THE COOKERY SCHOOL

WHERE Swinton Cookery School, Yorkshire (food.swintonestate.com)

THE COURSE Spanish Tapas Temptations, £85 for one-day course, including a light lunch prepared during the class, plus tea and coffee

TESTER Rebecca Almond

YORKSHIRE TAPAS In a grand setting, tutor Kevin Hughes inspires at Swinton Cookery School

WHAT IT’S LIKE It’s a rare occasion when you get to cook a Spanish tapas feast in an imposing British castle, but this was one such day. Driving into the Yorkshire Dales National Park, the first glimpse of the 20,000-acre Swinton Estate is nothing short of breathtaking. The long driveway snakes past manicured lawns where deer graze freely, and up to the turreted castle.

The cookery school is in the converted stables. I fell instantly for the kitchen. There’s space aplenty, bright but not stark lighting, and though the induction hobs and granite worktops look professional, the ambience feels more country kitchen.

WHAT I LEARNED Tutor Kevin Hughes is an advocate of simple, delicious food. “There’s no point in complicating cooking,” he says. A former chef-lecturer at Leeds City College, he joined Swinton in January 2017 and is entirely at ease in his role as head cookery school tutor.

Kevin’s energy is infectious – if the welcome coffee hasn’t geed you up for the day ahead, his introduction to the course surely will. He talked us through the menu and how we were to set about making the dishes. He also offered to teach us anything else we liked (apparently ‘how to poach an egg’ is a popular request), then deftly popped some proved dough into the Aga to bake, ready for the impending feast.

There were just three of us on the course (there’s room for 12) and the day was an enjoyable mix of communal learning and hands-on experiences, with some gettingto- know-you chat and lots of laughter.

Kevin demonstrated some of the dishes (he prepped squid and clams to make calamari with aïoli, and clams with sherry and serrano ham); others we learned by making them ourselves. A fellow coursegoer and I blackened peppers on a gas hob while Kevin and another made the marinade to transform them into a wonderfully smoky tapas dish. With concise, clear recipes and working under Kevin’s expert eye, I felt comfortable taking a station by myself to cook chorizo in red wine (oh the aromas!) and a huge Spanish tortilla made for sharing.