Swinton Cookery School

Swinton Park is the ancestral home of the Earl of Swinton, owned and run by the Cunliffe-Lister family. Set in 200 acres of parkland on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, the castle combines the style and elegance of a stately home with the comfort and exemplary service of a luxury hotel. The Cookery School at Swinton Park has been running since 2003 and has consistently achieved high acclaim, most recently as a finalist in British Cookery School Awards 2012. Located on the ground floor of the Georgian stable wing adjacent to Swinton Park hotel, the teaching kitchen is a light and airy room, furnished in country-kitchen style and fitted with the latest appliances and equipment. The cookery school also benefits the hotel’s location at the heart of the 20,000 acre Swinton Estate. The Estate supplies the cookery school and hotel with game birds, venison and foraged ingredients such as elderflower, wild garlic and wild mushrooms, while, closer to the hotel, the four acre Walled Garden provides a wide range of fruit and vegetables throughout the year.Stephen Bulmer joined the cookery school as Chef Director in January 2013. He is also is widely acknowledged to be one the leading cookery school tutors in the UK, having been Chef Director of the Raymond Blanc Cookery School at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons for 6 years and also run his own cookery school at Brook Hall in Buckinghamshire. He combines his top-level cookery skills with a gregarious personality - a winning combination. ’He is one of my most experienced chefs and a great craftsman – his enthusiasm is completely infectious’, commented Raymond Blanc.Whilst his career has taken him to work at Michelin restaurants all over the world, Stephen hails from Yorkshire and so has returned to his roots. He spent his childhood in a village on the North Yorkshire Moors, with his first cooking job at The Goathland Hotel before going on to train at The Box Tree in Ilkley.Stephen has created a schedule of half day, one day and two day courses at Swinton Park, which are open to residents and non-residents of all levels of ability. Courses cover a wide range of cuisines and techniques, with themes ranging from Flavours of the Orient to Regional French Cuisine, Barbecue Cookery to Delicious Desserts and Tapas to Bread Making. There are also courses for children, teenagers and professional chefs. Guest chefs teaching occasional classes include celebrity chef Rosemary Shrager and number of other specialists running courses such as Wild About Food (foraging for wild edible ingredients) and a monthly Curry Club. We have two courses for Christmas cooking – Festive Fare and the innovative ‘Christmas in a Box’, which includes a meal for six to take home.The cookery school also provides a relaxed, informal setting for Chef’s Table demonstration dining evenings, where Stephen prepares and serves a gourmet meal in front of you. The school is also available for private hire and for corporate, incentive and team-building events.