Train the Trainer

The course is taught by David Brice & Paul Bradford

Paul started cake decorating from a very early age helping out his gran on a Saturday afternoon with the baking. At age 9 Paul and his gran came to an arrangement where gran would bake the cakes and Paul would decorate them and he´s never stopped since.

After leaving college he worked full-time at Oliphant´s bakery in Linlithgow then the age of 23 Paul opened his own his High Street shop in 2004. The cake business grew to 7 outlets with 35 staff, but Paul soon found that his passion was in teaching so sold the business in 2011.

Paul has taught all over the world including UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Monaco, Spain, Italy, India, Dubai, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. He has made cakes for the Queen, Prince Charles, Prince Albert of Monaco, Barry Gibb and a long list of A listers! Paul is also the holder of the coveted Disciples D’ Escoffier award, which he received in Italy in 2008 for his dedication to sharing his cake skills.

Paul believes that learning is all about having fun in a caring and forgiving environment and the best reward is seeing the cakes people have made through his teaching. This is what inspired him to create Strathardle Lodge as a residential cake retreat in the Highlands of Perthshire.

Paul is lead tutor at CakeFlix, Caking all Over the World and CakeFlix Master (the first accredited online Cake Decorating Programme).

David joined the army at 16 years old and enjoyed a number of exciting deployments including Germany, Kenya and Belize as well as two active tours in Northern Ireland during the troubles in 1985 and 1986. David left the army aged 23 to take up a career as a civil servant with the Ministry of Defence.

David had reached the grade of Senior Executive Officer, a year later he then took a transfer the Scottish Government to take up a senior role in finance. A year after that, he was promoted again to a senior role working closely with Scotland’s Transport Minister. This position involved policy influence, public speaking, speech writing and a place on the Transport Management Board. Although considered very successful, David knew this wasn’t what he wanted to do, so in 2005 he make a monumental decision to give up his civil service career to help grow the cake business with Paul. They grew the business to 35 staff over 7 outlets and won many awards. During this time David became a Business Coach with the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust and Business Gateway, where he shared his business knowledge with start-up business owners.

David was instrumental in the growth of the cake business and in 2010 started plans to implement the online tutorials project. This was bold and adventurous as nobody else was doing online tutorials at that time.  However, having persuaded Paul that it was a good idea, he went about building a website, learning how to do the filming and editing and getting a prototype ready in 2011 for proof of concept. The uptake was amazing, and over 9 years later has ensured that at least one new feature length tutorial is added to the website weekly.

In May 2020 David was instrumental in the delivery of the world’s first fully accredited online cake decorating course; CakeFlix Master.

In January 2021 David started the hugely successful CakeFlix Business Boot Camp, where his no nonsense approach to business has had a hugely positive impact on so many members. This has proven so popular that it is now a regular feature for CakeFlix Pro members.

Within CakeFlix David’s key role is Business Development as he is always looking for ways to grow and enhance the CakeFlix customer experience.

Strathardle Lodge has 8 en-suite letting rooms plus a 3 Bedroom letting apartment. Rates are from £85 per night on a BnB basis.

Since taking the property on Paul and David have embarked on a renovation project to bring the former hunting lodge back to life.

On the ground floor there is the Honesty bar, which doubles up as the breakfast room. The bar offers licensed and soft drinks with a selection of crisps, chocolate bars and microwave meals should you get peckish. You simply add them to your room sheet and they are tallied up and paid at check-out.

Evening meals are available at the Kirkmichael Hotel, which is just 500m away in the village.

There is a very relaxing guests lounge and the cake training room and CakeFlix filming studio are also on the ground floor. If you still have energy left after the class, then there is a small gym that you can use to keep fit.

All rooms (with the exception of Room 6, King suite) are dog friendly. There is a secure doggie play area to the rear of the Lodge and plenty of walks from the front door.

We look forward to welcoming you to Starthardle Lodge Guest House & Cake School

Strathardle Lodge is set just to the east of the village of Kirkmichael, Perthshire, which is one of the most beautiful and unspoiled parts of Scotland. Set amongst woodlands and in the foothills of the Cairngorm National Park, it is truly a spectacular place to chill-out.

While you are attending the cake course your partner could be out exploring the countryside or local distilleries, both whisky and gin!

There are numerous walking and cycling routes from the Lodge and skiing at Glenshee is just 25 mins away for the winter months.

The Lodge has 200m of river frontage with fishing rights.

Strathardle Lodge is the ideal place to relax, chill-out and get back to nature.

How to get here:

The closest train station is Pitlochry, which is 20mins away.

This is a mainline station and a main stop for the regular London to Inverness high speed services.

We offer a complimentary collection/drop-off service when you are attended a course.

Closest Airports:

Aberdeen – 1hr 45mins, but no easy access by train

Edinburgh –  1hr 45mins, easy tram ride to Waverley station to catch the train to Pitlochry

Glasgow – 2hrs 15mins, regular 500M bus service that drops at Queen Street station where you get the train to Pitlochry