'Plus' is our way of differentiating between a one-day course and a weekend course. Obviously you will receive a lot more training in your chosen subject over a weekend than in one-day, hence the 'Plus'.

The longer the duration of the course and the higher the skill level, the more in-depth and complex the cookery techniques and recipes will be. Click here to find out more about Skill Levels.

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We will accept mature 16/17 year olds on the Beginners Cookery Weekend & Foundation Cookery courses. The legal guardian of the student will be required to sign an authority form prior to us accepting any booking.

For all other courses the minimum age is 18. This is a business choice, since the vast majority of the students that come to us want and expect to be in an adult learning environment.

We may accept a 16 or 17 year old on a course if they are accompanied by a supervising adult that is also taking the same course. It is essential that you contact us prior to any booking however as we cannot accept let any under 18's into the kitchen's without prior written agreement.

In future we may run courses for children and parents. If you would like to express your interest for these type of courses, please contact us here and let us know.

With the exception of our Beginners cookery course, all our cookery courses are designed for enthusiastic amateurs.

We define an enthusiastic amateur as someone who cooks regularly at home, who loves food and cooking but who may not necessarily have ever been taught formally.

Willingness to learn is far more important than any particular skill - we teach you everything from scratch, from how to chop an onion to how to bake bread (for example). We will never ask you to go away and, for example, make a hollandaise without showing you how to do it first - we assume no level of knowledge, but we do expect a certain amount of familiarity with food, cooking and the kitchen.

It's all about what you feel comfortable with. Students who come on our beginners courses range from teenagers about to leave home to embark on a university degree, to mature men that have never spent much time in the kitchen, to young city couple that want to improve their dinner party cookery skills. Our Beginners Cookery Weekend course runs at a gentle pace and introduces you to the fundemental techniques of cookery, and incorporating them into modern recipes that you will make (and eat) yourself. You will enjoy a huge confidence boost

Confidence level is important - we want you to feel encouraged and inspired, not out of your depth. If you are less confident in the kitchen then perhaps try a Beginners course first.

You don't need to be a chef to learn the techniques and skills used in the professional preparation and presentation of great food. Chef Skills is a Level 3 course, we would expect that you have good knife skills and be generally confident in the kitchen. Working Chefs also attend our courses in order to get new ideas or to enhance their skills in certain areas such as seafood and fish. If you are in doubt about your skill level, please call us to discuss on (01364) 652784.

We have yet to have a student leave us feeling that they had learned nothing. Our system of skill levels offer you a way to assess your skill level and select courses appropriate to that level. Enthusiastic, confident cooks will still learn new techniques and recipes from a level 1 one-day course.

For the experienced home cook, we would recommend any of our Level 2 or 3 weekend cookery courses such as Chef Skills or Fish & Seafood, and our 5 day Intermediate and Intermediate Cookery Extra.

Our kitchens are in use 7 days a week for a variety of different courses, and although they are deep cleaned nightly, we cannot guarantee a nut/shellfish/etc environment.

However, most people with fsevere food allergies are able to self medicate and carry their own medication such as an epipen in case of emergencies. In many cases we can accommodate students with such allergies, but it is important that you call us to discuss your requirements before booking a course. Whilst we will always try to accommodate wherever possible, we won't be able to restructure the course. However we are very familiar with intolerances and allergies and regularly welcome coeliacs, vegetarians and those with gluten-free and dairy-free diets on our courses.

So for example, if you are Lactose intolerant, it may be relatively easy to accommodate a change to the course content, whereas a vegetarian (willing to work with meat) may not find the courses suitable unless they were prepared to adjust their lunch and dinner menus since the course content would not change. On our courses you eat the food that you prepare yourself so you can adjust your recipes to suit. If you wish to use alternative or specialist ingredients in place of ours you are welcome to bring them if you can let us know in advance.

In all cases please call us and we will endevour to accommodate you on all courses.

Most people should go for Intermediate Cookery in the first instance - it covers more familiar areas such as pork, lamb, beef and chicken as well as breads, sauces, stocks, puddings and desserts. Intermediate Cookery Extra takes things a level further by introducing shellfish, game, soufflés, home curing, pasta and other more complex techniques.

There is very little overlap between the Intermediate and Intermediate Cookery Extra course - but a reasonable step up in skills and techniques used, and complexity of recipes.

Many skilled home cooks are a level 'two and half', in that they cook frequently and are confident in their own kitchen, but wouldn't consider themselves particularly adept at fish filleting or knife skills (don't worry, that's what we will teach you). The decision which course to choose comes down to the type of experience you want. If you want to push yourself, there is no reason you shouldn't feel comfortable joining the level 3 course.

In general, if you are in any doubt, call us to discuss the best course for you on 0843 289 5555.

We recommend our Intermediate Cookery cookery courses for staff intending to work a ski season or onboard a yacht and have already had several people complete courses who have successfully gained employment for ski tour operators and on-board private yachts.

Please Note: Ship's Galleys vary greatly in size and facilities. Large yachts can have kitchens that rival many restaurants, but on smaller craft, space is often very tight. Our courses focus on cookery skills. If it is important for you to also learn specific boat cookery skills for a small galley then we recommend the Marine Cookery Bilble by Malcolm Alder-Smith.

For those who already work in resorts or on board, it's a great opportunity to freshen up your cookery skills to deal with the culinary demands of yacht owners or chalet guests.

These cookery courses provide students with an excellent grounding in essential cookery skills as well as a rolling menu that can provide a strong basis for day to day cooking.

For anyone contemplating a gap year abroad our longer courses provide a good way of training intensively for working abroad - there are always jobs in catering available on your travels.

We often have members of the Armed Forces on our Intermediate Cookery, and Cookery Diploma courses. It's a popular way of using the resettlement grant and we are familiar with all the paperwork required.

If you want to know how the courses can help you in a career in the catering industry see below.

First of all, if you've never cooked before you need to do a Foundation course - this five-day course provides the best grounding.

We have several routes for those wanting to launch a career as a chef.

Our Cookery Diploma is aimed at those who want to develop the core cookery skills to be able to cook to a professional standard. This is an intesive 4 week course that is highly practical and skills focussed. It is suited to those who want to cook to a professional level but don't need an accreddited qualification.

Our Professional Culinary Diploma is an accredited 6-month course designed to lanch the careers of future head chefs.

For those that cannot commit the time

Ashburton Cookery School

For our 5-day courses we offer a certificate of completion of the course.

For our Cookery Diploma we present our own well-regarded Diploma Certificate.

Ashurton Chefs Academy

Successful Professional Culinary Diploma graduates receive:

• The Ashburton Chefs Academy Diploma reflecting a Pass, Merit, Distinction.
• The CTH Level 4 Diploma in Professional Culinary Arts *
• CIEH Level 3 Award in Food Safety *
• WSET Level 1 Foundation Certificate in Wines *
• Fusion Learning - Leadership in the Kitchen

* Accredited Awards

Full details of qualifications here

All of our courses are totally hands-on - it's one of the most important factors in what we do. And when we say hands-on, we mean it - on a normal day you will be involved in cooking almost from the moment of your arrival until you sit down to eat what you have prepared.

There are many cookery courses out there which are demonstrations followed by lunch, there are also cookery courses out there where theory forms a large part of the day. Our courses are not like either of these.

Our courses are approximately 90% practical work which means chopping, peeling, kneading, frying, rolling, boning, filleting and all the other things that make cooking so interesting.

There is time for individual and pair work - in fact we are working toward maximizing the amount of individual and pair work on all our courses.

We find the most effective way for you to learn is by doing it yourself. Out of necessity, there will always be an element of group work - for example, it's not practical for everyone to make an individual venison casserole.

Our concept of individual work does not mean skimping on ingredients - we feel it's important that you have access to the best available so, for example, you prepare a lobster each on our Intermediate Cookery Extra course.

We cater for those that wish to learn to cook in a quality adult learning environment.

The courses are very mixed, attracting all age groups and gender split is now around 50/50 male to female.

If you were to average out the age of everyone on a group you would probably end up somewhere in the mid-30s. The common denominator amongst everyone is a interest in food and a desire to improve their cookery skills, and through this some great friendships are created.

We are in a small town on the edge of Dartmoor just off the A38, about 20 minutes south of Exeter.
See the back of the brochure for more information. Click here to download the brochure

You need to wear sensible footwear with non-slip soles and covered toes. Long hair needs to be tied back; we advise wearing comfortable clothes and not your best outfit. We also recommend wearing trousers.

You don't need to bring anything with you, we supply aprons, and all the equipment you'll be using. There will be a Kitchen Assistant working with your Chef Tutor throughout the day who will have prepared all the preparation and weighing of ingredients

The town is on the edge of Dartmoor, which is great for walking; numerous outdoor pursuits from horse riding to golf are available nearby. We're half an hour or so from Totnes, Dartmouth and Exeter, and of course there are several lovely beaches within driving distance. Devon is blessed with some great restaurants - if you're staying in town we'd particularly recommend Moorish and Agaric.

If you need any further information please phone us on (01364) 652784 and we can arrange an interview with one of our chefs. Our send us an email enquiry through our contact form here.