Cooking or culinary holidays, vacations, tours in France:

Cordon Bleu and local cuisine in Normandy
Le Manoir de L'Aufragere . . . a gourmet's paradise

L'Aufragere is the ideal base from which to explore Normandy. It is situated six kilometres from Pont Audemer, a beautiful small town with half-timbered buildings and the river Risle running through its many canal-ways. It is also known as the Venice of Normandy.

To the east towards Paris there is Versailles, Giverny and Rouen, to the west, Deauville, Trouville, Honfleur, the Bayeux tapestry & the Normandy landing beaches. All around there are many abbeys, a variety of gardens & interesting museums & art galleries to visit.

Normandy is spoilt for good golf-courses and L'Aufragere is well located to play at Château du Champ de Bataille, Etretat, Deauville, Le Vaudreil and St Gatien. Booking to play at these courses during your stay can be made in advance by Nicole and Régis.

With the river Seine, river Risle and the coastline from Caen up to Fécamp there are many places to fish. Fishing permits can be obtained where necessary.

L'Aufragere is part of the Parc Regional de Boucles de la Seine and there are many woodland areas and forests nearby, ideal for walking and cycling.

"No gesture of friendship is more powerful than an invitation to share food and wine, carefully selected and lovingly prepared, at home."

Nicole and Régis run gastronomic cookery courses for all lovers of food and wine and love to share their interest and knowledge of cuisine with you. The courses include cookery demonstrations, visits to the local market, cheese merchant, local artisans and wine tastings.

• Three nights accommodation

• All meals throughout your stay including wine and beverages

• Wine and cheese tastings

• Visits to the local market in Pont Audemer, cheese merchant and local artisan

Le Manoir de L'Aufragère Cookery School has a great advantage for its English-speaking guests as Nicky is English and Régis is a fluent English speaking Frenchman! So whilst the courses are conducted in English, Régis introduces you to the French side of things on his visits to the market, fromagerie, distillery, etc.

Nicky, who just simply loves cooking and anything to do with food, shares her culinary knowledge and expertise with you in a very relaxed atmosphere making cooking a real joy. When needed, she cuts corners, and isn't too proud to open a packet or a tin of something ready prepared if it is good . . . and if people are interested she'll whiz them down to the local supermarket to show them useful French ingredients that she uses in her cooking which they could take home. Each group will prepare a recipe that is also new to Nicky, whether it is a recipe she has found in a book or magazine or a dish she wants to experiment with that she had at a restaurant.

As the school is based in Normandy, Nicky will include a few Normandy dishes, but being very rich in butter, cream and cheese, Nicky does try hard to make them as 'lean' as possible, using natural fresh local produce but maybe just reducing the quantities of cream and butter, etc.

Having travelled extensively around the world Nicky's cooking doesn't shy away from a few exotic ingredients here and there and a lot of her dishes do have a contemporary twist to them. When Nicky goes back to England she makes a point of visiting at least two or three of the popular supermarkets, just to keep an eye of what is available in England so that she knows what ingredients are easily obtainable for her guests from the UK, whilst friends and previous cookery guests from America and the Antipodes keep her in touch with ingredients available at their end.

As well as opening seafood and making cheese with you, Régis looks after the visits. He takes you to the local market in Pont-Audemer which is one of the best in the region and the fromagerie, where he not only buys a selection of cheese to taste, but also allows each of the guests to choose a cheese they like the look of for everyone to try back at L'Aufragère with lunch or dinner.

The other visit is the following afternoon to the Busnel Calvados distillery in Cormeilles where they make Calvados and Pommeau. (If guests are returning for another cookery course they are taken on a different visit than the distillery).

Wine and cheese tastings are done with each lunch and dinner, and each evening meal commences with a different aperitif accompanied with canapés which you will have prepared during the cookery classes.

By the end of the course you will be looking forward to throwing a few dinner parties yourself.

Specialised courses - minimum two people

Le Manoir de Laufragere runs professional courses for chalet cooks*, restaurant and pub refresher courses to inspire your menus and for small catering businesses and delicatessens, lots of new recipe ideas and presentation skills. These courses have been very successful helping people professionally. Equally anybody looking to set up their own B&B who wants to provide gourmet evening meals, would benefit greatly from Régis and Nicky's experience. The gourmet B&B and other specialised courses last five days.

*Chalet cook courses need to be individually tailored for, so duration and price of the courses will vary as we have a good reputation to get jobs for our students as a result of the chalet host cookery course.

L'Aufragère is an Eighteenth century Normandy manor house, lovingly restored by Régis and Nicole Dussartre, set in eight acres of tranquil orchard and farmland. Nicole is a Cordon Bleu chef and each evening creates a gastronomic delight for dinner, inspired by her many travels abroad and her passion for cooking. Régis supplies most of the produce from their land, rearing sheep, poultry and rabbits; growing his own vegetables and making the cider, calvados and pommeau.

The candlelit dinners are taken either in the dining-room with its open fireplace during winter or in the beautiful garden overlooking the countryside in the summer. The food and wine are carefully selected, prepared and served by Nicole and Régis who then join you for dinner to make it a relaxing and pleasurable evening.

There are five bedrooms, each with individual charm and character, three of which reflect some of Nicole's travels and the other two retaining the original Normandy style. Each bedroom has its own private bathroom.