8 Bedroom Farmhouse Carcassonne - THE FRENCH HOUSE PARTY COOKING COURSES Reviews

I am fortunate to be allowed a weeks escape every year to complete a cooking course overseas. This was my fifth year and the opportunity to complete The French House Party's 'Gourmet Explorer Advanced' was too good an opportunity to be missed.

Seven days with the delightful Moira and her team of expert chef's is an amazing experience, I completed the slightly shorted Gourmet Explorer course a couple of years ago so it would be a familiar format, with more focus on techniques and more time to perfect new skills.

The other guests were delightful, Vasily from Switzerland (but obviously Russian), Suzanne and Paul from the USA, Marc the roving ex Chef and Food writer and Ali and Sue from the UK made the week so enjoyable, all keen on cooking with different skill levels it showed just how good our tutors Robert and Jean-Marc (1 Michelin*) were, at bringing together an unfamiliar team of different skill levels into an almost organised semi-professional kitchen!

It's an intensive week, but highly enjoyable if you like cooking you don't have to take part in every event If you don't want too, but once you start it's difficult to stop as we all laughed and joked ploughing through the numerous savoury and sweet recipes, learning complex sauces and plating techniques on the way.

Part of the week included a trip to visit a very experienced Chocolatier to learn how to use traditional techniques to temper Chocolate, a winery (which was a small family affair, and very good too).

We went to Limoux to discover the origins of French Champagne, and a couple of local restaurants, one with 2 Michelin Stars in Carcassonne which was extremely tasty, the second, the 1 Michelin star restaurant of one of our tutors, they both added to the whole culinary experience and were delightful.

I cannot recommend The French House Party highly enough, if you love cooking and food is your thing take a look and give it a go, you will be pleased you did. Moira is a fantastic host and makes sure that you have the best time.