This Ultra Lavish British Manor Now Doubles as a Gardening School
What better place to learn about micro herbs than at a luxury property in Oxfordshire?
A village in Oxfordshire is about to become home to England's first hotel gardening school. From July 2017, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons — an extremely stately hotel with a two Michelin-starred restaurant — will open The Raymond Blanc Gardening School, giving guests the chance to green up their thumb in between luxe spa treatments and croquet matches.
Belmond Le Manoir is already pretty well-known for its 30 acres of landscaped gardens, particularly its lush kitchen garden. There are two acres of edibles, including 90 veggies and 70 herbs. Head gardener Anne Marie Owens knows a thing or two about growing — she's been running the garden for more than 30 years. If you've ever wondered how to trick your tomatoes onto a trellis or pump up your pumpkins, she'd be the person to ask.
Just some of the things that Anne Marie and her crew will be teaching include courses on understanding soil and growing organics, micro greens, mushrooms, seasonal veggies. On top of those, occasional classes will be run by special guests, covering more left-field topics, such as the medicinal properties of herbs and pruning fruit trees.
You can attend for a half-day or a full day. Either way, you'll be learning in the Hartley Botanic Glasshouse, within the hotel's Heritage Garden. And of course, you could always book a night at the hotel — although, rooms sit at around a quite ludicrous £1000 a night. The school gets its name from hotelier and head chef Raymond Blanc OBE. Born in France, he's been running the Quat'Saisons restaurant since 1977 and the hotel since 1984.
The Raymond Blanc Gardening School will launch in July 2017 at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Great Milton, Oxford, UK. For more info, visit their website.
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