French Holidays Plus

It was so welcoming to be brought in and treated like a valued friend being welcomed home. We were taught things but had plenty of time to relax or swim and were encouraged to do so. After every activity or meal Adam would kindly ask if he could get us anything to make sure we had everything we needed.

It was lovely to learn all of the cooking techniques and ways we could change recipes and alter things so we could use items multiple ways.

Really top tier tour and the fantastic weather we had while we were there just topped everything off. Thank you so much.

Carol and Adam are great hosts with an extensive knowledge of the region. They took the time to answer all historic and culinary questions that came along. The programme could furthermore be adapted easily to ones interests, which I really appreciated.

The visits to the local wine farmers and markets were different and quite cosy: no commercial mass, but a real insight into their artisinal work and French country village life.

You’re looked well after during the stay, and the accomodation (gite) is generous and well-furnished. There’s also a sweet pet duo (dog and cat) which adds to the laid back atmosphere of the stay.

Our stay and cooking experience with Adam and Caroline at Baron Figues exceeded our expectations in every way. From the moment Caroline, picked us up at the train station in Agen, my husband and I felt welcomed. We were the only 2 people taking part in the weeklong cooking experience with Adam and it was amazing. We learned how to make so many delicious French dishes throughout the week and were treated to wine, cheese, Armagnac and champagne tastings. Our hosts toured us through the area where we visited local markets and enjoyed lunch at a couple of local restaurants. For the cooking, Adam shared his knowledge and expertise on how enhance and build flavours in dishes and bring out the best in wines and champagnes. He welcomed any and all of our questions without hesitation and made my husband, who doesn’t cook a lot at home, quite at ease in the kitchen. The accommodations were also remarkable. Our large 2-storey apartment was clean, furnished and fully equipped and all our needs and requests were met without hesitation. Our train going back to Paris was cancelled due to rail issues and Adam helped with finding an alternate train route back to Paris and even provided us with a little ‘picnic’ lunch of wine, cheese and duck to take with us on the train… this was above and beyond and very much appreciated. Thank you again Adam and Caroline… you gave us many great memories to take back and several recipes to test on family and friends!

Caroline and Adam are lovely and generous hosts. I was there for 3 nights: arrived Thursday afternoon and departed Sunday morning. Their home is beautiful and so comfortable. Caroline arranged for a 2 hour semi -private tennis lesson that we did together on Friday and Saturday and then we played doubles for a couple of hours with friends of hers. They hosted nightly dinner parties with friends of theirs: lovely menus, great wines and great conversation. Adam is a great cook and Caroline is a very thoughtful host. She checked in with me frequently and made sure I was having a great experience, getting a great tennis lesson, learning alot and seeing as much as possible outside of our tennis lessons. The tennis was also indoors which really helped since it was a bit rainy and wet. Great clay courts and the instructor Alex was knowledgeable and I learned alot in a short amount of time.

If you are looking for the real deal, this is it! Imagine cooking for an entire week, mid-day and evening meals each day, more than 30 unique courses in all, exploring a broad range of French cooking techniques, working alongside and under the tutelage of a talented French chef. And doing it all in a 180-year-old farmhouse nestled in the French countryside, with a generous amount of excellent, locally-produced wines on hand. What an extraordinary adventure it was! Thank you to Chef Guillaume, and to Caroline and Adam for being such marvelous hosts! You provided a truly memorable vacation for us. Bob & Linda

If you want to be a cook, you need more than recipe books, fancy gadgets, expensive knives, and YouTube videos. You need a master chef who will help you refine and elevate your skills and give you the impetus to be that person to whose kitchen everyone in your crowd wants to get invited.

Which brings us to Adam and Caroline’s lovely farmhouse and culinary school in southwestern France. Eight days of real cooking under the tutelage of someone who can make the extremely hard work of doing things right in the kitchen more fun than human beings should be allowed to have when they get around fresh produce and a lot of the highest quality butter.

We were lucky to spend the better part of our time working not only under Adam’s expert direction, but also master chef Guillaume. Our little band did a slew of classics, from Boeuf Bourguignone to French Onion Soup, dishes we sort of thought we knew, but executed at a level I’m certain none of us anticipated being capable of reaching in so short a time. And there were the dishes that looked simple, but were actually quite complex in taste and texture.

The bottom line is that if you commit to the program and catch the spirit of your all-too-brief time in Moncrabeau, you’ll go out there a youngster, but you’ll come back a culinary star.

I am eighty years old and I flattered myself that I knew something about cooking, but after a week with Adam and Guillaume, I had a far deeper understanding of what I knew and what I had learned.

The location, the hosts and the tennis

I thoroughly enjoyed my tennis holiday with Caroline and Adam. Caroline was so welcoming and kind and Adam served up delicious food. The atmosphere was extremely relaxed and I felt like I had a great break when leaving. The tennis coaching was excellent and the coaches-Florian and Guyon- were brilliant and made the coaching very enjoyable. The days were filled with as much activity as you would want with a few hours of downtime to relax by the pool.

Everything. The food, the ambiance, the humour, the company and their dog!

I had the most wonderful experience with Caroline and Adam, they are so welcoming and hospitable. The food, the endless of amounts of wine and the unique and locale excursions were better than I could have imagined,

Over all a highly recommended holiday!

Whether you are celebrating a life milestone, restarting your life in France, or just want to get away, Caroline and Adam will welcome you with open arms. The food is incredible, the scenery is serene, the activities are plentiful, and the company is unmatched. Book this and change your life for the better.

Really enjoyed our hosts. They were a lot of fun and very accommodating. Adam took the time to show us some extra cooking techniques to answer our questions. Also really enjoyed the pool on our many hot days!

We all loved the mornings we spent cooking. Adam made learning fun and the food we produced was delicious.

The pool was very inviting in the afternoons and the various outings were interesting.

Adam and Caroline are generous hosts with their hospitality and their time.

Caroline and Adam made everything fun, they are incredible hosts. So warm and welcoming, I felt at home from the moment I arrived. They were super committed to us having a great time. They always asked for our input about the day's activities and were so accommodating to our preferences. They had such a variety of things for us to do. There was a great balance of cooking, learning about the area, tasting local wines and relaxing down time.

The food was extraordinary! Always fresh and such a wonderful variety. I learned so much from Adam, and am ready to tackle his recipes at home - my family is quite eager for me to get cooking!

The setting at Baron-Figues is the picture of pastoral beauty and it is impossible not to relax in such a setting.

My time at Baron-Figues was nothing short of spectacular.

Adam is a lovely, generous, and fun Irishman. He is very passionate about French food, wine, Armagnac and champagne. The foie gras extravaganza is something you can only experience in France. Time spent in the kitchen with Adam was fun and interesting. His English wife Carolyn is equally fun and charming. They have lived in the French countryside for decades and provide excellent local knowledge. They took me to gorgeous markets and hidden destinations that you would never find by yourself on a brief holiday. As a solo traveller arriving in Agen absolutely exhausted, the whole experience was the perfect mixture of relaxation, interesting outings, swimming, talking, laughing, walking, eating and drinking … lots of eating and drinking! The accomodation is an absolutely beautiful and comfortable country house with a great swimming pool. This was a wonderful experience that I can highly recommend.

Adam and Caroline were outstanding hosts. We became part of their family. The duck, foil gras and lamb Adam prepared were melt in your mouth. We enjoyed several days out visiting small towns, local markets and an Armagnac old family winery. Adam gave us very informed (but informal) talks about wine and champagne. Beautiful and peaceful location, friendly, fun, knowledgeable hosts. Couldn’t ask for more!

We enjoyed the entire experience from Caroline picking us up at the train station to Adam dropping us off (sigh). They picked up on my love of Foie Gras and so Adam showed us how to prepare it - 4 ways! As a beer lover, it was fun to visit Graham at his home brewery. I am also an aspiring baker so Caroline took us to a nearby artisan Boulangerie where Isabel showed us her kitchen and methods. These excursions were customized for us it seemed.

Adam & Caroline also found for me a 4 day bread baking course nearby that we attended a few weeks later.

Dinners & lunches prepared by Adam were outstanding and a lot of fun.

Adam is extremely knowledgeable about wine too & we enjoyed the informative tastings he organized each evening.

The location in the middle of the French countryside amidst rolling hills and vineyards was lovely, the house, guest rooms, and outdoor patio and pool were charming and comfortable, the outings to a market and fois gras farm were delightful, but the food and wine both at home and in a restaurant with a Michelin chef were definitely the highlight of our stay!

I liked the relaxed style and flexibility of all aspects of the holiday, and Adams friendly approach to cooking novices.

Adam and Caroline were extremely generous, accommodating, and exceptional and every way. They have a very generous spirit. They went out of their way to make our experience as perfect as they could. I can’t be any more positive. It was fun, we were gone for a month and this was clearly the best part of our vacation and we would recommend it to anyone who is considering a culinary experience in France.

Adam and Caroline are hosts extraordinaire! From the initial welcome to the final goodbye, they make their guests feel apart of their family and friends. Adam is a patient instructor and makes the preparation of gourmet dishes appear achievable and fun. Caroline is an incredible artist in metal clay jewelry and willing to share her talents with novices. This vacation was a perfect balance of activity and relaxation.

Spent an excellent week at Baron Figues with Adam and Caroline. Enjoyed the cooking lessons and preparing the evening meals. No shortage of good food and wine throughout the week. Good balance of activities and down time. Beautiful setting in the french countryside.

I really enjoyed being with these wonderful people. Their kindness, positivity, warmth, and hospitality made this experience unforgettable. Adam’s knowledge of food and wine, and his relationship with the people in the towns near his made my stay even more interesting and fun. Ours was a great group, and we enjoyed our time at the farmhouse with our ‘new family’, and loved experiencing the villages and community around us.

Adam did a wonderful job of providing 3 gourmet meals per day in addition to superb cooking demonstrations! He also supplied the menus for all of the meals that we had throughout the week!

Standing with friends you have made throughout the week, as dusk falls on the French countryside around you, and you compare the merits of various Champagnes and eat the foie gras you have prepared... perfect.

Our Culinary Vacation experience was like spending a week visiting with friends in their beautiful home. Caroline and Adam made us feel welcomed and comfortable from our first moments. We loved the trips to markets, chateaus for wine tastings, walks through the countryside with groups of neighborhood friends that Caroline arranged, and exploring the little villages and the city of Bordeaux. Adam always knew just what we should see or to whom we should speak. And then there was the food.... Adam is both a patient instructor and incredible chef. The food was absolutely amazing. It really was a perfect experience from beginning to end.

Fabulous wine and cheese. Days exploring the French local cuisines. Nights full of Apero's and laughs.

Adam and Caroline are such amazing hosts and create an environment full of laughs. Adam makes cooking amazing food look so easy even for some beginners.

The trips to the local areas were great being able to wander beautiful country towns full of cobblestones and history.

And the cheese, the cheese made by the local producers are to die for. There really is no substitute for tasting local cuisine made simply.

Both Adam and Caroline were there to see that I had a good time. Very accommodating.

Relaxing vacation with excellent food and wine provided by knowledgible host and hostess

From the moment we arrived we found 2 new friends - incredible hosts - quite laid back. Adam is an incredible chef and along with Caroline fantastic hosts.

Nothing was too much trouble and on one occasion we went to a night market, and although we were already fed, I said I must have some snails that I had seen in the market and Adam instantly appeared with a bowl to try!! They took us to so many places we would have never seen without them and what a luxury to be driven somewhere different every day. Next time I will return to do Caroline's jewelry making course. A must place to go!!

Loved the location, very peaceful, wonderful tutors. Felt like I had know Caroline and Adam my whole life as they made me feel so welcome. It was like being at a fiends house. Learnt a lot of interesting things not only about the jewellery making and cooking, but Caroline and Adam where fantastic tour guides.

,

I loved everything about our holiday! Our gorgeous hosts Caroline and Adam who cared for and spoiled us! Learning new skills in jewellery making from master craftswoman Caroline. Having wonderful meals outside under the awning with the family. Swimming in their lovely pool. Learning some super dishes from chef Adam and enjoying his cuisine every evening. Trips around the district to historic towns and lovely meals out. Visits to local vineyards and Distilleries!