SuJoCo Cookery School

Basic Ingredients:  Local chefs Sue Van Zwanenberg and Jo Oomen run this cookery school from converted stables in the foodie Parish of Lodsworth beneath the South Downs National Park. In a purpose-built kitchen using quality local produce, they share their passion for food through a range of classes, from cookery parties for kids, themed teen workshops (including Funky Lunch boxes, Diwali and Halloween) to Classic Thai, Rustic Italian, Great British Classics and techniques for butchery, bread-making and knife skills. Classes generally last four hours and cost £75 with longer classes costing a bit more. The six-week-long Basics for Beginners is the sort of course every cookery school should offer. A bright and spacious dining area comfortably seats a dozen people around a large wooden table, originally from the nearby Cowdray House kitchens.

 They say: Good food is no longer elitist. We want everyone to eat more healthily and try new things, so we have developed courses for the timid, the daring, the knowledgeable and those new to the kitchen. We also want to help people who are changing their lifestyle, either voluntarily or out of necessity. So we can add pizzazz to medically-restricted diets, and help people with special needs trying to establish independent lives in the community.

We say: A small cook school with a big heart, the duo genuinely seem to care about what they do and those they teach.  With the facilities and concept of the school having been five years in the making, every last detail is covered right down to workstations for wheelchair users and the partially-sighted.