MARK Payne is living his dream of running his own restaurant – and loving every minute of it. The hours may be long and the work hard, but the 38-year-old chef is determined to succeed.

Having his own restaurant is something he's wanted to do throughout his long career, which has included jobs at Claridges and The Avenue in St James Street, London, and, more recently, Cowley Manor near Cheltenham.

And when a property became available in the centre of Nailsworth – a town with an enviable reputation for its fine food – it seemed too good an opportunity to turn down.

Even its location in Market Street seemed like it was meant to be.

"I've called the restaurant mark@street: it's a name and address in one," laughs Mark. "I'm really pleased by how busy we've been since we opened. It's really keeping me buzzing.

"It's like having a child. It's the last thing I think about before I go to sleep, it wakes me up in the middle of the night and it's on my mind when I get up in the morning."

Mark and his fiancee Sarah Watts spent just a month getting mark@street ready, spending long hours creating a chic, modern look and ensuring the kitchen met his high standards, before throwing open its doors to customers.

He also spent those early days forging relationships with suppliers, such as Country Quality Meat in Nailsworth, cheesemaker Melissa Ravenhill just up the road in Minchinhampton and Fairford-based New Wave Food, which provides him with quality, seasonal produce that keeps his menus fresh and exciting.

Mark's quest to find the freshest possible ingredients even takes him into Sarah's vegetable garden, where he can often be found picking prime specimens at 7.30am to supplement what arrives in his regular deliveries.

"We have to be realistic – we can't be totally self sufficient but it's great to be able to go into the garden and pick fruit and vegetables that I know are the freshest I can possibly get," says Mark, who is currently working 14-hour days to give his new venture the best possible start.

"It's great working with a butcher in Nailsworth. This morning I picked up my meat on the way to work and walked to the restaurant with it. The turkey I'm using at the moment comes from Minchinhampton Common.

"I am really keen to support small artisan producers and I hope to find more as time goes on. There is a lot of fantastic produce around here."

Mark's passion for food dates back to his childhood, when he and his brother used to make bread with their grandmother and enjoy their mother's home baking. After leaving school he undertook a three-year catering course.

"I finished college in July and by November I was in London, working as a commis chef at Claridges during the time when Marjan Lesnik was the executive chef.

"Claridges was a real eye opener. The kitchens were beautiful and no expense was spared really. I learned such a lot there."

Mark left Claridges to go to The Avenue, another restaurant with a great reputation for food but an environment in which experience and the ability to stay calm under pressure was paramount.

"When we arrived in the morning we had to get everything ready for lunch for around 130 people, and then clean up and prepare dinner for anything up to 200," he recalls.

"Working in that sort of environment is hard but it makes you want to try harder and want to be better."

Afterwards Mark continued to work his way up through the ranks before leaving London to join a friend at a pub in Wiltshire, where he stayed for five years before Sarah got a job in Gloucestershire and he moved here to join her, working as the head chef at Cowley Manor for several months before starting mark@street.

"I have been very lucky to be able to work in some fantastic places and be guided by some very good chefs," says Mark.

"Today cooking in a way that's local, seasonal and sustainable is the trend but to me it's just going back to the old ways."

Mark describes his own style of cooking as unfussy, simply allowing the taste of the quality ingredients to speak for themselves.

"I like to think that all I am doing really is enhancing the flavours that are there," he says.

And he has little time for 'signature dishes', changing his menu on a regular basis to make the most of seasonal ingredients that are at the peak of perfection.

"I love the fluidity of the way I work," he says. "It's not uncommon for the menu to change up to four times a week when certain ingredients come in or run out, or when I wake up of a morning with an idea for a brand new dish in my head.

"Just a few weeks ago I had the chance to buy some wonderful sweetbreads. I wasn't sure how they would be received but I put them on the menu and they turned out to be one of my biggest selling dishes."

Despite having only been in business for less than a year, Mark's talents in the kitchen are already earning him recognition.

In May he was among the chefs giving demonstrations at the Tewkesbury Food Festival while in September mark@street was among the finalists in the Taste of Gloucestershire Food and Farming Awards' best restaurant category, sponsored by Space Catering Equipment. As for the future, Mark hopes to be in a position to take on an apprentice and pass on his skills and passion for food to a new generation.

"I've been ready and waiting for my own restaurant for the last 20 years and I am delighted that everything has fallen into place," he says.

"Nailsworth is a lovely place and everybody has been really welcoming and supportive.

"I'm the happiest I have ever been."