What an exciting 2014 we have ahead of us. The first of our courses start in just a few days with award winning tutor Vivien Lloyd hosting our first Marmalade Make and Bake and we can’t wait! Looking back to 2013 this really has been a huge journey for all of us here at Vale House Kitchen. The building work on the school finished right on schedule so we opened our doors on September 12th with Tim Maddams hosting one…

The third course at VHK had award winning cake maker Sandra Monger take the helm and teach a group of ladies how to bake a celebration cake. In scenes that would rival GBBO the guests created the perfect Victoria Sponge mix and whilst that was baking all made a cream cheese frosting to fill their cakes with. After lunch Sandra demonstrated how to model chocolate flowers with white chocolate. The guests then made their own to place on top of…

Our second course was led by award winning jam maker Vivien Lloyd. Fruits and sugar at the ready, a full kitchen embarked on a range of autumnal jams and chilli jam. Initially the assembled guests split into groups and made raspberry, raspberry and vanilla and damson jam. As pots boiled and the air was full of delicious fruit aromas the atmosphere was incredibly jovial and most remarked on how they were surprised how easy it was to make jam. After…

So after 3 months of builders converting our wonderful stone outbuilding into ValeHouseKitchen we opened for business on 12th September. Our opening course was led by Tim Maddams, ex head chef of the Axminster Canteen, for an insight into Seasonal Cookery. Everyone started off by making a bread dough and while that was proving Tim gave a demo on how easy it is to make home made pasta. The guests then prepared a courgette, chilli and garlic sauce to go…

Last Friday a band a foragers led by Chris Westgate, our foraging tutor, left Vale House Kitchen to stroll through the Somerset countryside and see what edible delights the fields and hedgerows had to offer. The 3 hour walk crossed meadows, went through woodland and along babbling brooks and enabled Chris to share her vast knowledge of wild foods that people often overlook. The highlight was a picnic underneath an oak tree with delights made by Chris from her company…

It is a little over 3 weeks since the builders started here at Vale House Kitchen and it is amazing to watch how the building changes on a daily basis. What was a small stone outbuilding is undergoing a transformation into a bespoke country skills and cookery school. Currently there is no roof and the floors to what will be the upper teaching kitchen have disappeared. Looking up through the floor joists this morning it made us think how good…