The Manoir Kasselslay welcomes you in a warm and relaxed atmosphere. This elegant country ... more
house, whose name means a rock looking over the shores of the river Our, will enchant you with its traditional values, its hospitality, its warm welcome and its c...
Information:
Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
Advantages: You've never eaten so well Disadvantages: You've never paid so much to eat so well
or, This is the style to which I'd very much like to become accustomed.
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The Whats, Whys and Wheres
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Sometimes, good things can come from sad events. A few years ago, my in-laws died. It was a sad time for the family, and my sister-in-law in particular found clearing and selling the house difficult, as these things often are.
As well as emotionally difficult, selling the house took some time, for a variety of reasons that are unimportant now. However, once the house was sold, we felt a celebration was in order.
Phone calls were made (back in January), and a reservation was procured (for April 20) at Ramond Blanc’s famous hotel and restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, in Great Milton, Oxfordshire. We also turned this into a celebration of my brother ...
Advantages: Fantastic experience...with LOADS of chocolate Disadvantages: Pricey.
So?only slightly hung over (and believe me it was a better class of hangover than I usually suffer) from St Patrick?s Night done in the style of Le Manoir Aux Quat? Saisons (see a previous op) I attended the hotel?s restaurant for a spot of breakfast.
The buffet of pastries, jams, fresh fruit compotes, yoghurt and the obligatory cereals and muesli look astonishingly inviting, despite the somewhat tender state I was in, and the menu choices of what I was sure were the finest home-produced breakfast goodies sounded?extravagantly?extravagant! I decided to go the fruit route, as I was loath to eat too much, knowing that I would soon be ensconced in L?ecole de Cuisine, located behind the scenes, right inside the kitchens of the famous and much lauded restaurant, and that I would be expected to taste stuff willy-nilly while learning what ...
Advantages: Absolutley unbelievable luxury, great food and unbelievably good service. Disadvantages: Eye-wateringly expensive.
?m losing count - I seem to have one every bloody year!) and Mrs Sleevie looks up from her book (? 1001 Things You Didn?t Know About Sleeves? I think it was) and says
?So?what do you fancy doing for your birthday??
I?ve taken out the expletives ? I didn?t think you?d mind.
?Dunno.? I said?never short of an apposite quip. ?Meal out??
?Fancy a day at a cookery school??
?Can?t we just go to a restaurant??
?For your birthday present ? durr-brain!?
Again, I?ve deleted the naughty sailor words?you don?t want to know some of those words?I never should have let her take that job at Leith Docks when she was younger.
Anyway, the upshot of all this swearing and the like was that the small, but perfectly formed Mrs Sleevie booked me a place at the cookery school attached to Le Manoir Aux Quat? Saisons; Raymond Blanc?s rather upmarket ...
