French Cooking Holidays at Les Ruches

Our Chef

Our chef, Mark Down, is classically trained in French cuisine and has 25 years of experience. He has worked for some of the top London party caterers in some very prestigious venues such as Hampton Court Palace, Windsor Castle and The Natural History Museum to name but a few. During his career he has catered for pop stars and VIPs and was on the team that catered for Prince Charles’ 50^th Birthday Party. He also spent a number of years working in a restaurant in France where he learnt the art of real French cookery. At Les Ruches you can be assured that our French cooking holidays will use the best locally sourced produce and responsibly reared free-range chickens.

Mark has years of experience training cooking skills in a professional capacity and has a patient, friendly approach so don't worry if you are not a very experienced cook as you are there to learn on our French cooking holidays. Mark always asks at the begining of our French cooking holidays if there is any dish in particular you would like to include or would be disapointed to miss out on and we will do our best to fit it in around our existing itinerary for that week.

A few words from Mark:-

“Here at Les Ruches I always try to use fresh seasonal produce and would love to share with you the intense flavours of down to earth peasant cookery as well as beautifully presented haute cuisine. The classes will be kept to a maximum of six people to ensure that all students, from the complete beginner to the experienced enthusiast, get the individual attention they require on our French cooking holidays. My aim is to give you a comprehensive guide to cooking French cuisine in a relaxed and friendly environment. Our special French sausage-making part of the course is a particular favourite of mine as it is always great fun and we get to sample everyone’s hard work at the barbeque the same evening. ”

We will be preparing food from many regions of France including a few specialities from the Vienne region. The following will be included in the itinary of our French cooking holidays:- pastry making, meat and fish preparation, sauces, Provençal cookery, Haute Cuisine, sausage making, pasta and much, much more. Mark will also be able to advise you on presentation of the food you have prepared. Should you have any special requests for a specific dish to be incorporated into one of our Five Day French cooking holidays please let us know when you book and we will do our best to include it.