When it comes to talent spotting, Mike Hurst has a track record to make Simon Cowell look decidedly second rate. Mike can claim to have discovered Cat Stevens and Marc Bolan, having also in his time performed alongside Dusty Springfield and guitar greats Jimmy Page and Albert Lee.

Happily, after a career stretching almost half a century, Mike - who has produced 52 hit singles and 25 platinum albums - is still in the business of making rock n' roll dreams come true. Only these days he concentrates his efforts on a plush hotel in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside, rather than record studios and sweaty blues clubs.

And the fantasies now belong to middle-aged business types, accountants and housewives, not young guns out to change the world.

Mike has created the Rockmaster Weekends for those of us who share his rock n' roll soul, but simply never had the talent - or perhaps just did not get that lucky break.

It is not so much a rock school as an invitation to every frustrated would-be musician to live their dream. Whether they can play or not, it offers with like-minded people the chance to don those shades, leather trousers and strap on a guitar, all in the privacy of the Fallowlands country hotel, near Kingston Bagpuize.

Best of all, your attempts to recreate Stairway To Heaven will not result in you being barracked, not least because you will be up there with a band, whose members have seen it all and could make Bob Dylan on a bad night sound polished.

Over the weekend, every air guitarist or would-be Aretha Franklin can put him or herself in the capable hands of musicians, who will offer one-to-one tuition. Then after a hearty dinner and plenty of wine, will act as your backing band when you take to the stage.

The message that screams out is that it is never too late to join together with the band. And the first Rockmasters pupils gathering at Kingston Bagpuize for the first in a series of planned events certainly were a varied bunch.

There was no one even close to Steve Coogan's latest comic creation, the bearded ex-roadie Tommy Saxondale. Instead, Lucinda, an attractive blonde in the tightest of jeans and leather boots, could easily have been taken as an X Factor contender, as she strode to the microphone to sing James Taylor's You've Got A Friend. She is in fact a sheep farmer, but then, of course, so is Paul McCartney.

Enjoying a pre-dinner gin, I found 47 year-old Tim Brassey from Reading, who works for Microsoft. He had never picked up a guitar, but is a Glastonbury Festival veteran.

Most pupils - with the exception of a 15-year-old guitarist who had turned up with his mum and dad - were of an age to fully appreciate the weekend's special guest, Peter Sarstedt.

At the height of his fame, he had walked away from superstardom that others so desperately crave.

"I guess I shied away from the idea of becoming a star, rather than just making music," he told me over dinner. "I took it too personally. I am just happy to be here to share my experiences."

Now with a neatly cut grey beard, he performed Where Do You Go To My Lovely? and Frozen Orange Juice to everyone's delight.

A woman from Henley, who I dare say in her time had been given a racehorse for Christmas and kept it just for fun, explained that she learnt about Rockmasters through a friend's son. It grew from a five-day residential course held at Stowe School, for bands and beginners aged from 13 to 18.

Mike explained: "A lot of parents came up to me and said, This is wasted on kids. You should be doing something like this for adults.' I just thought what a great idea."

He says it has struck a chord with companies looking for a different kind of corporate away trip and for musical family breaks, friends' reunions and even those toying with the idea of following the trend set by the likes of The Police and Eagles of getting the band back together.

But for the serious music buff, the real joy of the weekend is hanging out and listening to the house band that Mike had put together.

Ray Fenwick has played lead guitar with the Spencer Davis Group and Ian Gillan Band, while Colin Farley was bass player with the Cutting Crew.

As for ex-Tornados drummer, Clem Cattini, he has played on no fewer than 45 number one hit singles, including such classics as Telstar, Shaking All Over (Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, Make It Easy On Yourself (The Walker Brothers), Everlasting Love (The Love Affair and Hot Love (T Rex).

It is enough to make you even forgive his part in Clive Dunn's Grandad and Two Little Boys by Rolf Harris.

Taking a break from his teaching, he chatted about how it is never too late to grab those drumsticks. But sometimes, you can miss your moment, it would seem, as he cheerfully recalled how in the late 1960s he had been invited to have lunch with Peter Grant, who at the time was working on an interesting project with the ex-Yardbird Jimmy Page. Unfortunately, playing commitments meant he had to decline.

Years later, when he met up with Grant, manager of Led Zeppelin, Clem was to learn just how close he was to being offered a place in the world's biggest band in-the-making, before Jimmy met Bonzo.

As Clem took his place behind a kit to play an old Dusty Springfield number, with Mike Hurst on vocals and guitar, you noticed even the waitresses in the dining room of the Fallowfields had stopped work to listen. Who would want to follow that?

With Mike Hurst gently urging some of his budding Rockmasters to join in, the only teenager there confidently strode up to join the veterans in a blistering performance of Crossroads.

After that there was a rush for the stage. They would be at it long into the early hours. For Tim from Microsoft and the sexy sheep farmer, not so much for one night only, as once in a lifetime.

n www.rockmasters.net