THE way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Or is it the other way around? I can't remember. It doesn't matter, because Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons in Oxford has both eventualities covered.

Never will you have laid eyes on such a romantic hotel and the restaurant has two Michelin stars, although it probably deserves a third.

So heart and hunger can be sated at the same time.

Le Manoir is the creation of Raymond Blanc, one of the first big-name French chefs to ply his trade in Britain. He may not have his own TV programme, but then Blanc is no celebrity chef. The man is nothing short of a culinary God.

Through the hotel gates lies the sort of country house I thought only existed in the Enid Blyton books of my childhood. This 15th-century manor house with warm, golden brickwork and quirky chimneys has a certain mystery about it, as if secret passages and adventures await within its walls.

The hotel's 27-acre grounds include an orchard, an organic vegetable garden, herb gardens and long manicured lawns. The bedrooms are situated both in the main house and in a converted block just beside it.

The rooms are spectacular.

They have names rather than numbers and are all decorated differently. The Anais room is bigger than my apartment in Dublin and decorated in tasteful Art Deco style (as opposed to my apartment's more affordable Argos Deco).

A huge walk-around fireplace was topped on one side by a massive Tamara de Lempicka print. It's the sort of room you are more likely to see in an old James Bond movie - but with the modern touches of a plasma television in the bedroom and a Denon hi-fi that even plays music in the bathroom.

At this point guests are faced with the challenge of leaving the comfort of these fantastic rooms, knowing that it will be a long time before they'll ever be this comfortable again.

However, there is some Michelin-star dining to be done. So after a bath and a shower - it's hard to resist using everything - followed by a spot of plasma-TV watching in a fluffy bathrobe and some time contemplating the Lempicka while listening to Mozart on the hi-fi, it's time to venture out and meet Monsieur.

Raymond Blanc is a selftaught chef who arrived in England in 1972 to work as a waiter at the Rose Revived Restaurant near Witney in Herefordshire. After the chef fell ill, he took over the cooking duties and has never looked back.

He felt homesick at this time and a bit out of place, he says. So he made regular trips to Ireland and fell in love with the country and the Irish. It was his special retreat, he says, and he still has a huge fondness for Ireland. He often thought of opening a restaurant here but the time for that has passed now, he says.

A tour of the hotel reveals one jaw-droppingly fabulous room after another, in particular the seductive and sensual Opium and Sandalwood rooms.

As well as everything else, Le Manoir has a worldfamous cookery school. Its director is Stephen Bulmer and he turns out to be a real character. There are eight of us on the course, with the men outnumbering the women. One participant is a regular but most of the others are first-timers who were given the course as a birthday or Christmas gift.

The school's kitchen has been refurbished recently and has state of the art cooking equipment. However, Stephen's pride and joy is a Bang and Olufsen hi-fi that can store something like 17 trillion CDs.

Somehow, Stephen has got his hands on the 17 trillion worst CDs in the history of recorded music. When we ask him to switch it off he does - but he starts singing instead so we ask for the hifi to be turned back on.

The first thing on the menu is Crab Ravioli with Lemongrass and Ginger Bisque. It sounds difficult but Stephen is confident that we will have no bother. We have to make and roll our own pasta as well as shelling a fresh crab.

Stephen is a jovial character and a good teacher so there is a lot of fun to be had on the course. The only problem is you have to eat what you make for your lunch.

Looking at what I've just made, I begin to wonder if I could rustle up a sandwich from somewhere.

As it happens, the ravioli turns out to be edible and, hunger satisfied, we go on to learn how to make a fabulous Thai green curry, as well as prawns in tempura batter, crab with tamarind and curry leaves, and all sorts of other exotic dishes with which to impress the folks back home. At the end of the day participants receive a certificate for their efforts.

This is an expensive place to stay, but it's not at all stuffy.

Though favoured as a hideaway by wealthy city-types or rich country squires, most guests are just regular people enjoying a special weekend.

Package deals make a stay more affordable and it's only 40 minutes from Heathrow airport.

www. manoir. com.