Yes, Bath has several cookery classes you can book as a visitor, from a single afternoon's bread-making session to a Saturday morning Persian feast. Prices typically run from around £85 to £105 per person for a half-day group class, up to £190-£250 for a full-day or specialist course. None require you to live locally or sign up for a term-length course; they're built around one-off bookings, hen and stag groups, and people visiting the city for a day or two.
Cookery classes in Bath at a glance
| School | What you'll learn | Typical length | Typical price |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Bertinet Kitchen | Bread, pastry, patisserie, kids' baking | Half day to a week | £65 (kids) to £190-£250 (adult courses) |
| Simi's Kitchen | Persian cooking, a shared meal and wine | 3 hours (10am-1pm) | £105pp, £85 for students/teens |
| Pasta Laboratory | Pasta making, with wine and snacks included | Half day, group-friendly | Check directly, tailored to group size |
| Thai Cookery Workshop (Inspire Bookings) | Thai dishes including pad Thai | 2.5 hours | £85pp |
| Vale House Kitchen | Foraging, butchery, fishing and shooting skills | Varies by course | Check directly |
The Bertinet Kitchen: the best-known name
The Bertinet Kitchen is Bath's most established cookery school, run by award-winning baker Richard Bertinet, who's held the BBC Food Champion of the Year title and written several bestselling baking books. It's based centrally in Bath and specialises in bread, pastry, patisserie, viennoiserie and other baking skills, taught by Bertinet himself or guest chefs, with courses ranging from a single day to a full week. It's accredited by the ICSA as a "Centre of Excellence" for teaching standards. Kids' classes (covering things like alpine baking or Halloween patisserie around seasonal dates) run from £65, half-day adult workshops from around £250, and full-day courses or guest-chef masterclasses from £190 to £225. Christmas-themed classes run in the run-up to the festive season, so book ahead if you want a specific date.
Simi's Kitchen: Persian cooking in a home setting
Simi's Kitchen runs monthly Persian cookery classes in central Bath, pitched more as a relaxed home-cooking session than a formal lesson. A typical Saturday class runs 10am to 1pm, costs £105 per person (£85 for full-time students and teenagers, who must be accompanied by an adult if under 18), and includes the recipes, a shared meal of what you've cooked, and a glass of wine. It's aimed at solo travellers, couples and small groups rather than large hen or stag parties, and can also be booked privately in your own holiday let or Airbnb. Dietary requirements, including vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free, are accommodated if you flag them in advance.
Pasta Laboratory and the Thai Cookery Workshop: for groups
If you're organising a hen do, stag do or team day out, Pasta Laboratory at The Richmond runs pasta-making classes built around groups, with wine and snacks included in the price. A Thai cookery workshop run through Inspire Bookings takes a similar group-focused approach from a central Bath venue about 15 minutes' walk from Bath Spa station: 2.5 hours, £85 per person, cooking a menu that typically includes a som tam salad, a pork mah hor and a vegetable pad Thai, with all ingredients, aprons and recipe cards included. Workshops run on Saturdays with slots at 10am, 2pm or 6pm, for groups of up to 16.
Something more specialist: Vale House Kitchen
If you want to go beyond the stove, Vale House Kitchen, just outside the city, runs courses in foraging, butchery, fishing and shooting skills alongside more conventional cooking, taught by experts in those fields rather than restaurant chefs. It's a different kind of day out to the classes above, better suited to a slower, more rural-themed visit than a quick city-centre session.
Booking tips
- Most classes are small-group by design, often capped at six to sixteen people, so weekends and popular dates (especially Christmas-season baking classes at The Bertinet Kitchen) sell out ahead of time.
- If you're planning a hen or stag do, Pasta Laboratory and the Thai Cookery Workshop are both built with group bookings in mind, including wine or drinks in the price.
- Gift vouchers are available for several of these schools, including The Bertinet Kitchen's experience vouchers, which work well if you're booking for someone else rather than yourself.
- Pair a class with a wider look at the city's food scene in our guides to food and tearooms in Bath and the best restaurants in Bath, since a cookery class is a good anchor for a food-focused day rather than a standalone activity.
Is it worth doing as a visitor rather than a local?
Yes. Every class covered here is designed around one-off bookings rather than a term of weekly lessons, so a single visit to Bath is enough to take part. It's a genuinely different way to spend a few hours compared to sightseeing, and most classes end with you eating what you made, which makes for a built-in meal as well as an activity.