Gastronomic Delight

The Complete Loire Kitchen Experience – Cooking, Wine-Tasting & Fine Dining

This is the week that brings everything together.

This French cooking course and culinary holiday in the Loire Valley is designed for people who want to cook seriously, eat well, and understand French cuisine more deeply. Over the week, you don’t just cook dishes — you start to understand how and why they work. Sauces make more sense. Timing becomes calmer. Flavours feel more deliberate.

Most of the cooking is hands-on. I demonstrate when a technique benefits from clarity, but you’ll be at the counter, tasting, adjusting and asking questions.

We go to markets.
We visit producers.
We cook seriously.
We eat very well.
And we talk — a lot.

It’s structured, but it never feels rigid.

Guests arrive enthusiastic.
They leave cooking differently.

The Week at a Glance

You arrive Monday early afternoon to a glass of local wine and a snack. Our first day together is gentle, to give you time to adjust — we’ll prepare elements of dinner together and sit down to a relaxed three-course supper. No rush. Just good food and conversation. From there the rhythm settles in.

Mornings might begin at one of the region’s markets — Saumur, Thouars, Montsoreau or Neuville — choosing what looks best that day. We wander, taste, buy, and head back to the kitchen to build a menu around what we’ve found.

Some days focus on technique — pastry, fish, sauces, timing.
Some days take us out — a vineyard, a château town, a walk or cycle along the Loire.

Late in the week we head to Fontevraud — one of the great medieval abbeys of Europe — for an afternoon that begins with exploring the abbey and its grounds, and ends with lunch at Le Restaurant at Fontevraud.

By the end of the week, you’ll notice something subtle but real: you’re calmer at the stove. You’re adjusting rather than following. You’re tasting differently.

What You’ll Work On

Across the week we typically explore:

• Sauce structure and balance
• Fish and seafood handling
• Pastry and desserts
• Seasonal vegetable cookery
• Menu planning and timing
• Apéritifs and cocktails

We break things down clearly.
We repeat what matters.
You ask questions when something doesn’t click.

“The informality, without losing a focus on learning, was a highlight.”
— Sharon, Australia

Small Groups. Real Attention.

Groups are intentionally small — usually six active cooks. Occasionally there may be up to eight guests if a partner prefers to observe rather than cook.

That size matters.

There’s space at the counter, Time for questions and room to try something again if needed.

No one gets lost. No one is rushed.

The atmosphere is relaxed and convivial — but we stay focused.

A Michelin Afternoon at Fontevraud

Late in the week, the programme moves to Fontevraud.

Founded in 1101, the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud is one of the largest and best-preserved medieval abbeys in Europe — and the burial place of Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart, and Isobel of Angoulême. You’ll spend a couple of hours exploring the abbey and its grounds before sitting down to lunch at Le Restaurant at Fontevraud.

The restaurant holds a Michelin star and serves the Menu Lune — a four-course menu renewed with each new moon, built around the rhythm of the season, with an additional shared dish and the option of a platter of mature regional cheeses.

The wines are sommelier-paired and served blind. Each is introduced in detail only after it has been tasted — its character, its origin, its producer. Almost all are Loire wines. Several come from vineyards close to Loire Kitchen itself.

After a week spent cooking with and learning about the wines of this region, that moment of recognition — tasting something and knowing it, before you’ve been told what it is — is one that stays with people long after they’ve gone home.

The Fontevraud afternoon, including the abbey visit and lunch with specially paired wines, is fully included in the programme price. On the rare occasion when Fontevraud is fully booked, we lunch at La Table de la Bergerie — a Michelin-starred alternative of equal distinction in the region.

What’s Included

• 6 nights accommodation
• Welcome wine-tasting
• 5 half-day cooking sessions
• 4 focused demonstrations
• Guided farmer’s market visit
• Visit to an artisan food producer or wine maker
• 6 three-course dinners including carefully selected wines
• 5 multi-course lunches (including scenic picnic weather permitting)
• Michelin lunch at Fontevraud Abbey
• Daily breakfast
• Recipes and course folder

Investment

Cost per participant: 2,750€ (based on two people sharing)
Non-participating partner: 2,425€
Solo traveller: 3,225€

Reserve Your Place

If this feels like your kind of week, we’d be delighted to welcome you.

Choose your preferred dates and complete the booking form to secure your place. We’ll confirm availability promptly and send full details.

A deposit secures your reservation. The balance is due 45 days before arrival.

Want to arrive early?

If you’d like to ease in the evening before, you’re welcome to arrive Sunday afternoon rather than Monday — settle in, and join us for drinks and dinner that evening ahead of the week beginning Monday morning. This adds €250 per person to the cost above. Just select the option when you enquire.

Prefer a Fully Private Week?

The 2026/2027 Loire Kitchen Season

We run a limited number of weeks each year. Choose a season to view dates.

Summer in the Loire Autumn Harvest Spring Dates - 2027 Summer Dates - 2027

Autumn 2026

September–November. Mushrooms, squash, deeper sauces, and slower evenings.

September

• 6–12 (Sun–Sat)
• 7–13 (Mon–Sun)
• 13–19 (Sun–Sat)
• 14–20 (Mon–Sun)
• 20–26 (Sun–Sat)
• 21–27 (Mon–Sun)

October

• 4–10 (Sun–Sat)
• 5–11 (Mon–Sun)
• 11–17 (Sun–Sat)
• 12–18 (Mon–Sun)
• 18–24 (Sun–Sat)
• 19–25 (Mon–Sun)

November

• 1–7 (Sun–Sat)
• 2–8 (Mon–Sun)
• 8–14 (Sun–Sat)
• 9–15 (Mon–Sun)

Reserve Your Place