Experience Trip: Cooking/Food, Wine, Outdoors Activities?

Hello all,

A friend is celebrating his 40th birthday, and his wife wants to give him something a little different. She is thinking along the lines of an “experience trip”. So this guy loves to cook, eat great food, drink great wine, and works out on a regular basis. So I suggested maybe there is a venue/destination that offers all three? Like maybe cooking classes with a master chef, where you sit around and eat the food afterwards, and drink great wines. And during the day, maybe take epic hikes or bike rides. I did a Google search, but didn’t find anything that combines all three. At this point in time, due to Covid/travel restrictions, I think the optimal place would be in the US, preferably somewhere on the East Coast, as they have a young child, so a long-weekend type of trip would be great.

I thought maybe you all might have some suggestions. Any and all ideas would be appreciated!

Thanks, Paul

Try the CIA in Poughkeepsie NY. They have onsite cooking classes, obviously great restaurants at several levels, plus you will be in the Catskills mountains so you have access to all sorts of outdoor activities. The wineries in the area of which there are about 30 are of good quality and reasonably priced.

This might be in no way practical, but as a thought provoker, there was a TV series in the UK, where comedian Adrian Edmondson (The young ones, bottom, comic strip etc.) travelled around the UK with a mini caravan that had a cooking hatch.

The concept is to travel, to head out walking etc. but to set up to cook as well, using what’s available locally

So this idea may not be practical, but suggested as a thought provoker for something individual and memorable.