The yard and the yurt at River Cottage HQ

It's been a while since my mad day trip to River Cottage HQ in Devon - and yes, it was a long day - I'm not sure why but I haven't shared more of my photos, but I will today. There's still more to show from the garden, but first I want to start with some from the yard and of the yurt. 

We arrived in the yard by tractor, well in the trailer behind the tractor and it was quite a bumpy ride. And quite a descent. The ride back up later that evening after all the delicious food was equally as bumpy, and nowhere near as welcome, although I wasn't so keen on walking back either.

It's fair to say I was quite excited about my trip to River Cottage as I'm quite a big Hugh F-W fan and have several of his cookbooks and approve of his campaigns.  So arriving in the yard was a bit of a thing, but it wasn't quite how I expected it to be.  I'd seen the garden, and the kitchen in the TV shows so was surprised to find myself looking at these:

And I was intrigued. Clearly part of an old building but full of character and for me adding to the charm of the place. The zinc trough caught my eye and I'd quite happily have taken it home with me, maybe the tractor would come in handy after all?! It was planted up with fennel and wallflowers and while it's not a combination I'd have thought of, it's one I can imagine working well as both grow to similar heights.

My visit was in November - I know, where has the time gone? - so the wallflowers had a little more growing to do before they flowered, but I'm curious to know what colours they were. Yellow would echo the fennel flowers, but the reddy browns would be a great contrast. Ah well, I guess I'll never know.

As I explored the yard I did catch a quick glimpse of the garden and I was oh so tempted to sneak off and explore it on my own. But I thought that would be slightly rude and so for now, it was just this peek.

I rejoined the others back in the barn, still looking wistfully over at the garden. The lights momentarily caught my eye, and then there was the food demonstration, and only after that was I set free into the garden and able to wander around the farmhouse. 

The garden was everything I hoped it would be, but I'm teasing you now as I've still some more photos of the yard, and of the yurt to show you. There was evidence all around that it's very much a working farm, not just the axe and pile of logs, but also the chefs who were hurriedly rushing around cooking my dinner!  All produce, if not grown at River Cottage, is sourced locally as you'd expect.

I'm saying nothing, but there's no guarantee that the photo above and the one below aren't related.

Despite that innocent face, and cheeky tongue. And yes, it's a one-eyed cat.

Elsewhere on the farm, and on the other side of the barn was the yurt, which was totally unexpected and lovely and warm. The fire in the centre of the tent saw to that.

With straw bales around the edge it was a great place to sit down and chat to the other bloggers there that day. Some of whom I knew from online, some I'd met in real life before and others that were friends in the making.

Bunting decorated the edges, and I was reminded then and am again now, that I'm seriously lacking in the bunting department.

I keep promising myself that I'll make some - I have one string, which, sssh!, I bought and don't put up often enough - and with our party in the garden getting ever closer, then I really should move them up my sewing to do list.

There was nothing at River Cottage HQ that changed my view of the whole set-up, the only thing that would have made it better would have been for Hugh himself to be in attendance. And you can bet that if that had happened, you'd have already known about it!

One last photo before I go, and it's another teasing shot of the garden. This time from the farmhouse kitchen window, and it looks just as it does on the TV. That's all the teasing I'm doing for now, I'll share photos from the garden in a future post, and I promise it'll be soon.

But in the meantime, let me know if you're a Hugh fan, and if you've a favourite recipe - or campaign - that you're a fan of.

* With thanks to River Cottage and Flea Enterprises for the invitation and arrangements for my visit.

A feast at River Cottage

Today is the post lots of you have been waiting for, the food, or our feast at River Cottage, and it was pretty special. And true to form I didn't manage to photograph all of the food I tried because I was too busy thinking about eating it - no surprise there. But I did do way better than I normally do, as I knew you'd want to know.

But before the food there was a cookery demonstration from Andy on brining. It's the sort of thing you hear a lot of at this time of year as often recipes say to brine the turkey. Well it's something I've never done, and if I'm honest I probably won't ever do, but it is a way of making meat juicier. And it kind of makes sense. Meat loses liquid during cooking, so if it has more liquid to start with then it's going to be juicier after cooking.  The chicken we tried tasted good, but I think any chicken I ate at River Cottage HQ would taste good, or I'd expect it to anyway.

The thing that I am tempted to try at home is making my own bresaola. Yes, I know that's quite a leap isn't it? Not interested in brining turkey, but very interested in soaking a piece of red meat in red wine for a few days. Maybe it's because I can see the point of this and the bresaola is done after the soaking and drying, and maybe it's because I'm a lazy foodie. You know, happy to eat all the fancy food, but less happy to do all the fancy-ness at home and preferring simple, straightforward cookery. 

I've yet to hunt down the River Cottage bresaola recipe, but I'm sure it must be in *one* of the HFW cookbooks I have.  And I thoroughly enjoyed the brining demonstration, and of course tasting the results. Ahem, sorry for the lack of pictures, but look at how rustically pretty the dining table was set. 

So with the dining table set and once the hungry-for-more-good-food bloggers had worked out the table plan, the main event could start. Well when I say the main event, I mean the appetisers, and the one I remembered to photograph, which was crispy rabbit served on a puree of romanesco and utterly gorgeous. It's not the sort of thing I'd usually order, not that I'm squeamish about eating rabbit, but it's more MOH's natural choice and it's an unwritten rule to choose different dishes isn't it?

THE ONLY APPETISER THAT I MANAGED TO PHOTOGRAPH, PROBABLY BECAUSE IT WAS SERVED ON A PLATE

Then one of the young chefs from the cookery school appeared to introduce us to the menu, seriously that must have been a scary task, but he left us slightly redder faced than he'd arrived and with full knowledge of what the menu was, and where it was sourced from. And an invite into the kitchen, so not backward in coming forward off I went. Well, I mean, how often will I get to look around a kitchen while it's serving fifty covers. 

I was amused to see some very well used River Cottage cookbooks on the shelf. I have most of these and had my eye on Gill Meller's gather book, but rather than read it in the kitchen I made a mental note to check it out in the shop before I left.  And above the books were a large array of spices, and as you'd imagine in far larger quantities than a domestic kitchen.

WELL WHAT OTHER COOKBOOK WOULD YOU EXPECT TO FIND IN THE RIVER COTTAGE KITCHEN?

AND THAT'S DEFINITELY HOW YOU DO SPICES

It was good to see the team at work - and they were a team - just look at this production line, and as with any good team there was plenty of healthy banter. At this point I decided to let them get on with it and headed back to my seat as I was keen not to miss the starter of celeriac ravioli with wild mushrooms and leaves. 

CELERIAC RAVIOLI WITH WILD MUSHROOMS AND LEAVES

Again it was delicious, the celeriac in the ravioli was super smooth and the stand out of the dish. But again though it's not the usual starter I'd order, I tend to avoid pasta as a starter, so there's room for the courses to come and as for pasta filled with vegetables, well, that's often the reason I'd give it a wide berth. But no more, this was so delicious I'd be tempted to try more of this kind of food, but a warning to restaurants where I might be eating, you've a lot to live up to!

So onto our main. Cider brined ham, carrot puree and fried savoy cabbage. Sounds simple doesn't it. I didn't expect it to look quite this elegant when it arrived in front of me.

RIVER COTTAGE CIDER BRINED HAM, CARROT PUREE, FRIED SAVOY CABBAGE

I was all for tucking in, as for me mains are all about the meat. But I quickly spotted the other food bloggers around me snapping away and I remembered you'd want to know, so I joined in, for a couple of photos at least. The meat was good, soft, sweet, sticky, unctuous, delicious and more filling than it looked. There was a side of braised beans, which were tasty but not so photogenic. For me the cabbage looked pretty, but I was less keen on the charred flavour, although I understand it brought texture to the plate.

As ever when I saw the menu my first thoughts were pudding. I spied creme brulee on the menu, approved and then went back to read the menu in the right order - I don't think I'm the only one that does that, am I?  The creme brulee was honeycomb and the accompaniments had an apple theme, not surprising really given that this is prime time for our home grown apples.  And doesn't it look great? 

HONEYCOMB CREME BRULEE WITH APPLE PUREE AND APPLE CRISPS

And take a closer look, can you smell its sweetness yet? 

A CLOSER LOOK AT THAT PUDDING, IT REALLY WAS AS DELICIOUS AS IT LOOKS

It really was as delicious as it looks. And aren't you proud of me for taking two photos of dessert? I'm proud of myself!

River Cottage run a wide range of cookery courses and I'm sure you'll find one suitable whether you're an amateur cook, food enthusiast or a full-blown smallholder. If you want to learn more about and have hands-on experience of brining meat then the meat curing and smoking course could be the one for you.

* This is a collaborative post, but all views and opinions are my own. 

Inside the barn and farmhouse at River Cottage HQ

I was possibly a little bit too excited by my trip to River Cottage HQ, but I probably wasn't the only one. When I received the invite earlier in the year I knew I'd be going, and I just needed to work out the small matter of logistics. I'm in London, River Cottage HQ is in Devon, that's do-able in a day, right?

Well it turned out it was. A very long day, but do-able. I timed my arrival pretty well arriving just before the parking spaces started to run out and went to wait for my tractor ride down to the farm. I hadn't appreciated beforehand that River Cottage HQ was in a valley, but soon did as our tractor made the slow and steep (and bumpy) descent. 

At the bottom the first stop was the barn and a welcome drink, and a chance to take a look round. I snuck out for a look around while the light was, well not as dark as it could be at this time of year. And because I really couldn't wait any longer. 

I quickly realised I knew very little about what goes on a River Cottage HQ, I mean I knew the bits from the telly-box, and the garden but there's a whole lot more to it than that. 

For example, did you know that you could book a dining experience there? Or that it's the base for their Cookery and Chef's School? Or that they hold cookery courses there which have an emphasis on local, seasonal produce with a nose-to-tail approach. No me neither, but obviously I do now!

I also learnt that Hugh and his team have a pretty space, practice what they preach - and when I say preach, I mean in a non-preachy way, and that they can grow weirder shaped squash and gourds than me. But as you know I'm up for a challenge so maybe next year I'll try and top them in the knobbliest squash league of growing, who knows.

Yes that's the knobbliest squash I was referring to. And look, sweet peas. It was a week into November and there were still sweet peas growing happily. That's what having a farm in a Devon valley does for you.

And having a barn to dry flowers in makes for the prettiest of decorations. 

Over in the farmhouse, which sssshh! don't tell anyone, isn't actually called River Cottage, but Park Farm, there was a lovely homely feel. There were more flowers drying, this time on the windowsill, lots of kitchen paraphernalia which while artfully placed looked like it would actually be used, a lovely warming fire and a rather charming picture of a cockerel. 

Plus The Kitchen. The fireplace is huge, and so is the table. But actually the room didn't feel as big as I imagined it would. Although I imagine with a film crew in, it feels even smaller. 

No sign of Hugh though, which for his sake was probably a good thing.

For me the kitchen was the iconic room and so grinning like a goon I stood behind the table and posed for pictures Hugh-style, but without the carcass of meat that no doubt Hugh would have in his picture.  From the table there was a view out to the garden - more from there another day - and the rain. But to be honest, the rain wasn't going to stop me enjoying myself today.

It was great to get to have a look around the farmhouse, it's a working farm not a tourist attraction and as such you need to book to be welcome. The food we ate back in the barn - that's most likely another post in itself - was delicious, and as I was there with a lot of food bloggers I had lots of reminders to take pictures before digging into my plate.

And yes London to Devon and back to London is just about do-able in a day. It's a long day, but worth it. The weather on the drive home was awful and not even the unfolding American election results on the radio could hold my attention, but to be honest they were competing with mastering a new sport of aqua-planing on the motorway, just as well I had it mostly to myself. 

And if like me you don't manage the four hour drive without a break, then on the way back there's quite a nice well used, but dark layby near Farnham which served me well for a 20 minute nana-nap before I set off on the final leg of my trek home, arriving back just before 3.30am. A long day but one I wouldn't have missed, thanks to River Cottage HQ, Foodies100 and HIBS100 for inviting me.

* This is a collaborative post, but all views and opinions are my own