Cookery Course
See Rosemary on ITV1's Taste the Nation - with Henrietta as judge.
The cookery school at Swinton Park is housed in the ground floor of the converted Georgian stables, which overlook 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 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. Accommodation is available in the hotel, both for residential courses or for guests on day courses who want to extend their stay. Non-cooking partners are welcome to join the courses for meals (numbers are limited on day courses), and the hotel’s facilities include a spa with treatment rooms, golf, fishing, shooting, riding, falconry and walking in the extensive grounds.
The course programme offers a choice of day courses run by our Head Chef Simon Crannage, with Dinner Parties courses consisting 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. This year there are evening Christmas In A Box courses.
Simon is also joined by experts in their field for masterclasses in specialised areas such as meat and butchery, game, and garden produce (hosted by Susan Cunliffe-Lister – the mastermind behind the transformation of our walled garden).
Rosemary Shrager is our guest Celebrity Chef for the residential courses, with a wide range of themes on offer, such as Modern British, Italian and French, Mediterranean Food and Fish and Seafod.
Gilly Robinson, Rosemary’s assistant, 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 with that offer flexibility and scope for variety. For those who don’t have time on their hands, the Christmas in a Box evening course is also very popular, as guests cook an entire three course Christmas Dinner for six to take away with them for the freezer.
A more exotic offering takes the shape of our Curry Club, run by Prett Tejura of Curry Cuisine. This is a regular Friday night evening event, covering the different regions, cultures and cooking styles of India. A short demonstration and hands on cooking session is followed by a curry served in the demonstration kitchen.
