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Today I spent a lot of time cutting the grass. As well as the natural growth, there was also a lot of last year’s grass to cut. The stuff that was too wet at the end of last season. The time thus spent, obviously, gave me a chance to ruminate on the cooking retreat and how I felt it went.
Firstly, the location
Absolutely perfect. And not just because it was in France.
Isolated in the countryside, surrounded by fields, meant we could make as much noise as we liked. This came in particularly handy on the final night when we partied like it was 1999. Lots of loud singing to louder music, dancing and laughing. It was joyous and showed how a load of strangers can bond over the course of five days. Was this because of food? Perhaps.
La Bélonie was, originally a country house, farming the surrounding property. Actually, the land is still farmed by the people who own the property…or, rather, properties. The bit we stayed in, cooked in, danced in is only one part of the entire enterprise. There are other areas of accommodation, used for bigger functions of varying sorts.
Likewise, the building in the photo above is just one part of where we stayed. There was also la petit Bélonie, where my room was, the combined kitchen, dining room, lounge area where we congregated each day and an amazing inside swimming pool and jacuzzi.
Then there were the people.
I didn’t know any of the people I spent the five days with prior to getting to Toulouse. I now feel like I’ve known them for years. Okay, some of them had known each other for years, something I was a bit concerned would cause cliques to form, but that, if anything, helped with the integration.
There was the married couple, Sandra and Matt from Texas. I met them first, at the bus station. Sandra asked if I was Gary and we all started chatting while we waited for the bus. When it arrived, the bus contained people from the airport as well as Oriane, one of our amazing hostesses.
Once we arrived at the estate and settled into our rooms, we met outside and introduced ourselves.
In no particular order we were: Suzanne, Kim, Bobbie, Cindy, Sonja, Anna, Sandra, Matt, Dirk, Ruth, Maryna, me, Geraldine, Anissa, Oriane, Cintia and Delilah.
I don’t have a big group photo of all of us yet but will do, as soon as the professional photos are released but here’s one of my favourites from the group. This was taken inside one of the big wine vats which a lot of them climbed into.
I would have been in there too if only my legs had let me. The entrance and exit were somewhat limiting.
The thing is, we all hit it off and got along with each other for the entire time. And I’m not just saying that. We truly were the happiest bunch of strangers ever.
Of course, there was the cooking and I want to say that working with Geraldine was seriously amazing. She is an excellent cook and loves to share her skills and imaginative approach to the kitchen. She isn’t a stickler, preferring to change things as she goes along, as the mood takes her.
She also showed great patience with anyone who needed it and laughed when things went wrong (the unset crème brûlée for instance). And generous with her time. After cooking, she would ask if anyone was interested in helping in the kitchen. These times were invaluable to me.
Then, of course, there were the hostesses, Anissa, Oriane and Cintia and our chef for the week and Anissa’s mother, Delilah. All of them made the week what it was, incredibly special. I have no idea if they had any problems but if they did it never showed, Always happy, always ready to help, they were truly the Dream Team. Madame Voyage should be well proud of them.
Back in 2002, I went on a husky safari. It is easily the greatest adventure of my life. Something I will always cherish. It was truly brilliant. In terms of scoring great experiences, it comes out as number one. The cooking retreat is now firmly in the number two spot.
