French House Party Carcassonne

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With impressive guest feedback, the highest-calibre tutors and exceptional accommodation -  you can expect perfection on a French House Party residential learning course.

A harmonious, inspiring and encouraging environment can be an important aid to the production of very fine things indeed, as is proved by the French regions inspiring great artists, writers, and chefs worldwide.

This is exactly what the team at French House Party has in mind when offering its range of all-inclusive tutored courses - everything from masterchef cuisine, creative writing, movie making, bridge sessions and song-writing.

French House Party comes recommended by the National Geographic book The 100 Best Worldwide Vacations to Enrich Your Life – and guest feedback is very impressive too.

This is no surprise when you look at the calibre of tutors - every one of them distinguished in their field - and the methods used for a genuine grounding in whichever creative endeavour you choose.

And all of this in the most viscerally tempting of surroundings on the fringes of Carcassonne in South-West France, where sun, good food (and of course excellent wine from the country’s largest producing region), lovely en suite accommodation and a tennis court and swmming pool are par de course.

So, what can you expect? Well, according to our guests, many of whom return year after year, “perfection”.

With airport or rail transfers from Toulouse or Carcassonne included in the price (as is everything else) your stay is made as stress-free as possible and will be infinitely memorable.

Creative Writing session on the tennis terrace.

Whether you're new to the game or have been writing for a while, here’s the chance to write, play, experiment and share your work, regardless of style or genre, be it fact or fiction, prose or poetry.

Participants are encouraged to bring samples of their writing with them for the one-to-ones and feedback sessions.

One of the first courses offered by French House Party, Creative Writing has proved massively popular, having had many a fine word written about it.

The 6-day course is mentored by Sarah Hymas, an accredited coach from Lancaster UK, who describes herself as “...a poet, editor, performer, career coach, sailor and anti-hoovering campaigner.”

A past winner of a prestigious Arvon Foundation prize, Sarah has published short stories, poetry, plays and an opera libretto. She co-founded The Writing Smithy, a mentoring and manuscript appraisal service, works for poetry publisher Arc, and freelances as a writing coach in writing projects and workshops.

So you see, you’re in good hands. Dumas never had it so good.

Song-writing participants perform with Dean (left)

Acclaimed New York singer-songwriter Dean Friedman offers aspiring songwriters and performers to learn all they can from "A genius. An original. A musical craftsman of unrivalled expertise.”

The Song-writing course centres around Dean’s valuable experience, with group instruction workshops, jamming sessions, one-to-one tuition, writing, performances and the bonus of a privately-arranged Dean Friedman gig.

Acknowledged as one of the best lyrics-and-melody composers in the music industry and with the perfect, instantly-recognisable soaring voice which gave him hit songs like Ariel, Well Well Said the Rocking Chair, Lydia - and, of course, the memorable British chart-topper Lucky Stars - Dean has remained a major inspiration to other songwriters for more than 30 years, and is a very welcoming and enthusiastic mentor to French House guests.

Cookery course packages are: Cuisine in Brief (3 days), Gourmet Explorer (5 days) or Gourmet Explorer Advanced (6 days).

No French experience worth its name would be complete without a bit of fine dining.

For guests who want to do more than just sample the excellent food FHP offers, then the superior gourmet cooking programmes with award-winning 4-star chefs Robert Abraham and Jean-Marc Boyer, who themselves are no strangers to célébrité in their homeland, are courses to get the juices flowing.

Michelin stars and top-class recommendations in the most influential restaurant guides mean that they and their signature dishes are synonymous with cooking innovation and flair.

This unique opportunity to learn hands-on from French master-chefs who will guide you through practical creativity in the kitchen is sure to excite.  Courses run from 3 days to 7 days.

Your dinner parties will never be the same again ….

Awards Night: finale showing of the week's movies.

If you wish to build upon the memory of a wonderful holiday, FHP offers a groundbreaking creative media course - 6 days covering film production, photography, editing and musical soundtracking, audio recording (podcasting) and stop-motion animation.

Tutor Peter Ralley is a film-maker and photographer –and a former headteacher – whose talents extend to running digital film-making courses for groups of adults and in schools.

Peter is the nearest thing FHP has to Martin Scorsese. Well, he’s a Goodfella, for a start.

Plus, he did have a movie screened at the Cannes Film Festival a couple of years ago and won an award at the Monaco International Film Festival.

This fun course is open to youngsters from the age of 12.  Oscar acceptance speechwriting is, however, not offered as part of the course.

More information on this course here:

http://www.frenchhouseparty.eu/CreativeArtsCourses/DigitalFilmMaking/tabid/2053/Default.aspx

French House Party also facilitates group holidays.

We have art or photography tutors bringing their groups, golfing friends who like the carefree sound of our Golf and Gourmet breaks, and celebrating groups who simply want to chill out in style and hold their own personal French House Party.

For more information, see www.frenchhouseparty.eu