Feast of Scotland – Residential Cookery School
Scotland’s newest and best residential cookery school will be running at Ormidale House from Spring 2012, under the management of Britain’s most successful chef tutor ever !! Tighnabruaich-born Norman Robertson MBE led student chefs to Gold Medals galore in national and international competitions, during his 25 year tenure at Ayr College. The prestigious Brakes Brothers competition for all UK catering students was won outright three years in a row from 2009. No other college has ever achieved that. His passion for cooking, and for teaching cooking, is undimmed after 45 years in the kitchen.
Norman is designing this course in conjunction with Willie Pike MBE. Willie has won over 60 medals as a competition chef, and is a recipient of the coveted Red Jacket award voted by his industry peers as the Best Competition Chef in Britain. He has specialised in helping young chefs reach their potential, one highlight being his mentoring the Scottish Junior Culinary Team that won the gold medal at the World Championships in 1992. He was voted Scotland’s Chef of the year as recently as 2007. He has cooked for numerous celebrities including members of more than one Royal family, as well as on a variety of television programmes, and a dinner for ten that he auctioned for Gordon Ramsay’s Spina Bifada lunch went for £4,500…
 No more than 16 participants will spend five days and four nights together at Ormidale, developing their cookery skills in a non-competitive and supportive environment, with professional tutors led by Norman Robertson working with a maximum of eight working participants at once.
The course will focus on the proper exploitation of the Scottish larder with an emphasis on our local sea-food and game. But in the five days, we will also cover creative canapés, puddings to drool over, and a choice of specialist master-class sessions in making fresh pasta, bread-making, and sushi. One of our groups will primarily be based in the Ormidale House kitchen with its 4 oven Aga, and participants can opt for an Aga angle on most of the classes.
 Norman has an unrivalled enthusiasm for and expertise at teaching, and gets as much pleasure from helping complete novices to become confident and competent as he does from honing the skills of the “masterchef maybes” – so whatever your level, you will be made welcome and will find the course useful.
Individual participants are welcome, as are couples. We can accommodate couples where one participant wants to cook - and the other prefers to eat !
Each evening will feature pre-dinner drinks in the drawing room and dinner in the fabulous dining hall at Ormidale.
The Feast of Scotland cookery school has exclusive use of Ormidale House for the week, so all the facilities of hot tub, sauna, steam room, and indoor heated swimming pool, are there for the use of our party. You will work hard in the kitchen, but you also get to spend the week in luxury as well as in the company of other enthusiastic foodies.
Ormidale House is a fabulous 13 bedroomed historic house, built by the Duke of Argyll in 1693 and extended to a design by Robert Lorimer in the early 1900s, sitting in fabulous scenery at the top of Loch Riddon just above the Kyles of Bute. Just an hour and a half away from Glasgow, Ormidale is rated at the very top of the 4 star rating for excellence awarded by VisitScotland.
Your course fee includes all food and drink, all trips to local growers, suppliers and professional kitchens, as well as all tuition and materials and your souvenir branded Feast of Scotland apron, polo shirt and formal shirt.
The fourth afternoon of the course will be led by Willie Pike, and will culminate in a last night gourmet dinner cooked by him in a dine and demonstration format.
2012 Course Dates
Monday February 6th to Friday February10th; Monday March 12th to Friday March 16th;
Course Rates
£999 single occupancy
£799 twin / shared occupancy both cooking
£300 discount for non-cooking partner
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Feast of Scotland
