River Cottage is a brand used for a number of ventures by television chefHugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. These include a long-running Channel 4 television series, cookery courses, events, restaurants and products such as beer and organic yogurts.
There is a River Cottage Kitchen restaurant championing organic and local food near Axminster. River Cottage HQ is a 100-acre farm on the Devon/Dorset border that follows the farm-to-fork ethos through its various endeavours. Among other things these include: cookery, gardening and craft courses, long table dining feasts in the 18th-century threshing barn and the 17th-century farmhouse which appeared in many of the later TV shows has recently been renovated to now host guests on a B&B and whole house rental basis. As well as this, River Cottage HQ holds many private events including parties, meetings and weddings.
Television series
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
The first TV series, Escape to River Cottage, was shown on Channel 4. In this show, Fearnley-Whittingstall left London to pursue an ambition of self-sufficiency, growing his own vegetables and raising his own animals at a gamekeeper's cottage near Netherbury in Dorset. The series had six episodes and first aired in March and April 1999.[1] It was followed by Return to River Cottage in 2000.[2] and River Cottage Forever in 2001, in which viewers followed Fearnley-Whittingstall's further adventures as a downsized smallholder.[3]
In 2004, the River Cottage brand left the original holiday home to follow Fearnley-Whittingstall's progress as he set up a new business from old dairy buildings near Broadoak, Bridport, Dorset in the series Beyond River Cottage.[4] An additional series, The View from River Cottage, was a combination clip show and retrospective of the previous series.[5]
In 2006, moved to the Park Farm location near to Uplyme in Devon. Here at the new River Cottage HQ, the team would film the 2006 series The River Cottage Treatment where Fearnley-Whittingstall would attempt to convert junk food lovers' eating habits.[7]
The 2007 series, River Cottage: Gone Fishing,[8] saw Fearnley-Whittingstall travel to fishing locations throughout the British Isles in order to promote the culinary benefits of sustainable fishing cultures.
In 2008, Channel 4 began broadcasting River Cottage Spring,[9] later followed up by River Cottage Autumn,[10] which shows Fearnley-Whittingstall using home-grown produce in recipes. The series also tracks a group of families in Bristol who attempt to convert a large bramble patch into a small-holding, now known as Bramble Farm,[11] growing vegetables, and rearing meat.[12] A four-episode series River Cottage: Summer's Here began airing in June 2009.[13]
November 2009 saw the broadcasting of a new series titled River Cottage: Winter's on the Way, following Fearnley-Whittingstall as he grows, forages and cooks winter treats.[14]
In 2010, a new series titled River Cottage Every Day was released, each episode concerning the specific topics of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, breakfast, lunch, bread and treats.[15]
During the year 2011 Fearnley-Whittingstall released the series River Cottage Veg, documenting his experiences of giving up meat whilst learning about different vegetarian cooking styles.[16]
In July 2012, a new three-part series began on Channel 4, titled River Cottage: Three Go Mad.[17] Fearnley-Whittingstall was joined at Park Farm by three celebrities, who wished to increase their knowledge on where their food comes from, and how it gets from farm and sea to plate.
In June 2022, a new four-part series titled River Cottage Reunited will premiere on More4.[18]
River Cottage Australia is an Australian adaptation of the series. It sees former chef Paul West showcase local produce and farming while attempting to live in a self-sufficient manner. The series premiered in 2013 on The LifeStyle Channel and ran for two seasons before moving to The LifeStyle Channel's sister network LifeStyle Food in 2015.[citation needed]
DVD releases
Escape to River Cottage DVD cover
DVD Name
Released
Audio
Aspect Ratio
Duration
Number of Episodes
Num of Discs
Escape To River Cottage
08/09/2003
Dolby Digital 2.0
4:3 Full Frame
2 hours 48 minutes
6
2
Return To River Cottage
19 April 2004
Dolby Digital 2.0
16:9 Anamorphic
2 hours 28 minutes
6
2
River Cottage Forever
11/10/2004
Dolby Digital 2.0
16:9 Anamorphic
3 hours 42 minutes
8
2
Beyond River Cottage
17 October 2005
Dolby Digital 2.0
16:9 Anamorphic
4 hours 40 minutes
10
3
River Cottage Road Trip
02/10/2006
Dolby Digital 2.0
16:9 Anamorphic
2 hours 5 minutes
2
1
River Cottage: Gone Fishing!
03/12/2007
Dolby Digital 2.0
16:9 Anamorphic
2 hours 22 minutes
3
1
River Cottage: Spring
27 October 2008
Dolby Digital 2.0
16:9 Anamorphic
3 hours 7 minutes
4
1
River Cottage: Autumn
12/10/2009
Dolby Digital 2.0
16:9 Anamorphic
3 hours 11 minutes
4
1
River Cottage: Summer's Here
01/08/2011
Dolby Digital 2.0
16:9 Anamorphic
3 hours 5 minutes
4
1
River Cottage: Winter's on the Way
17 October 2011
Dolby Digital 2.0
16:9 Anamorphic
3 hours 12 minutes
4
1
These DVDs are distributed by Channel 4 DVD.
Books
A number of books have been produced to tie in with the series including:[citation needed]
The River Cottage Cookbook
River Cottage Year
River Cottage Meat Book
River Cottage Family Cookbook
River Cottage Fish Book
River Cottage Every Day
River Cottage Veg Every Day
River Cottage Fruit Every Day
River Cottage Light & Easy
Locations of TV shows and other ventures
The original River Cottage
The original River Cottage was a former weekend and holiday home, previously a gamekeeper's lodge in the grounds of Slape Manor, Netherbury, Dorset.[19] This was used as the location for series 1-3 of the TV show.[20]
River Cottage HQ
The original River Cottage HQ (RCHQ) was near Broadoak, Bridport in Dorset and was home to the fourth TV series, Beyond River Cottage, which was based around the new project to develop the rural education centre in some old dairy buildings.[19]
The RCHQ ran courses and activities celebrating and teaching the skills and values that Whittingstall learned in his five years as a Dorset smallholder. It focused in particular upon cooking in tune with the seasons, small scale local food production, and adding value to home grown produce for taking to local markets. The courses and events were hosted by different members of the River Cottage team, including some from the television series including Ray Smith (a freelance butcher) and Michael Michaud an organicpolytunnel expert. [citation needed]
In September 2006 River Cottage HQ moved to a new, larger, location.[19]
River Cottage HQ (Park Farm)
The River Cottage HQ kitchen garden and farmhouse.
In 2006, the show moved to a new location, also called River Cottage HQ, near the village of Musbury in East Devon.[19] Cradled in the Axe Valley on the Devon/Dorset border, the second River Cottage HQ (known as Park Farm) is a 17th-century farmhouse, converted barns and 66 acres (270,000m2) of land.
River Cottage HQ provides dining experiences in the 18th-century threshing barn; cookery, craft and gardening courses covering a wide variety of topics including bee-keeping, breadmaking, cheese-making, curing meat and foraging; accommodation for guests to stay in the 17th-century farmhouse on a B&B or exclusive use basis following its renovation in early 2019; and hosts a number of private events each year including parties, meetings and weddings. [21]
In early February 2012, River Cottage's events barn was largely destroyed by a fire.[22] It has since been rebuilt.[23]
Other business ventures
River Cottage Canteen & Deli in Trinity Square, Axminster, 2013
In 2007 the River Cottage team opened the River Cottage local produce store & canteen,[24] a local produce shop and informal restaurant in Trinity Square, Axminster, in a building that formerly housed the town's ballroom.[25] In September 2010 a deli counter was introduced and this venue was renamed the River Cottage Canteen & Deli.[26]
In April 2009, a second Canteen was opened in Bath at a city-centre comedy venue called Komedia.[27] In 2011 this canteen was sold back to Komedia and although it continued to trade as a canteen it stopped using the River Cottage branding.[28] Shortly after this, in November 2011, another River Cottage Canteen and Deli was opened in Plymouth, in the historic Royal William Yard. In March 2013, a third canteen was opened in Bristol[29] and a fourth canteen opened in Winchester in September 2014.[30] These three restaurants have now all closed: Plymouth in May 2017,[31] Bristol in March 2020[32] and Winchester in July 2020.[33]
Some time between 2014 and 2017 the River Cottage Canteen & Deli name was rebranded to River Cottage Kitchen & Deli.[34] The Kitchen & Deli in Axminster town centre closed permanently in February 2022 and a new Kitchen & Store was opened near Axminster at Park Farm, the River Cottage HQ, in April 2022.[35]
Related Research Articles
Axminster is a market town and civil parish on the eastern border of the county of Devon in England. It is 28 miles (45 km) from the county town of Exeter. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe which heads towards the English Channel at Axmouth, and is in the East Devon local government district. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 5,626, increasing to 5,761 at the 2011 census. The town contains two electoral wards whose combined population is 7,110. The market is still held every Thursday.
The River Axe is a 22-mile (35 km) long river in the counties of Dorset, Somerset and Devon, in the south-west of England. It rises in Dorset and flows south to Lyme Bay which it enters through the Axe Estuary in Devon. It is a shallow, non-navigable river, although its mouth at Seaton has some boating activity. The name Axe derives from a Common Brittonic word meaning "abounding in fish", and is cognate with pysg, the Welsh word for fish.
Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, 2 miles (3.2 km) inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and within the town's boundary is West Bay, a small fishing harbour also known as Bridport Harbour.
Hugh Christopher Edmund Fearnley-Whittingstall is an English celebrity chef, television personality, journalist, food writer, and campaigner on food and environmental issues.
Escape to River Cottage is the first River Cottage television series in which celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall takes over a Dorset cottage and sets out to achieve a form of rural self-sufficiency.
River Cottage Forever is the third in the "River Cottage" Channel 4 series franchise, following on from Escape to River Cottage and Return to River Cottage in which chef and journalist Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall de-camped from the rat-race of city living to move to the rolling hills of the Dorset countryside, which provided the perfect backdrop for his experiment to live off the fat of the land in as self-sufficient a style as possible, tucked away at the bottom of one of the Dorset valleys is the ideal home: River Cottage.
Return to River Cottage is the second series of the Channel 4 programme that follows Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall during his second year of living in the country at River Cottage, Dorset after leaving the city behind. The preceding series was Escape to River Cottage.
Langleybury is a country house and estate in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) northwest of the centre of the town of Watford. The house stands on a low hill above the valley of the River Gade.
Hawkchurch is a village and civil parish in Devon, England, 3 miles (5 km) north east of Axminster on the border of Devon and Dorset, and about 6 miles (10 km) south of Somerset. It is 4 miles (6 km) north of the tourist and fishing town of Lyme Regis.
Dalwood is a village and county parish in the East Devon district of the English county of Devon. It is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) away from the nearest town, Axminster, and 5 miles (8.0 km) away from Honiton. Dalwood can be accessed by the nearby A35 road. The village is placed within the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Along with the nearby village of Stockland, until 1842 the village was a part of an outlier of the county of Dorset.
Hugh's Chicken Run is a programme as part of Channel 4's 'Food Fight' series in which celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall launched the campaign to encourage more consumers to demand free range chicken. Fearnley-Whittingstall was joined on the campaign by fellow celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, who chose to highlight the issues in the more graphic Jamie's Fowl Dinners.
Thomasina Jean Miers, OBE is an English cook, writer and television presenter. She is the co-founder of the Wahaca chain of Mexican street food restaurants.
Beyond River Cottage is the fourth series of the Channel 4 programme that follows Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall as he pursues the ideal of rural self-sufficiency as a farm-owner in Dorset.
River Cottage Spring is a Channel 4 programme that follows Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at his Dorset home and teaching school River Cottage throughout the spring of 2008, harvesting crops, cooking organic food, teaching families to be smallholders and challenging Tesco against the source its chicken products.
The cuisine of Devon in England has influenced, and been influenced, by other British cuisine. Its tradition of dairy farming has resulted in several dishes, some of which have made both it and Cornwall famous, such as cream teas and junket. Because Devon is largely a rural county, it likewise has a strong reputation for excellent pasture-raised beef and lamb. Orchard fruits are also important, particularly apples, used both for cider as well as for apple-based desserts. The long coastline supplies the county with a wide variety of fish and seafood.
River Cottage Australia is an Australian adaptation of the English franchise of the same name. The series sees former chef Paul West showcase local produce and farming while attempting to live in a self-sufficient manner. The series premiered on 27 June 2013 on The LifeStyle Channel and ran for two seasons before moving to The LifeStyle Channel's sister network LifeStyle Food in 2015 where it aired a further two seasons.
River Cottage: Gone Fishing is a Channel 4 programme that follows Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall as he explores more sustainable fishing methods in the Channel Islands, Scotland and back in the West Country. Fearnley-Whittingstall's aim was to get people to eat greater varieties of fish and shellfish.
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