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Just five minutes from San Gimignano is a cookery class, run by Katia and her uncle Fulvio. With vineyards and the towers of San Gimignano as a backdrop, you can learn to make authentic Tuscan food in the kitchen attached to their hotel, Il Vicario.
We started with the preparation of bruschetta and panzanella (bread salad). Tearing up fresh basil and chopping up sun-ripened tomatoes instantly reignited an appreciation of Italian flavours. Next, we got stuck into hand-rolling ‘pici’ pasta, along with two sauces – tomato and cannellini bean. Finally, we prepared a chicken dish in an orange sauce to complete our lunch menu.
This is a really enjoyable format, as Katia takes you through the steps and explains Tuscan traditions, including the jaw-dropping quantities of garlic and olive oil used for each dish! The highlight is sitting down at a long table to eat, drink Chianti wine and chat with Fulvio, Katia and the other participants.
The half day class is very reasonably priced. We also recommend accommodation within walking distance, so you can ‘roll’ back in the afternoon sun.
www.ilvicario.it
Il Vicario, Sant’ Andrea, 1, 53037 San Gimignano, Italy
+39 0577941599
Google map: bit.ly/wVubmL
It’s a little bit odd looking into a giant aquarium, only to see – not tuna or sharks – but strange limbed beings in masks and flippers.
For once I haven’t come to gawp at fish. Did you know that Nemo 33 in Brussels is the deepest indoor swimming pool in the world? I didn’t, but recently I took my first ever scuba diving session here in the warm water, under the careful supervision of Filippo, one of the diving coaches. He patiently shepherded me as I practised sinking, hand signals, breathing, mask-clearing and trying to advance without rolling in circles according to the whims of my waistcoat. By the end of the lesson I was finally making progress, and we descended the rope down to the five meter bottom and peered through the glass windows trying to catch sight of the diners in the restaurant.
The Nemo pool is divided into various different compartments. Filippo beckoned us over to see down into the 10 metre area, and then I nervously sneaked a look into the abyss of the 33 metre pit. I could not see the bottom and was very glad not to be going down there!
My one hour introduction to scuba diving cost 45 euro per person, with a maximum of two people sharing the instructor. However there are different levels of courses available, not just in French and Flemish, but in English and other languages. All equipment (fins, masks, waistcoats and oxygen tanks) is supplied, and for hygiene reasons the only personal dive equipment you can use are your fins and dive mask. Divers not accompanied by an instructor must have a buddy and a dive computer. Certified divers pay 22 euro a session. Non-certified or those with less than a PADI Open Water certificate pay 30 euro. 15 minutes before your allotted time a bell rings to summon you to the changing rooms, and shortly before time’s up a bell will ring in the depths to tell you to begin your ascent….
Afterwards you could try your luck and have a drink or dinner in the Thai restaurant, with a view of the divers. However after 25 minutes of bubble watching without acknowledgement I was getting annoyed and hungry – so I gave up and went home!
I’d advise you to book well in advance and read the Dive briefing and other information available online.
Rue de Stalle 333 (Rond-point des Menhirs)
1180 Uccle (Brussels), Belgium
+32 (0)2 332 33 34
www.nemo33.com/en
Google map: bit.ly/nGICQJ
A really fun way to learn Spanish quickly in Buenos Aires. Sessions are two hours and the lessons are really interactive. For anyone who wants to learn the basics of Spanish quickly I would recommend this course.
www.expanish.com
+54 11 5252 3040
Tte Gral Peron 700, Microcentro
Google map: bit.ly/moY0T4
I recommend these summer courses as a great way to study creative art and design subjects in Europe, across two of the most exciting and dynamic cities, offered by Central Saint Martins and Elisava - two of the most prestigious schools.
I was in Valencia last year in Valencia, and I fell in love with the place. It's very beautiful, and not so big like Madrid or Barcelona. I was doing a Spanish course in a school called Taronja. Very good classes, teachers, facilities. It's all decorated by Valencian artists that's why the school looks very different. I encourage you to visit Valencia and, if it is possible the school. It was a very nice stay. I really enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere.
I want to thank Marie-José, Adela (they were both great as teachers) and Fernando (for twice cooking delicious paella.)
Taronja school
calle Convento Santa Clara, 10, 1ª
46002
+34 96 325 85 45
www.spanish-in-spain.es
I discovered this company back in 2006 and have since been back three times on their Italian cooking weekends, which are held in their beautiful restored 15th Century palazzo in the wonderful medieval hilltop village of Casperia. Three days of pleasure. From the moment we met on the Friday until we left, it was fun and hands on! I am a single traveller as were most of my fellow guests on my weekend and we all got on famously well. The lessons with Genni, Paula and Franco were just brilliant. The wine and olive oil tasting on the last night with Johnny and Carlo was the icing on the cake - magical. The palazzo and rooms are just wonderful, a perfect comfortable place to relax. Best of all the whole thing is a bit of secret.
A country house for accommodation and two special activity holidays, cooking and walking. I have just spent a week cooking at the finca - great fun, Iberic, Moroccan and Levant cuisine. Great walking country too. A really undiscovered, very laid back part of Spain, precious secrets without any hype.
www.finca-al-manzil.com Nearest airports Madrid, Lisbon or Seville. Tel. 0034670743296
I also did a course at this school in March 2009. I really can recommend it, especially the options Spanish and Flamenco and Spanish and Tango but then I love dancing. I had Spanish classes in the morning and flamenco and tango lessons in the afternoon. And all this in Granada, one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited.
Escuela Montalbán
C/ Conde Cifuentes, 11
18005 Granada, Spain
www.escuela-montalban.com
Halfway through our trip round the lower Cilento region, two hours south of Naples, we were invited to lunch at the Nido della Luna guesthouse and working farm, home of farmer Rafaello, at the foot of towering, rugged Mount Bulgheria and over-looked by the ghostly medieval hill village of San Severino.
We pulled up in the driveway of a large farmhouse complete with vegetable patch, stables, and billy goats bleating in a field. In the open porch under a brilliant sun, a smiling old lady in apron and slippers stood, in front of an open brassier with a cooking pot hanging over a roaring wood fire. This was Rafaello's mother, and as a means of sharing some traditional recipes of the region with us she'd lit the fire in the outdoor kitchen and laid a large oak table with traditional cooking utensils for us to play with. This is how I'd really like to cook everyday!
On a large wooden platter were heaps of sliced local aubergines and a pot filled with stuffing mix. We were to make Melanzane M'buttanate, a simple peasant dish packed with the rich flavours of creamy home made ricotta cheese, fresh eggs and fresh parsley.
She guided us through the cooking process, all the while bringing bits and bobs to the table for us to sample as we fried the aubergines: local bitter strawberries jam, honey from their backyard, still warm mozzarellas from the neighbour and a basket of mushrooms and wild greens picked in the surrounding hills with which to make a soup.
We ate with the family, two silent, but softly smiling old goat farmer in flat caps and checked shirts - Grandpa and Great Uncle, Rafaello and his wife, and the parents, who refilled my wine glass with their own-grown thick, nectary red so often I barely remember arriving at pudding! Had we stayed longer, we would have been taught to make ricotta, helped with fruit picking and no doubt cooked up some more delicious Cilento peasant dishes.
In payment for this feast, we were asked only to recommend their beautiful farmhouse b&b to others, so here's the mention. I can't recommend their hospitality and the delightful setting in Italy's most prized secret region enough!
Il Nido della Luna
Via Stazione, 24
San Severino
Centola
84051
Cilento - Salerno (CA)
Tel: (+ 39) 0974/934093-(+39) 347/6540872
You can get a train to Centola from Salerno, or Naples. Driving, take the A3 motorway Salerno - Reggio Calabria, taking the Battipaglia exit, SS. 18 in the direction "Costiera CIlentana".
THe nearest beach is the exquisite Palinuro.
Learn about traditional Thai massage techniques as applied to oil massage. We did this very well put together one-day course and apart from having a fun day, came away feeling relaxed and happy together.
I came to the Boghill Centre to do a yoga weekend retreat earlier in the year. They offer residential workshops all year round including yoga, creative energy, tribal drumming, singing, native American sweat lodges, traditional Irish music, ceramics, cookery (veggie) and a whole range of cool holistic therapies.
As far as I'm aware they rent the place for visiting tutors so, naturally, the programme varies. These are just examples from when I looked at the website, but some are regular or annual events (drumming, Irish music and yoga).
Anyway, I found it a really relaxing place to just chill and unwind. It is run as an eco community with help from WWOOFers, the people there are lovely and very welcoming and friendly. Quite an international collection!
The best thing I found was the completely natural and homely atmosphere, and also the scrumptious homegrown organic veggie food, all served up there in such a beautiful secluded setting.
There is a stone circle, tonnes of walks in their own land or on the neighbouring Burren landscape (unique apparently and certainly very bizarre and fairytale like), and the coast and beaches are great for surfing too! They are a hostel/B&B too.
It is just in between Lisdoonvarna and Kilfenora. They're tiny villages but are both on the map for local events. I got a bus from Ennis to Lisdoonvarna, they are frequent in the summer but I can't remember how often, twice a day I think! See Bus Eirann website if you're planning to get there green-ways!
The Boghill Centre
Kilfenora
Co Clare
Ireland
Tel - +00353 (0)657074644
Email - boghill@eircom.net
Website - www.boghill.com
It's a cross between a hotel, a youth hostel and a summer school for families and adults into sustainable living. They run brilliant Family Weeks and workshop courses on environmental issues like composting, preserving, finding wild food and a few more whacky ones like Sacred Trees and Five Rhythms Dance.
Beautiful space - an amazing gothic Victorian building with great views, 11 acres of land, organic walled garden (lots of the food is grown on site) and a farm - and a really good atmosphere. It's three miles from Charmouth and Lyme Regis for seaside fossils and swimming. You can also go there as a volunteer - help out in return for free board and lodging.
www.monktonwyldcourt.org
monktonwyldcourt@btinternet.com
Tel 01297 560342
Design Summer Sessions for beginners
and advanced students of all ages at two of the city's top design schools. Courses last two or four weeks and cover the areas of fashion, graphics, interior and product design from a fascinating Milanese point of view with many guest speakers - a great place to network for contacts as well. Book a place online for this July.
Domus Academy and Naba are the host schools - it is also possible to do the first two weeks in London at St Martins College of Art and Design
www.london-milan-courses.com
www.domusacademy.it
www.naba.it
emails:milan@london-milan-courses.com
or london@london-milan-courses.com
This is a pottery set on the shores of Lake malawi in a beautiful, peaceful location. The owners have worked together with local people to create a wonderful environment, where you can learn about pottery, have a go at making your own ceramics or just chill out and enjoy the location. More structured 2-3 week courses are also on offer, and you can arrange to have your pottery shipped home at the end!
www.dedzapottery.com/courses.html Nkhotakota is about 200km north of Malawi's capital, Lilongwe.
Stunningly located between the Eifl and the sea, this deserted quarry village was inaccessible by car until the 1980s, when it was regenerated to provide residential Welsh courses.
www.nantgwrtheyrn.org
Welsh Language and Heritage Centre, Nant Gwrtheyrn, Llithfaen, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, LL53 6PA
Tel: 01758 750334
For the first time this year, a group of artists and art teachers are organizing a summer academy in Venice. The location: an old palazzo on a little side canal with a private garden in the back. Painting, drawing and video art courses are held at the palazzo over two weeks and attendees are invited to also eat and sleep in the house, which offers guest rooms. The courses are held in a relaxed atmosphere and are aimed at hobby painters and students who would like to build a portfolio. For more information, check out the website.
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