I’m staring at a wooden butcher’s block, wondering whether the drops of blood on it are mine as the man at the front of the room barks “now slide your knife under its knee cap...”

This is not an evening class for the faint-hearted.

As the sort of cook who relies on electric mixers and uses a knife for little more than slicing bread, the last hour has been a steep learning curve for me and my blade.

I am amongst a growing number of foodies keen to learn the art of butchery at Aubrey Allen’s shop in Leamington Spa.

The butchers is used to supplying meat to some of Britain’s top chefs, including Jamie Oliver, Heston Blumenthal and Raymond Blanc. The Queen is also rumoured to enjoy its sausages.

But now it is passing on some of its skills to amateur cooks, and there is certainly an increasing number of foodies hungry to learn some kitchen knife skills.

So far, I’ve jointed a free-range chicken, severing the wings and the legs and cutting the breasts clean from the bones.

From a single bird I’ve proudly created five dishes (two chicken supremes using the breasts, a stuffed ballantine using a de-boned leg and a jambonette from another, while the carcass is being cooked to make a stock).

But things got serious when our dissected chickens were replaced with a whopping 7lb leg of lamb.

Under instructions, I slice off a lamb shank, before hacking out a chunky, deep red lamb steak and three medallions, leaving me with a hefty hunk of bloody leg and a large femur bone to remove.

“You want to snip that bit of cartilage” nods the man next to me as I watch Martin Crombie, master craftsman butcher, swiftly slicing through the meat like butter.

There are nine of us around the table, each gripping a freshly-sharpened knife and eagerly aping the experts.

Paying nearly £100 to spend an evening grappling with pieces of raw flesh may not be everybody’s cup of tea but my fellow beginner butchers are genuinely having the time of their lives.

Aged between 30 and 70, most of the pupils have come with their partners but three of us have braved the butchery class alone, and within the first 10 minutes we’re all sharing tools and laughing at each other’s efforts.

Starting at 6pm with a knife-sharpening workshop, the class goes on until 9.30pm when we tuck into a well deserved supper and generous servings of wine.

Started by Aubrey in 1933, the business has been run by Russell Allen for the last two years, with father Peter Allen now taking on the role of chairman.

While Martin leads the evening, supported by Russell and charismatic shop manager Simon Kelly, head honcho Peter – standing out in a light grey suit, next to our striped butchers aprons – oversees the first butchery class with equal portions of passion and pride.

He encourages us to “feel the meat”, and has a fact, philosophy or anecdote for every cut.

“Sausage is the food of emperors,” he says as we make our way to the mincer with a plate of pork.

“But the sausages would only last for a month and the emperors wanted them all the time, so they created salami,” he smiles.

Jan Craven of Southam, who joined the course with her husband Mike, said: “This is the best money I have ever spent. My husband bought me this as my birthday present and I bought it as a birthday present for him in return.

“I’ve met all these people tonight but I feel like they’re my long lost friends.”

Design manager Matt Sargent, aged 33, from Leamington, has come to the class while his wife stays at home with their four-month-old baby.

He says: “As soon as I heard about the course I knew it was right up my alley. You can see these guys are real professionals and I just wanted to glean a tiny bit of their know-how and go home and impress my wife.”

I can’t begin to calculate the value of this treasure trove but we’re sent home with four prepared chicken dishes (which can each feed two), three lamb dishes (serving between one and two), a bundle of sausages and the evening’s showstopper, the butterflied leg of lamb, which is marinating in olive oil, black pepper, finely diced red pepper, thyme, lemon juice and zest, and will feed four at the most impressive barbecue any of us has ever thrown.

We will eat like kings for the next fortnight. And with our newfound skills the feasting will last long beyond that.