Shrager moves south with cookery school
Self-taught chef Rosemary Shrager, who has run her celebrated cookery school from Amhuinnsuidhe Castle on the Hebrides for the past four years, is relocating to Swinton Park in North Yorkshire.
Shrager, who has enjoyed a high-profile career at Amhuinnsuidhe with the publication of her recipe book Rosemary Castle Cook as well as making two TV series for Channel 5, is planning to open the cookery school in its new location in early June.
The 30-bedroom hotel near Masham is the ancestral home of the Cunliffe-Lister family, who sold the property in 1980 but bought it back in 2000. A year later, after a full refurbishment, the family opened it as a hotel.
The cookery school itself will be housed in an 18th-century stable block overlooking the castle and its surrounding parkland. A nine-acre walled garden is expected to provide fruit, vegetables and herbs for the school. Shrager is hoping to hold 10 five-day residential courses by the end of the year.
Shrager, whose career has included periods with Pierre Koffmann and Jean-Christophe Novelli as well as being a personal cook for a branch of the Mountbatten family, said that she felt the move was a big step for the cookery school, "but I'm absolutely certain that it is the right one to take. This is a great opportunity that can't be missed, both in terms of the facilities and the abundance of good-quality local produce available."
