London, and beyond—Just seven days in southeastern England, but time enough to capture the essence of four destinations whose allure transcends centuries.

My 120-mile itinerary in and around London covered a 300-year-old royal retreat morphed into a resort in Hertfordshire; a 1,000-year-old estate near Oxford, whose grounds now house a small hotel, restaurant and famous cooking school; and a chic London boutique hotel with a Michelin-starred Thai restaurant and cooking school. It concluded in Greenwich at 0 degrees longitude, where the world's time begins and ends.

Larry Mayran / Special (ENLARGE)

Student and budding chef Fran seems pleased with her dexterous ability in persuading the fresh pasta to come out in two foot long, three inch sheets for a stuffed ravioli dish.

Larry Mayran / Special (ENLARGE)

The Opium Room at Le Manoir in Oxford is paneled in dark wood with bamboo ornaments on the tables.

Larry Mayran / Special (ENLARGE)

Golfers pause under a massive beech tree on the meticulously groomed 18-hole championship golf course on the Grove country estate.

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No destination was more than one hour from Britain's capital city, and with a British Rail England FlexiPass, I could travel comfortably and relaxed from place to place.

As the train sped along, time slowed. I gazed at pastoral images of small farms with herds of black-faced sheep grazing on lush grass, canals that channeled into the terrain before disappearing into the woods, and a few dairy cows shaded by a lone pasture tree.

Hertfordshire

Locals pronounce this city 30 miles north of London as "Hartfordshire." It's home to the Grove, in the former domain of the 1st Earl of Clarendon.

During the 19th century, Queen Victoria, Edward VII and the elite of British society escaped London for lavish "weekending" parties at the estate.

A driveway, flanked on both sides by a meticulously groomed 18-hole golf course, leads to an imposing mansion on the 300-acre resort. The 1753 home underwent a multimillion-dollar restoration between 1996 and 2003, when it was converted to a hotel with 26 individually designed guest rooms. In the adjoining wing are 221 rooms and suites. Also added was an elegant spa, three restaurants and the golf course that played host to the American Express Championship in 2006 won by Tiger Woods.

The modern amenities in the restored mansion where I stayed offered everything one would expect, including a plasma TV. But the ancient manor retained vestiges of a bygone era.

The small elevator from the lobby to the third floor opened to a dark angled corridor eerily draped in black velvet curtains on one wall while dimly lit modern artworks lined the other. The drapes muffled all sound except for my breathing. Could the Phantom of the Opera be lurking behind the black drapes, or was my imagination being theatrical?

I took a calming and leisurely stroll through the estate's formal gardens on my way to the resort's Glasshouse for luncheon. The Glasshouse is a two-tiered culinary theater where guests can watch as chefs put on a flaming cooking show, rapidly preparing British, Mediterranean and Asian dishes, which are served buffet-style. Then there was time for an unhurried round of golf, followed by an indulgent facial at the resort's Sequoia spa.

Oxford

The second leg of my itinerary began with a 45-minute rail trip to Oxford.

Great Milton, a small town a few miles away, is the domain of French chef Raymond Blanc, owner of Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons hotel, its restaurant and cookery school.

At the head of Le Manoir's gated driveway is a grand 15th-century Jacobean-style country manor with ivy-clad, honey-colored stone exteriors and mullioned windows. The adjacent Conservatory restaurant overlooks a flawlessly green croquet lawn, and beyond, a 2-acre vegetable garden.

Centuries-old small buildings with gabled roofs and round arched arcades have been converted into 31 elegant guest residences, secluded amid arbors, walled gardens and manicured lawns.

In this timeless setting, Blanc, one of the most revered chefs in Britain, designed a modern kitchen adjacent to his primary culinary facility for use as a cookery school. He and his top chefs mentor recreational cooking classes as well as a professional training center for aspiring chefs using only Blanc's techniques and his personal recipes.

Blanc, a boyish-looking, trim Frenchman of modest height in his mid-50s, is a striking figure in his dazzling white chef's jacket.

Le Manoir's premier distinction is its restaurant, which Blanc commands. He invited me for a behind-the-scenes tour of the kitchen, where 15 to 20 chefs and cooks were busy prepping for the evening's dinner guests.

Blanc intently watched his culinary staff's techniques, stopping here and there to check the ingredients and produce, then led me into the bakery. There, he pressed his nose against a loaf of fresh-baked rye bread, smelling deeply with great satisfaction, and then offered it to me to concur. Then off he went, with a faint sheen of wheat flour dusting the tip of his nose.

My dinner of pan-fried Cornish sea bass, seared scallops with cauliflower puree, chestnuts and wild mushrooms confirmed Michelin's "sublime cuisine," comment awarding the restaurant two stars for the past 18 years.

At 8:45 a.m. the next day, my cooking class of eight women and three men, all from the Greater London area, except me, the sole American, convened.

We picked up our 45-page Raymond Blanc Cookery School instruction manual, put on our monogrammed aprons, and were assigned with a partner to a cooking station.

Chef Vladimir Niza, a senior tutor, greeted us warmly. What followed was a festive eight-hour August Dinner Party session to learn French home-cooking and produce a delicious and simple meal.

We began by making fresh pasta for ravioli stuffed with mushrooms, shallots, roasted pine nuts and sage butter. To persuade the pasta to come out in 2-foot-long, 3-inch sheets required dexterity, timing and hand-eye coordination. Our individual pasta-making antics had all the ingredients for an off-Broadway comedy act. Who said cooking isn't fun?

We cooked our way through the curriculum: making brown chicken stock, casserole of beef in red wine, pumpkin soup, fricassee of wild mushrooms and four desserts: Tarte Tatin (apple, caramel pastry); Apple Tart "Maman Blanc," thin apple tart with crème patissiere; Plum Crumble; and a precisely timed Grand Marnier soufflé.

Before we sat down to our feast, Niza addressed the class: "Time is one of the most precious things in a chef's repertoire. Your guests have high expectations that their meal will be delicious, beautifully prepared and served in a timely manner. Keep your eye on the clock, pursue your culinary efforts with passion, and in time you will become successful."

London

A few hours later, dusk had settled over Le Manoir as my taxi sped toward the railroad station for the 6:15 train to London's Victoria Station and the Halkin hotel.

This boutique hotel on a quiet street in the exclusive Belgravia district was in sharp contrast to the two grand manor estates.

It is a 21st-century hotel of contemporary Italian design with Oriental influences. The 41 chic, modern-edged rooms and suites are generous in size with art deco accents and custom furnishings. Huge all-marble bathrooms have a separate walk-in shower.

Also in the hotel is Nahm, the only Michelin-starred, pure Thai restaurant in London. I had planned my visit to take a cooking class with David Thompson, the celebrated chef/founder of Nahm. Unfortunately, Thompson was called out of town and I missed the rescheduled cooking class.

Instead, I dined at his restaurant and chatted with head chef Matthew Albert about the precision of Thai cooking, where most of the ingredients are added at the last minute to keep them fresh and vibrant.

Albert described my choice of eight tasting dishes of assorted curries, stir-fries, sweet scallops, prawns with a bite and aromatic rice perfectly: "Eating Thai food is an excursion through a series of flavors and textures that flows around a sea of exotic tastes between layers of heat from fiery hot to mild, to sweet and tangy, soft and crisp, crunchy, sugary and salty."

Greenwich

The next morning, the train departed Victoria Station at 9:20 for the short ride to Greenwich, a place that really is all about time. Greenwich, on the south bank of the Thames River, is home to the prime meridian, at 0 degrees longitude.

The Borough of Greenwich is great for walking, casual dining and visiting friendly pubs. Its 17th- and 18th-century buildings and museums display a historical collection of the British Empire's most illustrious scientific, military and artistic endeavors.

Setting out from Devonport House, an unpretentious hotel in the heart of this World Heritage Site, I headed toward the Royal Naval Observatory, atop the summit of Greenwich Park.

The observatory, established in 1675 by King Charles II, contains many exhibits relating to the measurement of time as well as seafaring, navigation and astronomy. Its original mission was to find a way for sailors at sea to determine longitude. Unlike latitude, which uses the equator as a starting position, there is no similar starting position for longitude.

In 1735, John Harrison (1693-1776) completed the first chronometer that would remain accurate regardless of weather and the pitching and rolling of a ship at sea. He altered and perfected several chronometers for most of the rest of his life.

Eventually, all the world's chronometers would be set to Greenwich Mean Time for navigational purposes. You can see versions of Harrison's chronometers at the observatory and marvel at his genius and the intricacy of his timing device.

In the courtyard outside of the observatory, brass strips set in the ground mark the exact site of the 0 line of the prime meridian. This is a tourist photo opportunity because it is possible to stand astride the line that divides the Eastern and Western hemispheres of the Earth, with a foot in each hemisphere.

To take a break from walking, I headed down to Canary Wharf, where cruise ferries ply up and down the Thames through the London Bridge on 1 1/2-hour sightseeing excursions.

Late in the afternoon, as I turned a corner between 17th- and 18th-century buildings, I was caught up sharply by the sight of a hundred or more people milling about — dressed in British Colonial apparel. The men were bewigged or ponytailed, in three-cornered cocked hats, knee breeches and shoe buckles, the women in long Watteau gowns with petticoats and aprons.

Some were cooking with huge kettles hanging over open fires while carriages drawn by black horses pranced up and down the street and squads of redcoated soldiers marched by.

When I crossed the prime meridian at the observatory was I transported back in time? A hand tugged on my shoulder and a voice said, "Sorry mate, this place is restricted. Can't you see we're rehearsing for a movie? ... Now please move along and get behind that yellow tape."

For a while, some 18th- century characters had come back to life and I had walked in on the scene. History, buildings and cooking do transcend time, don't they?

IF YOU GO

Getting there

Delta, United, Air France, British Airways and Northwest airlines fly to London from Atlanta; expect to pay about $850-$900 round trip.

A British Rail FlexiPass is about $349; www.britrail.com.

Where to stay

• The Grove, Chandler's Cross, Hertfordshire, WD3 4TG. Rates from $500 per night, including breakfast. 011-44(0)1923807807, www.thegrove.co.uk.

• Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons, Church Road, Great Milton, Oxford, OX44 7PD.

Room rates from $800. The five-course Les Classiques du Manoir dinner is about $192. The Learn to Cook in One Day course is $500. For other cookery classes, including classes with accommodations, check www.manoir.co.uk.

• Halkin hotel, Halkin Street, London, SW1X 7DJ. Room rates from $550 per night. Nahm cooking classes 9 a.m.-2 p.m. start from about $270 per person, including the lunch that guests prepare and eat. 1-800-745-8883, halkin.como.bz and www.nahm.como.bz.

• Devonport House Hotel, De Vere Venues, King William Walk, Greenwich, SE10 9JW, is ideally located in the heart of the Greenwich World Heritage Site. Rates from about $150. 011-44(0)1844 278881 or e-mail devonport

@deverevenues.co.uk.

About the movie

"The Duchess," a movie scheduled for TV this year, was being filmed in Greenwich. It stars Keira Knightley as the 18th-century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Information

For more about the United Kingdom: www.visitbritain.com.

For more about Greenwich: www.greenwich.gov.uk.

E-mail Larry Mayran at lmayran@chateauelan.com.