Lightest of cakes at flick of a switch

11:53am Wednesday 27th August 2008

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Seeing the light at the age of 60 has proved to be a revelation in the kitchen for Hubert Hilling.

For Hubert — who has just had electricity installed in his remote cottage home — is delighting in an electric food mixer to help him indulge in his passion of cooking.

“I don’t think I’ll be bothering with an electric oven, but I am so thrilled to have a mixer as it means I can make sponges so much quicker,” he revealed.

“And I do make some lovely gateaux!”

Hubert is the third generation of his family to live in the traditional Pembrokeshire clom cottage off Clayford Road, near Kilgetty, which was built 300 years ago of mud and straw.

“I’ve lived all my life without electricity and it never bothered me, but it got to the stage where it was getting a bit dangerous with the gas lights,” he explained.

“I found it was difficult to get the fittings, and the gas was leaking out and actually made the wall black, which was rather a fire hazard, especially with straw in the roof.”

So Hubert — who works as a tour guide at Tenby’s Clarence Hotel — invested £5,000 in having electricity installed, and has never looked back.

“The first time I put the lights on, I just couldn’t believe it — it’s all there at the flick of a switch and I don’t need to meddle round with my old lighter.”

But local electrical stores can forget about rubbing their hands at the prospect of Hubert on a shopping spree for televisions, computers and other appliances of science.

“I’m not really bothered for a TV, and I’ve been given an iron and a toaster, which is very nice, so I think that’s it at the moment, really,” he admitted. “But I wonder maybe, will I get a freezer... then I can make even more cakes!”