Cookery Courses par excellence at ’The Culinary Cottage’, near Abergavenny.
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Cookery Courses overlooking beautiful Welsh Mountains
The setting of Culinary Cottage is enough to warrant a visit on its own - it's a 150 year old, delightful country cottage, nestling beneath the famous Skirrid Mountain, just minutes from the wonderful market town of Abergavenny in South Wales.
Penny Lewis, the chef, who regularly cooks for royalty and dignitaries, has the most amazingly calm attitude to cooking. Her pretty blue kitchen, complete with blue Aga of course, is where lucky guests learn all Penny's tricks of the trade, in the most clam way imaginable, so that even first time cooks leave with an array of delicious food that they have produced, and a huge smile of pride on their faces.
In just one day at the Culinary Cottage, Penny taught a group of six of us how to cook THIRTEEN DISHES from scratch, and every one of them was fabulous. From newly-wed husbands, to competent home cooks, Penny has something to teach everyone.
In between kneading focaccia bread, making champagne desserts and rustling up some parmesan baskets, Penny adds little bits of advice and tips, garnered from her many years in the profession. Any nerves soon disappeared as we all rolled up our sleeves and put on our smart ‘Culinary Kitchen' aprons, and got cracking by poaching some chickens.
We started the day as strangers but left as friends who'd shared a memorable experience and none of us could wait to show our families what we'd made and to get practising in our own kitchens. Penny does oodles of cookery courses at the Culinary Cottage, from ‘Dinner Parties made Stressless', (sounds a winner to me!), ‘Temptingly Thai'; ‘Gentlemen Please'; for men only, ‘Christmas All Wrapped Up' and ‘Mostly Moroccan'.
If, like me, you can't decide which to choose, try her diverse, yet divine ‘A Tasting Time', which is exactly that - a taster of all her different courses all rolled into one. Here you can have a go at all sorts of goodies, from Champagne desserts, to Thai Fish dishes. I can't wait to try some more!
And even better news - you will have a three-course lunch and a four-course dinner and get to eat a lot of what you have amazingly made that day, before taking the rest home, along with a cookery folder containing all the days recipes in a smart ‘Culinary Cottage' shopping bag.
If you don't live near Abergavenny, never fear, because Penny has the sweetest bedrooms waiting upstairs in her delightful cottage, especially furnished for students who want to make a weekend or even a week of it. There's a great country pub on the doorstep, mountain views from everywhere, sheep baa-ing and friendly Abergavenny just down the road.
Penny was demonstrating at the Abergavenny Food Festival when I first met her, and I was immediately impressed with her calmness on stage. 'The Abergavenny Food Festival' is taking place again this September, and the 2nd 'Abergavenny Christmas Food and Drink Fair' will be ready to thaw you out with mulled wine this December, so I think a brilliant idea would be to tie the two together! Go and get all fired up over organic food, local wines, chef's tastings and demonstrations in Abergavenny, then head off to The Culinary Cottage up the road with Penny to learn how it's really done from the most fantastic teacher.
Now that would really be 'worth every Penny', don't you think?
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Abergavenny Attractions
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