Our spanking new kitchen means the launch of our fabulous Gastro Academy for 2010 – the only residential holiday cookery school of its kind and calibre in South West France.

We’re thrilled to welcome award-winning French chefs, Franck Putelat, Robert Abraham and Jean-Marc Boyer onto our team. When not leading our hands-on classes, our chefs run their own renowned gourmet restaurants in Carcassonne and nearby towns.

Outside France, they may not be household names, but they have a celebrity status with French people – television appearances, countless newspaper articles, Michelin stars and top-class recommendations in the most influential restaurant guides mean that they and their signature dishes are synonymous with cooking innovation and flair.

Seize this unique opportunity to learn from master-chefs who will guide you through practical creativity in the kitchen. Using fresh and seasonal ingredients, they will demonstrate and teach the cookery techniques for mastering classic French cuisine – with an added contemporary twist of adventure.

Choose from Cuisine in Brief (3-day weekend themed courses from £495 pp), Gourmet Explorer (6 days, from £1200 pp) or the unique Cook au Vin – 3 cooking days with our chef, plus 3 days’ study with a Master of Wine at our partner wine school to achieve a WSET qualification in wine knowledge (from £1400 pp.). We also have two new courses 'Chef Encounter 1-Day Cookery School' and 'Chef Encounter PLUS 3-Day Cookery Break'. Information about these courses can be seen on pages 3 and 4 of the Gastro Summary.