A weekend in the Tarn...

 This post is a little different from my normal ( baking related) one...because I wanted to tell you about a wonderful long weekend we went on recently, to South West France on the edge of the Pyrenees...a break with a difference because it included a wonderful cooking course....

 I've followed Robin Ellis' blog for a few years now. He is an actor, most famous for playing Ross Poldark...the lead in the original 1970's series 'Poldark', based on the addictive series of books by Winston Graham. He and his wife, Meredith, moved permanently to France about 15 years ago and they live in an idyllic former presbytery in a tiny hamlet just outside the ancient hilltop village of Lautrec. As well as continuing to act (he has a part in the current Poldark series, although he is a crusty and cold-hearted judge this time around...leaving the dashing Captain Poldark role to Aidan Turner) he also writes delicious cookbooks and runs these lovely courses in healthy Mediterranean cookery for small groups a few times a year...

 I have to confess here that I wasn't the one taking this course...I do quite enough cooking, as you can appreciate! But Paul loves to cook and was really looking forward to expanding his repertoire! I just went along for some relaxation, the French countryside and to make new friends...
The weekend started well (we were so lucky with the weather, too...) We met everyone else on the course under this vine arbour, drank tea, ate cake and got to know a little about everyone. The courses are deliberately small and manageable..8 cooks on ours, with 3 of us along as spectators...so everyone can participate easily.

 

 The venue for the course...and our home for the weekend...was the idyllic La Terrasse de Lautrec (do visit their website...English translation at the top...you will see just how gorgeous it really is!)

 The attached 'gite' was where all the cooking tuition - and much of the eating - happened. Although I had initially imagined lounging around for the weekend, it was actually much more fun to be around the 'Bravehearts' (as Robin dubs his band of cooks) ...laying the table for our communal lunches and dinners...chatting with Meredith (a beautiful, serene woman whom it is a joy to know) and smelling the delicious fragrances of garlic and olive oil drifting from the kitchen...

 The classes are very 'hands-on' with everyone contributing to the meal...

 ...the aprons are given out at the start of the weekend, and taken home as a lovely reminder (Paul's was stained with tomatoes and peppers..but this just makes it more special!)

 The food is simple, but created from the finest local ingredients cooked 'just so' to bring out the beauty of them...

 As many of you will know, eggs are my nemesis (in a recognisably 'eggy' form) but I loved this frittata because it was so full of sweet red onions and fresh garden herbs...delicious!

 We also visited markets....the little one in Lautrec on the Friday morning...

 and the much larger one in nearby Castres on Saturday morning. I love any food markets...great for people watching as well as produce..and these were no exception! Plus we had time for a wander around Castres too...visiting the magnificent cathedral and having a coffee in a cafe overlooking the market, soaking up the brilliant Autumn sunshine...

 All the meals were memorable...stuffed mackerel fillets with fennel and cucumber salads...full of dill and lemon...

 ...a starter of french beans, olives and tiny tomatoes with a beautiful garlicky dressing...

 In fact, garlic was a recurring theme of the weekend...Lautrec is the home of pink garlic (l'ail rose de Lautrec) which is renowned for the strength of its flavour...although it's not at all harsh, and strangely doesn't seem to cause the dreaded 'garlic breath' (although I may just have thought this because we all ate so much of it!) As part of the course, we visited a nearby garlic farm...

 These are the bulbs drying off before being planted for next year's crop...hanging up for the air to circulate, in time-honoured tradition!

 The garlic is everywhere here...tied into intricate trusses, which help to preserve the bulbs (and look lovely too!) The farm was a real working one...a hotchpotch of contented animals stared at us interlopers as we wandered around...beautiful cattle (Blonde Aquitaines) an inquisitive donkey, many chickens and this 'on guard' gentleman...

 who reminded me very much of the goose from 'War Horse',if you have seen the play, as he shepherded us around!

 Our favourite times, I think, were spent as a group...we all got on particularly well, with none of the tension you can sometimes find within a gathering of very different people. We were either American or British and I like to think that we made some new friends for life during the weekend...

 Shared meals were a joy - this was the fantastic spread created by the Bravehearts for our last lunch on the Sunday. We were lucky to be able to eat outside, with wine and laughter as accompaniments..

 All the food was paraded out proudly by the cooks, from the blue doors of the gite...

 I loved standing under the little kitchen window, hearing the murmur of Robin's melodious voice as he gently guided and instructed...

 One of the students, a lovely American lady who was celebrating a significant birthday with us, persuaded me to join her for a swim...how could I resist this gorgeous pool?!
And the village of Lautrec itself...with the influences of the Romans who were once here still visible...was captivating...

 Traces of the past everywhere...so unmistakably French, too!

 On clear days, you can see across to the Pyrenees from here, but those are the Black Mountains on the horizon...

 The medieval market place is very special...and the church has a breathtaking interior...

 I found it much less intimidating than many Catholic churches...much lighter and less forbidding, somehow!

 We loved these little clasps that held the wooden shutters back on many of the houses...tiny details make a place so special...

 And views...breathtaking and captivating wherever you turned!

 This is France, seen from our plane on the way home....au revoir, ma cherie!

 And the white cliffs of Dover...that have meant 'home' to so many returning to England (we were no exception!)

Our abiding memories of the weekend are of warmth and happiness...of the sun, of new tastes, of friends made, and of the welcome of our hosts Robin, Meredith, Simone and Dominique...it all added up to a very special time!



** More information on Robin's books and courses on his blog here....I believe the courses are already fully booked for next year, but there are sometimes cancellations so you may be lucky! And the books (a third will be published early in 2016) are highly recommended as a source of simple, tasty and healthy lunches and suppers...I use them both a lot! The courses are very friendly, informal and inclusive...even if you are a novice, you won't feel out of place!**