THE COOKERY SCHOOL Get ready for chr istmas

WHERE The School of Artisan Food, Nottinghamshire (schoolofartisanfood.org) THE COURSE Christmas Preserves, £175 for a one-day course, including refreshments and a great lunch TESTER Karen Barnes, editor

WHAT IT’S LIKE I’m a sucker for the idea of giving friends homemade treats from my kitchen. It’s wholesome and it appeals to my alter ego, who lives in a farmhouse and spends her days writing novels and filling the larder with neatly arrayed, gleaming pots of jams, chutneys and preserves. The three most satisfying, calming moments: the house imbued with spicy-fruity aromas as you stir a pan of bubbling goodness; handwriting labels and sticking them in position; then giving away the fruits of your labours, jar by precious jar. Yes, preserving is the new yoga.

The School of Artisan Food’s location, on the Welbeck Estate near Worksop, is about the best setting you could imagine for a cookery course: honeyed stone buildings in extensive grounds. The focus for the school, founded by Alison Swan Parente, is on restoring forgotten skills, and there’s cheesemaking, craft brewing and artisan baking all alive and kicking on the estate.

The day begins with coffee and a chat before you move down into the teaching room in the dairy. This isn’t a sleek chromeand- glass style cookery school: it’s downto- earth and real. There’s a sense of serious work going on around you, which primes you for a dose of expert teaching.

WHAT I LEARNED Lindy Wildsmith was our tutor for the day and her course covers marmalade, chutney, mincemeat, orange & cranberry relish and eggnog. We made marmalade with three types of citrus fruit, using the method in which you boil the fruit whole, then scoop out the pith and chop the skin (much easier than chopping the fruit before boiling as the pith and skin soften when cooked).

CHOP CHOP! It’s all about cooking from scratch here

RECIPE: LINDY WILDSMITH AND THE SCHOOL OF ARTISAN FOOD. PHOTOGRAPH: STUART WEST. FOOD STYLING: SOPHIE AUSTEN-SMITH. STYLING: MORAG FARQUHAR

The Christmas chutney (see right) involved a lot of chopping, but Lindy asked us to decide whether we wanted a coarse chutney (in which case keep the chopping chunky) or a smoother style. It was interesting to see how the finished chutneys varied. That’s the nature of cooking – everyone brings their own style to bear.