Foodie escapes
If cooking’s your passion, you can use a break to hone your skills or specialise. At Tracey’s Farmhouse Kitchen (traceysfarmhousekitchen.com) in Killinchy, Northern Ireland, you’ll learn how to make traditional Irish soda bread during a three-hour afternoon tea experience (from £25pp). Stay at Horseshoe Cottage, a converted stable block that sleeps four (from £240 for two nights) and enjoy what you’ve baked by a roaring fire or the shores of beautiful Ballymorran Bay.
For tips on pickling and preserving, try the two-day fermentation course Something’s Bubbling at Merchants Manor (merchantsmanor.com) in
Falmouth. Led by head chef and fermentation fanatic Aiden Blakely-may, the break also includes the chance to perfect your sourdough starter, make Japanese Koji and enjoy a seven-course tasting menu, with paired drinks (from £245pp, including all food and accommodation).
Or find out about the history and culture of the humble Cornish pasty (and learn how to crimp your own) at the Philleigh Way Cornish Cookery School in Truro (philleighway.co.uk, from £55pp). Cornwall Hideaways (cornwallhideaways.co.uk) offers self-catering breaks from as little as £12pp a night, with a 10% discount on cookery school bookings.
If you’re a Great British Menu fan, you’ll know Lisa Goodwin-allen, executive chef of the Michelin-starred Northcote restaurant (northcote.com) in Lancashire. You can stay at the boutique country house hotel that it’s a part of and explore the picturesque market towns of the Ribble Valley, while honing your culinary skills on
a gourmet getaway. Starting from £287.50pp a night, they include a meal with paired wine at Lisa’s chef’s table in the kitchen, an artisan foodie adventure in the local area or a day at the Northcote Cookery School, one of the UK’S best.
If you want to try your hand at a new kind of cuisine, Fez Cooking School (fezcookingschool.com) offers something completely unique inside Africa’s largest medina. Stay at Morocco’s riad Palais Amani, go shopping in the local souk, cook in a communal oven and learn how to cook a traditional tagine at the rooftop cookery school (from £289pp a night; ryanair.com flies to Fez from £21.99 one way).