The course started at 9 on the dot and the first hour was gentle enough, with all of us formally introducing ourselves.

The first presentation was from one of the course tutors, who had run two businesses. One had been a success, which he had sold for a lot of money. The other was not so successful and he had to close down after seven years of trying.

I have attended a lot of talks about how to be an entrepreneur. The approach taken for this talk was completely different. This is one of the best lectures I have heard in what makes a business succeed and how we develop blind spots that stop us seeing where we could and should be doing better.

We then played a team game, which taught us about dealing with a changing market. I will not say any more, as it will spoil the game if you ever play it.

Lunch was a casual affair, sitting on the patio in the sun. The main courses were all barbequed outside. The very rare steak was beautiful.

A coach from AXA who specialises in training executives ran our afternoon session. Prior to attending the course we had to fill in a lengthy questionnaire about our leadership style. I hate these things and was relieved to hear that the analysis of our results had been lost in the post.

Our coach spent the afternoon teaching us about different types of leader. Each leadership style was given a colour. I was convinced I was a yellow.

Unfortunately at teatime a big box containing our personal results magically arrived. I was upset to find out I had been classified as a red. I was sure it was a mistake. When I read the in-depth analysis though, it was surprisingly 90% correct.

I am amazed at how well planned out the château is. Everything has been set out to encourage people to network and interact. For example the dinner tables only seat a small number of people. This means you can all talk as a group and do not need to spend all night talking to the people either side of you because you do not want to shout across the table.

Dinner was superb. Tonight it was medallions of beef.

Listening to everyone else talk about their businesses, and what they have done, where they have come from and where they hope to go, is fascinating. I had to drag myself away from the conversation at 2am.