Proud pig breeder

  food market in Limoges

Making Bison meat paté's

Feeding the Geese....

Concentrating on tasting wine

You arrive on Monday. Click here for the dates in 2011. Rooms are available after 4 pm.  We will welcome you with a drink in front of the open fire or on the terrace looking out on the former abbey garden.

In the evening you will dine with the chef and his wife at the table d’hôtes.  A three course dinner is served. Wine and coffee are included. During dinner we will go over the program for the coming days.

Day 2

The next morning after breakfast you will visit a snail farm, a pig breeder (biological free range pigs), and/or a goose farm. Here you will also do the shopping for the evening meals of the upcoming two days.

Lunch will be eaten at a ‘ferme auberge’ (farm inn). This afternoon you prepare dinner under professional supervision in the abbey kitchen. The result of your cooking will be served at the dinner table that very night.

Day 3  

After breakfast there is an opportunity to spend the morning visiting a porcelain factory in Limoges or an antique/ ‘brocante’ market in one of the surrounding villages. A number of beautiful golf courses are located nearby and we would be happy to make reservations for you.

No lunch or dinner will be served this day at the Abbey.

Day 4

The morning of the third day, when your taste buds are still relatively neutral, you will start with a wine sampling. You will be taught how to taste wine and how to recognise the different wines. With the help of multiple choice questions, you will be guided through blindfolded tasting of both white and red wines.

The wine tasting will be followed by more specific information on the wines and armed with this knowledge you have the opportunity to taste these wines again. After this we serve a picnic lunch on the tasting table.

In the afternoon the program offers a visit to the bison farm. In a 4x4 you will pass grazing bison and you will be told why this animal’s meat is so special. Of course we will take home some bison meat, so that you can prepare your own bison pâté once back at the abbey.

After this you and the other participants will cook the evening dinner for which a number of characteristic French dishes have been selected with their accompaniments and specific preparation methods. 

Day 5

On this day breakfast will be served at 7.30 am. At 8 am you will leave for the “Halles Centrales’ of Limoges. On arrival you will check out what was carried in fresh that day. Then, while enjoying a nice cup of coffee, the group will compose the menu for that evening.

After that the actual shopping will be done, so that at noon everything will be ready to take home. Before that we will make a little side excursion to the old town for a ‘plat du jour’and a glass of wine and then head back to the Abbey.

There you will be taught how the fish, poultry and meat that have been purchased have to be prepared and cooked. The same goes for the sauces and the side dishes. This will result in an excellent 5 course dinner, a worthy finale of the last full day. As before, wines and coffee are included.

Day 6

After breakfast it is time to say goodby. Do not forget your own made paté de bison!