Cooking or culinary holidays, vacations, tours in Scotland:

Cooking Holidays near Loch Ness in the Highlands
. . . find out more about Scottish Cooking

When you are planning a holiday to Scotland, it is likely that you will visit Loch Ness and the village of Drumnadrochit with its Nessie Exhibition centers and Urquhart Castle. Away from the busy village centre and hidden from the road, Knowle Bed & Breakfast is a comfortable, privately situated family home, surrounded by spacious gardens and woodland and a panoramic view towards Loch Ness.

An excellent location not just to get a good night’s sleep but also to enjoy a cooking holiday aimed at people with a passion for preparing food who would like to find out more about Scottish Cooking with its fresh and wild ingredients. A holiday with a tasty difference!

Don't miss our special Winter offer >>>

Scottish Cooking Holiday at Knowle B&B

This holiday is aimed at people with a passion for food who would like to find out more about Scottish cooking, through a hands-on approach. There are two ways of enjoying a Scottish Cooking Holiday at our B&B, which both involve guidance by qualified Chef Bert Wigman who recently upgraded his position from a keen amateur cook to a professional chef and is happy to share his new-found knowledge with our cooking holiday guests!

Package 1:

This is our main cooking holiday package which involves a five nights' stay at our B&B with a group of four to six people who book together, with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of four of them actively taking part in cooking typical Scottish dishes for 4 days, making use of Scotland's wild and fresh ingredients.

Prices for Package 1

January, February, November and December	:	£330 per person
March to June, September & October	:	£350 per person
July and August	:	£370 per person

Including:

• Five nights bed and breakfast.
• Four days professional cooking instruction from 15.30 - 18.00 pm
• Four times 4-course evening meal
• Recipes of the evening meals

Package 2:

Package 2 is aimed at two or three people traveling together and planning a shorter stay at our B&B (minimum of two nights). We are happy to offer you a Scottish Cooking experience at a cost of £65 per person per day on top of your B&B price. To be arranged at time of booking.

Special offer from 1st November 2008 until 28th February 2009 (excluding Christmas & New Year period):

Bed & Breakfast, professional Cooking Instruction and Dinner @ £65 per pperson per day.

Scottish Food

Scottish food is famous for its fresh, natural and wild ingredients. All our food is prepared with quality Scottish products and typical food you may find on the menu:

• Cullen Skink (fish soup)
• Venison
• Game
• Lamb
• Scottish salmon (home smoked)
• The legendary Haggis
• Neeps and Tatties
• Vegetable curry
• Baked potato

. . . and of course some of the well known mouth watering desserts such as Raspberry Meringue and Sticky Toffee Pudding.

This cooking holiday will give you an opportunity to gain an insight in Scottish cooking - although occasionally it will be mixed with a flavour of Continental cooking because of our Dutch background.

A typical cooking holiday-day:

• Before 3:30 pm
  
  After a tasty Scottish, Vegetarian or Continental breakfast you will have plenty of time to explore Loch Ness and part of the Highlands. We will be happy to advise you on where to go for your walking, cycling or car trips, directing you to waterfalls, castles, lochs, museums, ancient Caledonian pine woods, whatever takes your fancy. For the early risers it is even possible to make a car trip to the beautiful west coast of Scotland and still be back in time for the cooking part of your holiday.
  
  For those interested in complementary therapies there is the option of receiving Bi-Aura therapy during the day by Mirjam, who is a qualified Bio-Energy Practitioner. Have a look at www.lochnessbi-aura.co.uk to find out more about this holistic energising and healing form of treatment.

• From 3:30 pm for the cooking part of your holiday
  
  At 3:30 pm you are invited into the kitchen. You will find a menu for the evening's dinner and we will briefly talk you through the different courses. Ingredients for each of the individual dishes will all be lying ready and you can choose which dish you would like to help out with. For all recipes we use as many of our own fresh products as possible, e.g. eggs, tomatoes, herbs.
  You will be given information about the typical Scottish ingredients, products and dishes in a relaxed and informal atmosphere, which so far has proved a most enjoyable experience for our guests.

  Around 6:00 pm we will invite you to your table in our conservatory and will serve you the dishes, which will no longer hold any secrets for you . . . apart from the taste of course!

Finally

At the end of your holiday we will give you the recipes, so you can re-create your favourite Scottish dishes at home. If you live outside the UK, you may want to make sure that before you go home you buy some of the ingredients that you often can't get abroad, like black treacle, golden syrup, pinhead oatmeal, etc. Our local supermarket or otherwise the bigger supermarkets and health shops in Inverness will be able to provide you with all these goodies.

Back to nature

Depending on the season we pick raspberries, brambles or chantarelles in our area and use them for your dinner. Feel free to pick some wild berries yourself and Mirjam will be happy to find you a nice dessert or home baking recipe for the fruit to be used in. And then of course we will be preparing the best game and venison dishes, including a venison recipe with a game and chocolate sauce, which is elaborate, but definitely one of our favourites. For those interested we'll make sure to find out from which Highland Estate the deer originated.

Pasta and sausage making are an option too. And if you have a particular interest in curing and smoking, Bert can take you through this whole process in practice, as he often smokes fish, ham and bacon in our own smoking kiln.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE EMAIL enquiry@lochnessguesthouse.co.uk

Guest Rooms
There are three comfortable bedrooms: two en-suite double rooms (one downstairs and one upstairs) and one upstairs triple room (King-size bed and single bed) with private facilities. The rooms all come with wash basin, tea and coffee making facilities, hair dryer and shaver point.

Lounge
Upstairs you will also find a guest lounge with a fine view towards Loch Ness, offering you easy chairs, TV and a bookcase with a variety of books and board games.

Knowle Bed & Breakfast was awarded a Three Star rating by the Scottish Tourist Board.

A deep love for Scotland made us decide to emigrate in August 1997 from the Netherlands to the beautiful Highlands of Scotland. Our experience as Scottish tourists goes back more than eighteen years and if required, we are happy to provide you with walking, cycling and other tourist tips.

Highland Activities

From our home you will find a range of possibilities for walking, cycling, fishing, horse riding and at the same time enjoying wildlife. At easy car distance three beautiful glens are accessible: Glen Cannich, Strathglass and Glen Affric - the latter, with its remains of the ancient pine forest, is of outstanding beauty and all three glens offer superb walking.

The wilderness, remoteness and tranquility of the area are truly fascinating!

A special welcome to walkers and cyclists!

There are special facilities for walkers and mountain bikers: Drying room, maps, bike shed and bike servicing. There are also mountain bikes available for hire.