Marieke's Art of Living

Highlights:

NORMANDY is a lush, fertile, abundant region characterised by a tapestry of verdant meadows with contented cows, rolling downs with meandering rivers, a vast and varied coastline of wild grey beaches and startling cliff formations whose light has inspired painters since the 19thC, noble manor houses surrounded by extravagant gardens, charming villages with half-timbered houses, and quaint fishing ports with colourful boats.

Daily excursions into the countryside, combined with several half day cooking classes at the chateau, fine dining meals in some of the region’s excellent restaurants, picnics in lovely gardens, visits to local markets and quaint villages, Rouen, Deauville, and Normandy beaches.

This beautiful region traces an epic sweep of French history from the time of the Vikings who landed on her beaches in the 9th C, to the Norman Conquest, through to a rich medieval and renaissance Dukedom and then a significant role in the Allied Landings.

With a very rich cultural and gastronomic legacy, Normandy is a treasure trove of magical landscapes, history, architecture and food: cathedrals as awesome as Rouen, gardens as fine as Giverny, abbeys as magical as Mont-St-Michel, art jewels as remarkable as the Bayeux Tapestry, nectars as comforting as Calvados, cheeses as delicious as Pont l’Eveque.

FLAVOURS of NORMANDY

Blessed with agricultural and marine richness and a long tradition of epicurean refinement, Normandy is one of France’s gastronomic heartlands famed for beautiful fish and seafood, poultry, lamb, cream and richly decadent cheeses, and anything and everything that can be made from apples. According to tradition one should eat duck in Rouen, tripe in Caen, leg of lamb from the salt meadows of Mont-St-Michel Bay, and taste Dieppe sole, Auge Valley chicken, black pudding from Mortagne-au-Perche, shrimps from Honfleur, lobsters from La Hague.
Ivory cream is the mainstay of a Normandy kitchen, rich sweet butter the medium for most cooking and all pastries, and Livarot and Camembert amongst the world’s most famous cheeses.

Your oasis and home for 7 nights, Chateau Bosgouet was constructed in 1860 (in the Napoleon III era) from red bricks and white stone in the style epitomised by the Place Vosges in the Marais quarter in Paris. An hour from Paris and 15 minutes from Rouen, Bosgouet is set in an elegant English 50-acre park, with its own stables and a tranquil ambience. Individually decorated, superbly comfortable en-suite rooms will appeal to the most discerning traveller. Your hosts, the Websters take great pride in their wonderful cellar of French wines which will feature at all the meals “at home”. Enjoy Peter’s tutored wine tastings and Jane’s passion for France but especially for Normandy

Marieke will create innovative menus for the classes that exude a vibrant modern style inspired by superior local ingredients sourced from regional markets. Belonging to the generation that was at the forefront of the culinary revolution in Australia, Marieke's wonderfully creative food celebrates flavour, texture, seasonality, regionality, classical techniques and the contemporary palate.

Jane Webster is your French-speaking, energetic and ebullient host with a long association with this, her most beloved gastronomic region in France. Together with her wine-buff husband Peter, Jane and her family recently relocated from Melbourne to Chateau Bosgouet, an inspiring 50-hecatre property near Rouen

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