Gardening Classes at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons

In 1984, award-winning chef Raymond Blanc opened a hotel in Oxfordshire, England. In its very first year, the restaurant at the erstwhile Great Milton Manor, remodelled magnificently and rechristened Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons, won two Michelin stars which it has held ever since. In 1991, Blanc set up the Raymond Blanc Cookery School on the premises, popular for its imparting of culinary wisdom in a refined, relaxed setting. And, in July 2017, we’ll see a first of its kind, but a natural offshoot, so to speak, for a hotel famed for its extensive gardens: the Raymond Blanc Gardening School. Several kinds of garden have flourished on these 30 acres—the two-acre organic vegetable garden, the herb garden, ‘mushroom valley’, cloche tunnels (which grows courgettes), a Japanese tea garden, a classical English garden, as well as vast fruit orchards. Naturally, the edible produce goes straight into the hotel’s kitchen. Full-day and half-day courses will be offered between July and October, and will include tuition, tea and a working lunch. From £110 per person. See belmond.com/le-manoir-aux-quat-saisons.