As a place to visit for serious foodies, Kent is exploding with gastro pubs, Michelin-starred restaurants and other must-eat venues. But now it’s your turn to dabble in the art of cuisine, as cookery schools and foraging courses spring up around the Garden of England.
Let your inner Ray Mears go wild at Brogdale Farm, Home to the National Fruit collection, where you can follow trails to learn more about different edible plants and fungi. Talks and discussions throughout the day help you to discover and identify local wild food, where to look and how to use it! Of if foraging isn’t your thing, pick out another course from Brogdale’s selection featuring cider making,how to keep chickens and a dedicated course to using and growing your own garden herbs.
Fine dining lovers may prefer the Kent Cookery School, Ashford. Passionate about using locally-sourced ingredients, they host fantastic cookery classes and demonstrations all year, teaching you how to cook for dinner parties to bread and pastry making – a great idea for hen, stag and birthday parties!
Why not drop into Rosemary Shrager’s cookery school on The Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells, holding one to two day courses – the perfect opportunity to pick up some tips from a top TV chef!
As well as fine food and interesting ingredients, Kent is home to some of the finest cider producers around; pick up some top tips from the Rough Old Wife Cidery near Canterbury, where you can learn about the origins of apples and cider to taking part in chopping and pressing the fruit, but make sure you’re dressed in your best ‘gardening’ attire.
Ashford & Tenterden Canterbury, Herne Bay and Whitstable Dover, Deal & Sandwich Faversham, Isle of Sheppey and Sittingbourne Folkestone, Hythe & Romney Marsh Gravesend & Dartford Maidstone Margate, Broadstairs & Ramsgate Rochester, Chatham & Gillingham Sevenoaks Tonbridge and Malling Tunbridge Wells