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French Cooking Holidays

With award-winning French chefs running our courses, the French House Party Gastro Academy is the only residential holiday cookery school of its kind and calibre in the Languedoc-Roussillon area of South West France.

Jean-Marc Boyer is renowned in the region and beyond. 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. Jean-Marc’s Michelin-starred restaurant Le Puits du Tresor is situated at Lastours, a historic Cathar site of ruined castle strongholds, just north of Carcassonne.

Gregory Legros and Remi Touja round off our team of celebrated chefs!

Seize a 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.

We combine the cookery classes with learning about – and enjoying – some of the phenomenal wines to be found in this region. All courses include a memorable visit to one of France’s oldest markets to select fresh ingredients for later preparation, and an outing to the medieval Cité of Carcassonne. Longer breaks include rural visits to a cheese-making farm or to enjoy olive oil sampling, as well as a vineyard degustation and dinner at one or two excellent nearby restaurants.

A two or three-hour session with a chocolatier is included on most of our courses.

Residential Cooking Holidays and Short Courses

  • Gourmet Explorer – 6 days to polish your creative culinary skills with 5 days of instruction.
  • Gourmet Explorer Advanced – 7 days to progress your cooking skills to a higher level.
  • Cuisine in Brief – Friday to Sunday or Monday to Wednesday breaks
    *also perfect for corporate reward or incentive breaks!
  • Just Desserts – 3-day pâtisserie, cakes, puddings and chocolate mastery

Course Reviews

Irish Farmers Journal
Daily Mail (Carolyn O’donnell)

examiner.com (Marc d’Entremont)

The Sunday Times (Deborah Ratcliffe)

examiner.com (Charlene Peters)

ThisIsSouthDevon (Naomi Tolley)
Bath Chronicle (Emma Dance)
Trip Reporter (Lucy Daltroff)

Cookery School – 2009-2019 Photo Gallery