Cooking or culinary holidays, vacations, tours in United Kingdom:

Swinton Park Cookery School
. . . learning to cook in a luxury Yorkshire castle hotel

Enjoy the delights of a cooking holiday at an exclusive luxury castle, Swinton Park, which is the ancestral home of the Cunliffe-Lister family and is set in 200 acres of parkland, lakes and gardens.The castle is surrounded by the family estate in which guests have access to rivers, reservoirs, moorland and the beautiful countryside of the Yorkshire Dales. The parkland also supports a herd of approximately 100 fallow deer which often graze in front of the hotel.

The first house built at Swinton Park was commenced in 1695 by Sir Abstrupus Danby (whose unusual christian name was bestowed on him by a befuddled parson). His successors built the stable block and gatehouse and, during the 1760's, planted the parkland and created the chain of five lakes. The building was substantially altered during the early 1800's with the addition of a two storey west wing and north wing. A few years later a museum was constructed. At the same time the building became a "castle" with the addition of a tower, turrets and battlements.

The restored Georgian stables have been recently converted into a state of the art Cookery School, run by celebrity chef Rosemary Shrager.

The cookery school is housed in the ground floor of the converted Georgian stables, which overlooks the castle turret and parkland. Light and airy throughout, the stylish décor is comfortable – a relaxed environment well disposed to the appreciation of good food and fine wine!

The demonstration kitchen has been designed to the highest specification with equipment from Neff, LaCanche, Magimix, Le Creuset, Apilco, The Pasta Company, ICTC, Furi knives, Mermaid, Cookware UK and the homely atmosphere is complemented by an Aga and Fired Earth tiles. The demonstration kitchen and dining room both overlook the castle turret and parkland, with offices, a shop, toilets and preparation kitchen to the rear.

The course programme offers a choice of day courses run by Cookery School Chef, Robert Taylor. His Dinner Parties courses consist of three modules, all offering equal depth and range of cuisine but allowing for returning guests to enjoy three bites of the cherry and build up an ever wider range of recipes and skills. He also runs the Food of Love courses for Valentines and the Festive Fare courses in December.

Robert is joined by expert in their field for masterclasses in his other two courses - Richard Townsend from Yorkshire Game for the game courses; and Susan Cunliffe-Lister, the very "hands on" mastermind behind the restoration and design of the walled garden and parkland at Swinton Park, for the Provenance: Grown your Own Food courses.

Rosemary Shrager is Swinton Park's guest Celebrity Chef for the two-day residential courses. There is a wide range of themes on offer, with Modern British, Mediterranean Food and Fish and Seafod

Gilly Robinson, Rosemary Shrager's "Man Friday" for the last four years, is also running her own courses, Family Food and Children's Cookery courses, which focus on the basic essentials of family friendly food, with practical recipes which offer flexibility and scope for variety. As a working mother herself, she has always championed nutritious wholesome family food that can, at the same time, inspire children to enjoy and experiment with cooking themselves.

The cookery school has its own entrance and is a very short walk across the drive from the hotel. The south facing lawn has outdoor seating, and there is adjacent car parking.

The four acre walled garden behind the hotel is planted with fruit, vegetables and herbs, providing a ready source of fresh ingredients for the hotel and school kitchens, and cut flowers during the summer months.

Chef Rosemary Shrager

Rosemary Shrager, the ebullient and vivacious chef, moved her cookery school from Amhuinnsuidhe Castle on the Hebrides to Swinton Park in 2003.

Her school has been running for four years to wide acclaim, and has been voted one of the top ten cookery schools in the UK by several publications (The Observer October 2001, House and Garden May 2002 and The Independent August 2004).

She has previously worked for Pierre Koffman at Tante Claire and also with Jean Christoffe Novelli. Heralded as 'the wizard of the new cookery school by the Tatler, Rosemary is passionate about food and she teaches with an infectious enthusiasm. Claire MacDonald said her “passion for the subject and desire to impart her knowledge, which she does with warmth and verve, cannot fail to fire those fortunate enough to be her pupils”.

Her two television series, Rosemary : Castle Cook (and her accompanying recipe book) and Rosemary on the Road have been well reviewed, and she enjoys a global following. She has recently starred in a Discovery Home series in the States called Rosemary Queen of the Kitchen, with Rosemary showing New Yorkers how to improve their cookery skills, from firefighters to nuns via an American Football team. She also recently starred in the successful ITV series called Ladettes to Ladies, as the vice principal and cookery teacher of a finishing school with a difference. In this school the pupils are hardened, beer swilling ladettes and the challenge is to take these etiquette challenged good time girls and turn them into polite young gels!

She has most recently starred as a judge in Soapstar SuperChef and in her own series Rosemary Shrager’s School for Cooks, filmed at the cookery school.

DAY COURSES

The programme for day courses at Swinton Park covers a wide range of techniques and styles of cooking. The recipes for each day have a theme, and a wide range of complementary dishes are prepared. Each course suits all interests and levels of experience and ability. Guests of all ages are welcome, but please bear in mind that much of the day is spent standing and comfortable footwear and clothing are strongly recommended.

Robert Taylor's courses

The 2008 Dinner Party courses (consisting of three modules allowing for returning guests to expand their skills and recipes) are run by Cookery School Chef, Robert Taylor. Robert is also joined by experts in their field - Richard Townsend from Yorkshire Game for the game courses; and Susan Cunliffe-Lister, the "hands on" mastermind behind the restoration and design of the walled garden and parkland at Swinton Park, for the Provenance Food: Grown and Eat your Own courses. Susan's gardens at Burton Agnes are also very highly regarded, and she was awarded "Gardener of the Year" by Country Life in 2001.

The Game courses offer an insight into game, countryside practises and the different breeds of bird, followed by an introduction to the seasonality of meat and various ways in which each cut needs to be hung, prepared and cooked. This is interspersed by Robert with masterclasses on sauces and vegetables to accompany a dish, hands on boning and preparation of a dish along with a pate or terrine, and a tasting of complementary wines.

Susan Cunliffe-Lister starts the Garden Food masterclass course with a tour of the walled garden, explaining her principles of design and her recommended planting programme for a fruit and vegetable garden. Guests will enjoy the hands on experience of collecting the fruit, herbs and vegetables for the day's course and then joining Simon in the cookery school kitchen where he will combine demonstration and hands on cooking for a fresh and innovative introduction to cooking in harmony with the seasons.

Robert Taylor is also running the Food of Love courses in February, with a tasty concoction of indulgent and exotic food, and the Festive Fare courses in November and December for those wanting some inspiration and some fresh interpretations of the more traditional dishes.

Gilly Robinson's courses

The Children's Cooking courses are aimed at encouraging children to master the basics and encourage them to enjoy and experiment with food, in a friendly and fun environment. Two age groups are catered for, 6 - 11 year olds and 12+ year olds. Each group will spend the morning cooking and then enjoy the lunch that they have prepared in the demonstration kitchen, the children will take home with them an apron and recipe card to try out at home The maximum number of children on a course is 10. Parents or carers who book children on a cooking course will receive a voucher for 20% off all treatments booked in the spa which can be booked for the morning on the day of the course (while children are cooking) or at another convenient time (mid-week only and within a month of the date of the course).

The Day's Schedule

The Rosemary Shrager and Richard Taylor day courses (including the Game and Provenance Food masterclass courses) start at 9:30am and end mid afternoon after a late lunch, which is usually served at 2:00pm. The maximum number of guests on a course is fourteen. The courses offer a mostly hands on experience (the only way to learn!), which is not only great fun but also very rewarding, but there are also short demonstrations during the course of the morning.

Partners are welcome to join guests for lunch on Rosemary's and Robert's courses, but due to high levels of demand, we recommend that lunch guests are booked for lunch at the same time as the course is booked.

The Family Food courses start a little later at 10:00am, running until 12:30pm with lunch in the demonstration kitchen, allowing time afterwards for guests to enjoy the hotel facilities, grounds and spa treatments in the afternoon.

The Children's Cooking courses also start at 10:00am, finishing for lunch in the demonstration kitchen at 12:00pm for the 6 - 11 year old group (with the course finishing at about 1:00pm) and finishing for lunch in the demonstration kitchen at 1:00pm for the 12+ year old group (with the course finishing at about 2:00pm).

Wild about Food course

Join Chris Bax (as seen in BBC's Countryfile), who has combined his love of the great outdoors and natural food with his skills as a chef, to create a day course that will inspire you to take wild food seriously as a staple ingredient of your diet.

Join him on a ramble in the parkland and surrounding countryside, learning about the shoots, roots, berries and leaves that are safe to eat, nutritious and, above all, tasty. You will spend about three hours walking with him as he shows you where to look and how to harvest the wild food growing in abundance on the estate.

This will culminate in a meal cooked for you at the cookery school around the demonstration table, where you will see the ingredients you have harvested being prepared by our cookery school chef.

The Wild about Food course starts at 9.30 am and finishes at 2.00 pm and includes a three-hour walk in the parkland.

RESIDENTIAL COURSES

Rosemary Shrager's cookery courses at Swinton Park concentrate on the classical preparation of food, and mastering the essential techniques. These would include patisserie, baking, sauces and soufflés, boning and filleting, amongst many others.

The programme for each course is extremely versatile and suits all interests and levels of experience and ability. Guests of all ages are welcome, but please bear in mind that much of the day is spent standing and comfortable footwear and clothing are strongly recommended.

The kitchen is always busy and you will be amazed by the scope of each course – our underlying philosophy is that the only way to learn is by hands on experience and we ensure that every guest cooks to the best of their ability.

The residential courses (along with the various day courses) run throughout the year. The maximum number of guests on a course is fourteen.

People often ask what is involved on each course, which can be very hard to illustrate as so much is involved! During the course of a day, each dish for the day's meals will be prepared and each cooking session is also interspersed by a master class - concentrating on a particular ingredient and various ways of cooking with it or on one dish and all its variations - or a demonstration. Lunch will be a fairly light two course meal, whilst dinner is a more formal three course meal.

The two day courses are themed on various styles of cooking, such as Mediterranean Food, Fish and Seafood and Modern British. The courses start at 4:00pm and end after lunch two days later.

A typical selection of dishes for dinner on a Modern British course

Seared Sea Bass on a Bed of Saffron Risotto served with Parsnip Crisp

Roast Duck Breast with Jerusalem Artichoke Dauphinoise, Pak Choi and Ginger and Walnuts

White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberries topped with Bitter Chocolate Mousse served with Coffee Anglaise

A typical selection of dishes for dinner on the Simply Italian day course

Chicken Liver and Apple Pate on Brushetta

Duck with Wild Fennel, Pink Noodles and Leek sauce, Roast Red Pepper with Balsamic Vinegar, Aubergine Flans

Olive oil cake, Pecorino with honey

During all the residential courses, breakfast is served in the hotel, with lunch and dinner in the cookery school dining room. The maximum number of guests on a course is fourteen.

A typical day

It is hard to describe quite how much Rosemary manages to include on a course, in the time allowed, and always ending on time and in time for a restorative glass of wine! This is an example of a typical morning on one of Rosemary's day courses (in this case the theme of the cooking was Game) which we hope illustrates quite how much is involved and how much you can learn.

Don't forget most of the day is spent "hands on" at every stage of the course, although the day is interspersed with a few demonstrations from Rosemary just to give you a breather. The programme for the morning courses on the residential courses is a little shorter (as there is also another session in the late afternoon each day), but just as busy!

The Lunch Menu:

Wild Mushroom Soup with a Pheasant Quenelle

Roast Partridge with Crispy Celeriac, Spinach Gnocchi and Orange and Armagnac Sauce

Apple Tarte Tatin with Cardamom Ice Cream

Wine:

Semillon ~ Chateau Tour Des Gendres, Cuvee Conti Bergerac, France 2001

Pinot Noir ~ Valmoissine, Cote De Verdon, France Louis Latour 2000

The Morning's Programme:

• Make cardamon ice cream
• Make Tart Tatin
• Bone a pheasant
• Start the stock
• Prepare the Dauphinoise
• Demonstration from Rosemary : Pheasant, Leek and Potato Pie
• Make pheasant mousse for Quenelle
• Truss a partridge
• Make Gnocchi
• Make soup
• Make Crispy Celeriac
• Make Orange and Armagnac sauce for Partridge
• Demonstration from Rosemary : Venison Carpaccio

During your residential course you will be staying at the exclusive thirty bedroom luxury Swinton Park hotel which has 4 Red Stars and 3 Rosettes awarded by the AA for excellent facilities, high levels of service and quality of cuisine . . . this is the highest rated hotel in Yorkshire and Cumbria.

The bedrooms, on the first and second floors, are individually designed and decorated on the theme of a Yorkshire town, dale, castle, abbey or garden, according to the aspect of the room. All are equipped with two direct dial telephones, a modem point, CD player, satellite TV, trouser press, drinks tray and coffee and tea making facilities.

Constable Burton	Harlow Carr
Swaledale	Ripon

For available dates and price or to find out more about Swinton Park <click here> or send email <click here>