Cookery courses

Norfolk not only offers some fine dining and some great pubs and bistros for you to savour during a stay at White Lodge Farm Cottages, but there are also unique opportuntities to hone your own culinary skills.

Richard Hughes at The Lavendar House in Brundall has a richly deserved reputation both for his skills as a chef and for working with, and mentoring, up and coming chefs. The Lavendar House offers the choice of:

• Evening Masterclasses - An arrival drink is followed by a demonstration with tasters and recipe sheets. Then sit down to a meal and a glass of wine.
• Saturday morning kitchen - A "hands-on" cookery class with tuition, recipe sheets, step by step instructions, lunch and a goody bag to take home.
• "Hands On" morning student cookery course - A morning class followed by lunch.
• Chef for a day - This really is somehting special with a briefing and tour, then off to the kitchen to prepare and cook your own dinner party with one to one tuition throughout. At 7pm your guests will arrive for a champagne reception, and dine on the fruits of your labour.

When 'Cooking with Chef' (Jamie Murch) at Congham Hall it's up to you whether you watch or have a go yourself. Working in the Congham Hall kitchens, guests prepare each course from the canapés through to the dessert. Then, once all the cooking is over, you can enjoy your hard work, dining in the Orangery restaurant with wine to complement your lunch. Ask Helen about this one - it's proved an ideal gift for 'difficult to buy for' parents and Helen went along with them.

Morston Hall also offers a "hands' on" approach, as chef patron Galton Blackiston conducts a number of half-day cookery demonstrations during the year to show guests how certain menus are prepared for harmonious results at the table (you'll recognise Galton from the Great British Menu, where he represented the Midlands and East, and he's also appeared in the BBC Two series Food Poke).

After coffee and home-made biscuits it's into the kitchen, with the session ending around 2pm, rounded off by lunch of something that’s been demonstrated and a glass of wine and, of course, the recipe sheets to take home. Here are some of Galton's recipes ...

New in 2010 is the David Adlard Cookery School, with courses taking place under the tutorage of David Adlard and members of his team of top guest chefs in a purpose-built kitchen at The Walpole Arms in Itteringham, near Aylsham. Run by Micelin Award-winning chef, DAvid Adlard, in conjunction with former MasterChef producer Richard Bryan, the school offers both ‘hands-on’ courses and ‘watch and eat’ demonstrations in all aspects of contemporary cookery.

If you'd rather not get involved yourself then you might try one of the Food and Wine Workshops given by Alex Mackay at Norwich City Football Club. Alex was a director of Raymond Blanc’s le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons cookery school and Le Baou d’Infer cookery school in Provence. You've probably seen him on BBC’s Ready Steady Cook and This Morning.

This is a great day out for food-and-wine lovers and cookery enthusiasts with fun and informative cookery demonstrations and wine tasting with experts, a Q&A session and a delicious three-course lunch. For more information about this one have a word with Tony.

A number of the chefs mentioned here, and others also take part in cookery demonstrations during the year - at the Royal Norfolk Show and the Norwich & Norfolk Food Festival, for example.

Contact details

• Congham Hall 01485 600250
• Food and Wine Workshops with Alex Mackay 01603 218704
• David Adlard Cookery School 01263 587258
• The Lavender House 01603 712215
• Morston Hall 01263 741041