The garden at River Cottage HQ

Today we are finally going to look around the garden at River Cottage HQ, and although it actually took place and I was actually there in November I'm still excited to share these pictures today. This post has been a little longer coming than I anticipated, even from when I showed you around the yard and the yurt recently, but well Easter came between us, and I'm sure you were busy too...

After that quick glimpse that I told you about before I finally made it into the garden, and it was just as good as I'd hoped it would be. Heading past the small shed-cum-outbuilding I paused to consider the slate plant markers and terracotta pots. Artfully arranged or left somewhere handy to grab when you need them, I'd like to think the latter, but who knows?

It was November when I visited and I quickly had severe brassica envy, which isn't as painful as it sounds. And as well as an array of brassicas, they were all growing in orderly, neat lines and you'll know that this is one of my long held desires and probably something I won't ever quite manage, but I can but try.  My rows always end up a little wonky, and patchy.  But, if I could do it, wouldn't it look great?

There were still plenty of herbs around and the acid greeny-yellow flowers of the dill really did add some zing to the garden, especially against the gravel paths.

As I reached the centre of the garden I looked back and caught a glimpse of the farm house, the one we're all familiar with from the television - and I rather like it appearing through the kale and cavolo nero like it is.

At the end of the garden - and it's not as long as you think it would be, it's wide, but look at how wide the farmhouse is - the trees foliage was turning yellow, and I'm sure it looked much more dramatic than this at the time.

Amazingly the sweet peas were still in flower. In November. That's quite something, and I expect is partly to do with succession sowing but also because the farm is in a valley and like many other south-western gardens benefit from its own micro-climate. But with sweet peas this late in the year, what's not to like?

The asparagus was done though and its leaves were turning yellow, and it looked good against the purple viburnum, which is a plant I'm adding to my garden wish list.  This driftwood heart on one of the walls summed up my thoughts on the garden, and it was great to be there in person.

The nasturtiums were plentiful, in containers and in the borders. I grew them last year on the allotment amongst the squash and courgettes and it brought some colour to my plot. The good thing about nasturtiums is that they grew pretty much anywhere, and like poor conditions (so that's good!) but be prepared for them to come back year after year, as it's hard to remove all of the seeds. But not a bad problem to have.

The feverfew looked pretty too. Yeap, another plant for my wishlist...

There was another part of the garden that reminded me of our allotment too, and that was the strawberry border. Hugh's is looking much more established than mine, but it's something I'm still planning to make happen over at the plot.  I think I may need to make a mound for my plants though so they can look as good as this.

It was starting to rain by now, but there was no way I was missing out on the time I had in the River Cottage HQ garden - it was one of the main reasons I wanted to visit. I think I was probably one of the few left out there, us gardeners are a hardy lot aren't we. I realised though that having such a pretty kitchen garden is a bit of a luxury and unlikely something I'll have myself, unless I'm very lucky. 

But there were plenty of ideas that I could use at some point- and learn from - in Hugh's garden, and the picture above shows two of those; the pergola and the zinc troughs. One day maybe, I might manage some zinc pots in this garden - not sure I'll stretch to anything this size, but it'll be a while before I manage a pergola though.  

But first I'll have to perfect that strawberry border, I'll let you know how I get on!  Although I think I could be in for a good crop of strawberries this year as the plants I've potted up ready to take to the allotment are already in flower, so now I'm in two minds as to whether or not to move them....

But what a great opportunity to look around River Cottage HQ, I hope you enjoyed this short look around as much as I did. And if you get the chance to visit yourself, then go!

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

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.