A cookery course is the best way to savour the flavours of Italy's Veneto region, says Denise Bailey

"Oh no, it's all gone crooked." I'm trying to roll my last batch of fresh egg pasta through a heavy, clunking machine, preparing ravioli for a late lunch. But it all seems to be going horribly wrong.

With the help of head chef Maxine Clark though, I'm soon back on track and my ravioli parcels, filled with beef cheeks marinated in Amarone di Valpolicella wine, start to resemble the squares of soft, loveliness I'm used to seeing on restaurant plates.

Once the hard work is done, we sit down to our meal in the villa's former silks storage room, with views to the vast rose garden.

I'm staying at the beautiful 15th century Villa Casagrande, in the glorious Veneto, surrounded by the Dolomites mountain range, and for the next four days I'll be sharpening my skills in the kitchen at the Stirred cookery school.

I could spend hours eating and drinking in the gracious company of co-founders Sarah Roberts and Patrick Obert, but there's lots of work to be done!

We drive for an hour through lush green fields to reach the floating city of Venice. Sarah hurries us through the crowds and across the Rialto Bridge to the lively, bustling market. We wander past mountains of black-ink cuttlefish and piles of red shiny tomatoes, selecting the ingredients for our next culinary masterpiece. A string quartet plays in the background, transporting me to another era.

Later that day, we take a water taxi to the island of Mazzorbo, for lunch at the Venissa hotel and restaurant. I explore a 12th century monastery and discover a vineyard, planted with the rediscovered Dorona grape.

Back at Villa Casagrande, chef Maxine suggests that olive oil can be tasted in the same way as wine; swirl a small amount in the mouth, inhale then oxygenate. "The further south you go, the less peppery the flavour," she tells me.

I savour these nuggets of information, just as much as the food I've been served and have created during my four-day course. After all, if my ravioli fails to impress future dinner guests, my conversation certainly will.

:: Stirred Travel (www.stirredtravel.com) offers six-night courses in September from £2,495pp, including accommodation, tuition, food, wine, tours and transfers.

:: Monarch Airlines (www.monarch.co.uk) flies from London Gatwick to Venice Marco Polo from £50 one way.

:: A murderous weekend is in store for Roger Crow on a UK staycation

I swallow a mouthful of chicken and mash and hope the stern-faced woman (reminiscent of Oscar Wilde's Lady Bracknell) won't ask me any questions.

We all have an appointment with death that evening: my wife, my fellow diners and I.

A murder has been announced, in the vicinity of our hotel, and a killer needs to be caught.

Maybe it's the alcohol that has addled my brain, or the fact that I'm having a hard time keeping up with all the evidence.

We have been transported back to the 1930s, where the deceased has perished from a hat pin to the heart.

"What do three amateur paintings and a pair of boots with different coloured socks have to do with the murder?" asks my better half.

Cards on the table, I have no idea.

My wife looks as blank as I when Christie's over-eager detectives Tommy and Tuppence bound up and ask us for our opinions.

I feel I will soon be facing the sort of embarrassment usually reserved for my dreams where I'm running around with no trousers on.

I can tell my fellow diners/sleuths are taking things far more seriously than we are. With one team of around eight collating their information, I realise I have more chance of bumping into Hercule Poirot than winning the country's only officially licensed Agatha Christie Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre Experience.

'Agatha Christie Limited' has allowed the author's past scripts to be enacted for the first time in a series of murder mystery events at Hand Picked Hotels.

In a room filled with some 'serious' detectives, my comedy explanation (the killer went insane from hallucinogenic poppies and fell on a hat pin) thankfully brings the house down.

'My work here is done', I think, a little red-faced.

Returning to the present day the following morning, I avoid eye contact with any fellow sleuths, and enjoy an outstanding breakfast. My full English is well worth the visit alone.

Agatha may have rolled her eyes at my skills of deduction, but our stay in Cheshire's Rookery Hall Hotel & Spa proves to be as memorable as some of her finest works.

:: Hand Picked Hotels (www.handpickedhotels.co.uk ;0845 458 0901) offers the Agatha Christie Murder Mystery from £75 at their various country house properties throughout June and July. Includes a three-course meals and drinks reception. Overnight stay extra, prices vary.

:: A few days of pampering in the Peloponnese has Sarah Marshall buzzing with joy

It's a tough life for a queen bee; her every whim is attended to by swarms of diligent workers, who feed her a diet of rich royal jelly.

"But after two years in the hive we let her go and, unable to fend for herself, she dies," explains Makis, a Greek bee farmer whose family has been producing honey in the herb-covered foothills of the Peloponnese for more than 100 years. "If we left her there, the bees would end up killing her. They need a fit new queen."

My excursion to the bee farm and museum is one of the few times I manage to wrestle myself away from my own temporary palace set high in the olive groves and overlooking the silky Aegean Sea.

Owned by the Aman group, masters in luxury, the colonnaded Amanzo'e resort was built to resemble the splendid buildings of Greek antiquity, but radiates modern grandeur.

Thick tufts of fragrant lavender and groomed, erect cypress trees lead to private villas, so big, at one point I get lost trying to retrace my steps to the front door. Natural light fills a spacious shower room, while a sunken bath and outdoor lap pool both look out to the rounded hilltops, rolling like the crests of waves.

But it's the programme of wellbeing treatments that really tempts guests to switch plans from visiting nearby historical sights, such as the amphitheatre at Epidaurus, and instead relax at the resort and its private beach club, just a 10-minute cycle ride away.

I begin my day with a sunrise yoga session in a glass pavilion washed with golden light, and continue with a honey facial, where products from Makis' farm are used as a very sticky but effective exfoliant.

It's Steve Karle's Aquatic Bodywork session though, that really leaves me glowing. With floats wrapped around my legs, I sit in a specially designed pool heated to 94F (skin temperature), while Steve guides me through a series of twists and turns, using a mixture of Watsu and craniosacral therapy techniques.

Results, I'm told, can vary from improved alignment to a powerful meditative experience. Some patients have even been known to imagine themselves as a dolphin, curl into a foetal ball, or burst into tears.

I sit in silence for half an hour trying to reconnect my limbs which now seem so distant from my body. I feel calmer than I have done in years.

It's pure splash-out indulgence, as is my entire weekend at one of Greece's most exclusive hotels. But for a short time it's a sweet existence for a pampered queen bee.

:: Deluxe Pavilions from 1,000 euros per room per night, including breakfast. Visit amanresorts.com/amanzoe

:: Steve Karle will be taking part in a Movement and Alignment retreat from September 11-20.

:: British Airways flies to Athens from £150 return. Visit britishairways.com