About Silwood

The Silwood School of Cookery is South Africa’s oldest cookery school, boasting student achievement unmatched by any other cookery school in South Africa.

The school was founded in 1964 by Lesley Faull, Commanderie des Cordons Bleus de France. Over the past 49 years Silwood has earned itself a world class reputation.

Silwood graduates can be found in the top kitchens of the world from Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck & Dinner restaurants to Jamie Oliver’s No 15, Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir, Gordon Ramsay’s and even the French Laundry.

Lesley’s daughter, Alicia Wilkinson, Commanderie des Cordons Bleus de France, is the present principal of the school, continuing her mothers work-producing chefs of a world class standard.

Silwood offers a broad based culinary education equipping the graduates with the classic skills required in top international kitchens.

The school is surrounded by spacious organic gardens where students relax between lessons and pick and use their home grown herbs and vegetables.

Nationally Silwood Graduates can be found in Kitchens from the Mount Nelson and The One and Only to the Vineyard, from Londolozi to the Cellars Hohenort. Food selectors at Woolworths, top caterers such as Escoffier, Analize and Free Spirit , food store owners such as Melissa’s and Four & Twenty - we trained them all.

Silwood does not offer a quick fix solution but a complete culinary education. Silwood students have won all the national Sunday times Chef School competitions – proof hat our good basic food training is the best.

Even Woolworths chose Silwood as the school to train the recipient of their Taste Magazine Bursary.