Ten tasty UK cookery schools
Ten tasty cookery schools and other foodie experiences we think you'll love.
Do you want to learn how to bake? Host better dinner parties? Make homemade pasta? There are cookery courses for practically every cuisine, skill level and food you can think of, so whatever you want to improve or learn, it’s there.
We’ve rounded up 10 venues around the UK, across all budgets, which offer evening or half- or one-day courses. Prices are per person and include lunch/the food you make.
Leiths, London
Forty years old this year, Leiths has been a frontrunner in cookery courses for both professionals and amateurs. You can master another cuisine with the Flavours of the Middle East, A Vegetarian Taste of the Spice Route and Pasta Perfection courses, learn to make croissants and brioche, hone your knife skills and even learn about food styling and writing.
With around 16 people per class, prices range from £150 and up to £225 when hosted by a guest chef such as Anna Jones or Valentine Warner.
Swinton Park Cookery School, Yorkshire
This castle hotel in the Yorkshire Dales is hard to beat for location. It’s big on food, with a four-acre kitchen garden plus a cookery school with a high-spec demonstration kitchen which is open to hotel guests and visitors.
Courses are varied and include Wild About Foraging, Aga Cookery and Game Cookery. Courses may also focus on specific cuisines such as Provence or northern Italy and the school also runs kids’ courses and two-hour tasters. Prices start from £40 for a two-hour Supper Evening to £160 for a day course.
Edinburgh New Town Cookery School, Edinburgh
Run by Fiona Burrell, a Principal of Leiths in London, this cookery school is set in a five-floor Georgian house in Edinburgh overlooking the Firth of Forth.
It runs a variety of short course for adults and children with lessons in Japanese cooking, artisan breadmaking, easy entertaining, one-day family cooking experiences and university preparation. Courses cost from £45 for a Children’s Baking Morning to £155 for Curries Around The World.
The Chef’s Room, Millbrook, Wales
This fish and cookery school in Blaenavon is run by Lindy Wildsmith alongside Franco Taruschio, patron of the Abergavenny Food Festival and founder of the Walnut Tree restaurant. The focus is on getting people of all ages and skills to cook, use local produce and appreciate the joy of cooking and eating together.
Courses include Fish Basics, Seasonal Baking and Mediterranean Feast. Most courses are between £80 and £95, apart from Alex Mackay’s Provence course which is priced at £115.
Honesty Cookery School, Berkshire
On the border of Hampshire and Berkshire, the Honesty Cookery School in Newbury is owned by cookery writer Romilla Arber. Courses take place in The Barn at North Sydmonton House with views of the Hampshire countryside.
Choose from the four-hour Sri Lankan Kitchen for £45, Beautiful Breads for £89 or Festive Fare & Christmas Wreath for £105, plus an introduction to chocolate and cheesemaking. With no more than 10 people per class, it’s both reasonable and personal.
Beverley Glock, Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire
A farmhouse kitchen inside an 18th-century mill on the edge of the Chilterns is where food writer Beverley Glock teaches her down-to-earth cooking classes such as Real Cooking for Real People, Bread Making, Pasta and Sauces, Superfoods and Classic Indian.
She also runs a Wednesday cookery club for adults, a Saturday morning cooking club for children and teenagers, and further workshops during school holidays. Courses cost between £40 and £75 and there are no more than six adults per class.
Manna From Devon Cooking School, Devon
Overlooking the River Dart in Kingswear, south Devon, the wonderfully-named Manna From Devon school offers 32 different courses from learning to cook in wood-fired ovens, breadmaking, family cooking and lessons on specific cuisines such as North/South Indian cooking, Asian street food and pizza and flatbreads.
Owners Holly and David Jones also run a B&B and offer courses at Deer Park Country House Hotel in Honiton. One-day courses cost £149 and half-day ones for £95 with groups sizes of 6-8 people.
All Hallows Farmhouse, Dorset
Run by Lisa Osman from her Dorset farmhouse kitchen, this cookery school offers classes in everything from butchery and AGA cookery to canapés, chocolate, cheese-making and world cuisine.
She also brings in guests tutors such as Anna Del Conte and her daughter Julia Cadoza, and editor of Delicious magazine Karen Barnes. Courses range from £25 for tea-tasting, £95 for Introduction to Baking and £130 for Thai cooking with MasterChef 2012 finalist Andrew Kojima.
Kitchen School, Birmingham
This Edgbaston-based cookery school offers a variety of one-day masterclasses for 6-8 people, with a focus on core food skills and new cooking techniques such as Superfood Saturday, Stress-free Dinner Party and Curry Masterclass for £75.
Evening courses such as Knife Skills and Comfort Food cost £50 and they offer student cookery classes for £25 evenings/£50 on Saturdays. At the school's Digbeth HQ they teach people how to grow food in their kitchen garden and they run short Eco Kids Camps for £15.
Season to Taste, Durham
Run by qualified teacher Jan Hodgson, who grows most of her vegetables and soft fruit in a village allotment near Durham, courses at this cookery school are great value. Starting from £20 for a two-and-a-half session, she covers everything from seasonal recipes to Mexican and German cookery lessons.
Her Saturday workshops (£65) focus on learning new skills and courses include Just Jam, Dishy Fish, Tempting Tapas and Basically Bread. She also offers a Student Survival course.
UK-wide
Coming from a slightly different angle is Do Something Delicious, which brings together different experiences from artisan food producers across the country. Courses include an Introduction to Salmon Fishing from Europe’s top female salmon tutor in the Scottish Borders to an Autumn Mushroom Foraging Course run by Wales’ leading forager and specialist mushroom grower. Short/one-day course prices range from £40 for canapés and fizz to £160 for pork butchery and charcuturie.
Similarly, Bread Angels is a network of micro bakers and trainers who run a variety of bread-baking courses in different settings from commercial kitchens to village halls. Prices range from £65 to £125 for a half/full-day course.
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UK Cookery School of the Year Awards 2014
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