Cooking Vacation in the Dordogne region of south west France near the pretty market village of St Genies

Price: € 1,300
Dates: April 1 - Nov 12
Duration: 6 nights from 4pm every Sunday to 10am the following Saturday.

Includes:

• An evening meal here on the day of your arrival
• Practical hands-on tuition with the English chef
• All cooking ingredients, equipment and aprons
• Continental breakfast each day
• Lunch each day
• Dinner on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday
• Tea, coffee and wine
• A meal at a typical local restaurant or auberge on Friday evening
• Entrance fees and transportation to places visited
• Free access to the private and secluded pool (open-air seasonal)
• Free Internet and Email access
• Discounted TGV tickets.
• PLUS Dinner with round trip transfer to Sarlat

We'll change the way you think about food...

Classic French, contemporary English (If you'd love to cook some of those great classics of French cuisine and would also like a slightly lighter, more modern approach, the kind of food being cooked by the likes of Jamie Oliver, Gary Rhodes and Rick Stein), mediterranean, Pacific rim or fusion cuisine (lots of lime, coconut, chili, mango, lemon grass, etc), Italian and Mexican, then this is the course for you.

ITINERARY

Sunday:

Arrival and a complementary evening meal...
Arrival is during Sunday whereupon you'll get to know your fellow guests over pre-dinner drinks and a complementary evening meal (don't worry, you don't have to cook this one - the real graft comes later!).
Cooking our own lunch and dinner...

Over the next few days, interspersed with tea and coffee breaks, we'll prepare and cook our own lunch, over which we can chat about what's been learnt so far. Then, it's back to the 'grindstone' for more hands-on cooking, again dotted here and there with the odd break.

At the end of the afternoon you can finally pat yourself on the back and have a well-earned rest (or do a bit of sight-seeing, or have a stroll around the area).
In the evening, we'll reassemble over a glass or two of wine, then, to complete our meal, we'll plate-up and serve.

Monday and Tuesday:

Fairly busy days spent cooking our lunches and evening meals. After a breakfast of steaming coffee and fresh croissants, it's off to the kitchen where I will briefly demonstrate some of the techniques you'll be putting into practice throughout the day. However, most of the prep will be done by you as it's the best way to learn (and yes, that includes tidying and washing up as you go - it's good kitchen practice!).

Wednesday:

On Wednesday morning we have a bit of a rest, but spend the time wisely with a trip to nearby medieval Sarlat and its wonderful market. Here, we'll pick up some produce to bring back and cook for lunch.
Wednesday either continues with more cooking, or you can just chill out and enjoy this lovely part of France.
Wednesday evening you are on your own for a 3 course dinner in Sarlat – transfer and dinner included.

Thursday and Friday:

Thursday and Friday continue with more cooking is another pretty full day in the kitchen, again cooking our lunch and dinner but on Friday afternoon we take you to our local walnut oil mill (one of the last water powered mills in the Dordogne) to see how the organic oil we use is made. then return here for some lunch. The afternoon is time for you to relax, pack, do some site-seeing or, if you're up for it, do a bit more cooking.

On Friday evening, come with us to our favourite restaurant where we'll treat you to an atmospheric meal in typical Dordogne style.

Saturday:

Departure.

FACILITIES AND FOOD

The Accommodation
You will be staying in your own comfortable and spacious centrally-heated en-suite accommodation. Your cooking holiday is based in our magnificent recently converted barn set in the beautiful rolling countryside of the Dordogne, between the ancient honey-coloured market towns of Sarlat and Montignac. The area is very peaceful, offering a relaxing safe environment in which to spend your holiday.

En-suite bedrooms...
The barn is centrally-heated and you will have your own spacious double ensuite bedroom with independent access to the sunny courtyard. All bedrooms are on the ground floor and so remain at a comfortable temperature during the hotter months.

Great showers...
The rooms are clean and well-equipped with American standard plumbing (modern WC's, sinks and large powerful thermostatically-controlled showers, etc). Each room has its own tea and coffee making facilities.

Privacy and seclusion...
The barn is set well back from the lane that passes us, and is surrounded by extensive lawned grounds. There is a private and secluded pool for your exclusive use.

The kitchen...
The cooking takes place upstairs in the stunning light and airy kitchen, with its split-level floor and exposed oak roof trusses. There are contemporary semi-professional stainless steel gas cookers and hobs, stainless steel sinks and modern units and worktops. The kitchen is spacious with well planned demonstration and hands-on preparation areas. On the lower half of the split-level is the superb vaulted lounge with unparalleled views of the surrounding countryside. There is a HiFi, wide-screen television and comfortable modern furniture.

The Food

On your cooking course in France fresh seasonal produce, united with good clear flavours, will shine with very little fiddling at all...

The great chefs - Rick Stein, Gary Rhodes, Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay et al - share the same cooking philosophy: keep it simple. And where better to learn that than on a cooking course, France naturally being the ideal place to start.

All too often, cooks muck about with dishes seemingly just for the sake of it, or perhaps because they believe that simple ingredients, simply presented, can't possibly speak for themselves. Well, they'd be wrong: some of the best food I've eaten has been more or less allowed to present itself.

Yes, of course dishes have to be enhanced and served with complementary ingredients but, as your cooking course in France will reveal, fresh seasonal produce, united with good clear flavours and simple presentation, will shine with very little fiddling at all.
Only the best ingredients will do on your cooking course in France...

So that is why, on your course, we'll shop locally for the best ingredients, then bring them back to our kitchen and pay them the respect they deserve (our butcher, by the way, has a list, placed prominently on the wall of her shop, detailing the farmers who supply her meat - and we know all of them).

Together, we'll combine flavours and textures that reinforce and magnify our dishes, introducing garnishes only if they add to the overall eating experience.

Predominantly, we'll use light dressings and vinaigrettes instead of overly-rich cream-based sauces (although one or two unctuous little numbers will slip in every now and then - I promise!), and quickly-cooked dishes from the Mediterranean or the East are favoured in lieu of heavy stodge and groaning plates.

The food you could be cooking...

When you book we will phone you to have a chat about what you would like to cook and what, if anything, you would definitely not want to cook.

Each course is tailor-made to suit all our guests on any particular week, so you will all be of more or less similar aptitude and competence.

TESTIMONIALS

"For months we have looked forward with great anticipation to a week cooking at Bombel. It was all we hoped it would be!
The dishes we learned were excellent eating, yet very do-able cooking. And in a short amount of time we learned a great spread of techniques - everything from pasta, pastry, bread and ice cream making to flambéing, caramelising, poaching, blanching, filleting and confit-ing - as well as how to achieve good, strong and inventive flavours and cook lamb, duck, fish and seafood to perfection.
On top, we had a lovely relaxing holiday with time left to enjoy some of the local scenery, markets and sights. Hats off to Jim, Lucy and Jenny who could not have been more hospitable. We wish you all the best for the future at Bombel. We and our friends and family will be enjoying the fruits of your labour for many years to come!" Arlene and Simon - London

"An intense amount of thought and ingenuity has gone into both the physical and curricular aspects of the school, making every aspect of the experience a pleasure for the student." Gwen Crawford - Lake Jackson, USA

"The cookery was absolutely superb. We learnt so much: the exploding mouth-watering tastes; the cutting, rolling, squeezing methods; the searing heat and the leaping flames. Each and every experience was one of pure joy and fascination.
Cookery is an art and a delightful pleasure to continue to enjoy in our daily living. You have put the fun back into cooking, changing the mundane daily dish into something quite differing with a little more care. Thank you both so much." Sheila Campbell - Pechaude, France

"Superb. Couldn't fault it." Jayne - Dover, Kent

"For me, the best part was the hands-on, learn-by-doing method of instruction. The course was all that I hoped it would be - a full day preparing and eating fabulous food in a beautiful setting with warm, friendly people. Thanks for a great learning and entertaining experience." Pat Broering - Morro Bay, California, USA.

"Not a day in the kitchen passes without something you taught us being incorporated into our cooking. Our tossing skills with a pan are something to behold, the floor is no longer scattered with the best part of the meal! Sauces are a revelation.

The panic has been taken out of dinner parties as we can now programme more correctly our preparation and cooking times. To our continued amazement both fish and even a leg of lamb will cook to perfection without being in contact with heat for excessively long, which considerably improves the flavour.
Borders have been taken away from our culinary repertoire. No picture in a magazine or clip on TV is thought to be too difficult, and our presentation is breathtaking.

To you both we send our sincere thanks. It was a wonderful holiday with extremely interesting deviations away from the stove, as and when necessary. And above all your teachings have endured. ''Jim said........................'' is now part of our kitchen vocabulary. We both wish you every success." Marion and John - Devon, England