90 degrees making better use of limited space in the 17th century Wye Valley building.

"The new kitchen will make work for everyone a whole lot easier. Equipment will be more to hand, there will be more preparation space and the working temperature for the staff will be a lot less fierce too.

"We will getting a new range of cookers, chillers and other exciting new equipment which will allow us to try innovative things and to spring pleasant surprises on our guests."

James said: "The Michelin star made a huge difference this year. There are people who travel the country sampling the food at star restaurants and we've seen many of these in 2007.

"I regard the new kitchen and investment by the owners as a huge pat on the back for the staff."

Staff will receive training on the new kitchen equipment before the restaurant re opens on Friday, January 18.