River Cottage in Spring

On Saturday we spent another lovely day visiting River Cottage HQ celebrating the return of Spring. There were talks and demonstrations on growing vegetables by Mark Diacono Head Gardener at RC, cooking seasonal vegetables and making pasta by Tim Maddams, Head Chef at RC Canteen and an illuminating talk by John Wright, wild food expert, on collecting sea weed and foraging by the coast. There were stalls filled with gardening paraphernalia, a talk by Dave Wiscombe on keeping bees, which always fascinates me, plus the usual stuff, yummy food and drink, animals, including baby lambs and for entertainment the Uplyme Morris Men.

I absolutely love visiting RCHQ, it has such a lovely atmosphere and is filled with a gorgeous light.

Talking of light, on the way home above Bridport, I saw a rainbow. It's the first rainbow I have ever seen from start to finish. In other words I saw the whole thing. It was an amazing sight seeing it coming up out of the ground, so to speak.

We are all reved up and ready for Spring now. I have planted the garlic cloves into modules and popped them in the summer house. The bed which had the bonfire on it, has had the ash dug in and compost added. I have raked it and we put the new cloches on top to warm the soil up ready for planting. We have marked out new beds, ready for the turf to be stripped off - exciting times ahead, if not a little back breaking!

Putting The Garden To Bed pt 1

The last of my carrots have been pulled up and discarded as the frost had got to them. But the raspberries are still going strong. Not enough to make another batch of delicious jam
unfortunately but enough for raspberry and apple crumble. The raspberries in the pots haven't done nearly as well as the raspberries in the ground, so I am going find a new home for them this Autumn. My veg beds are bare, now that the Dahlias have been cut back. I have left the tubers in the ground and covered them with a thick blanket of compost, so I am hoping that they will survive. We are only about a mile from Poole harbour, so I think that will keep us a few degrees warmer than inland and away from the hardest frosts which will kill the tubers.




I am starting the big tidy up but it has been a bit wet this weekend to sweep up the leaves.
My Astrantia Major is still looking absolutely lovely and is positively sparkling in this gorgeous Autumn light. I always have a heavy heart when we change the clocks in October. I hate coming home from work in the dark but on the plus side we do have some beautiful defused light around us.

I can't believe there is only one more episode of Gardeners' World this year, especially as Toby is starting to grow on me. I think it is because he has similar ways to Geoff Hamilton but if he says 'tickle the soil' one more time I think I will change my mind. Although he didn't say it this week, so perhaps he has got my vibes.

Talking of the television. I appeared very briefly on River Cottage a couple of weeks ago. I was very excited and proud as I love Hugh but rather alarmed at the state I was in. If I had known I was going to be on television I would have made more of an effort. God I looked old. So Hugh has done me a big favour. No more sweets and naughty cakes and I have ordered a Wii fit . I know that being on screen supposed to add 10 pounds but really 10 years as well!!!

River Cottage Duck Fair

Today was a good day for ducks. Raining!

As we travelled through the clouds to River Cottage HQ aka Park Farm, for the Duck Fair, I thought that everytime we have been over to West Dorset this year, it has rained.

I started the day by picking a punnet of raspberries for the bring and barter tent at the Duck Fair. The idea is to bring some home grown produce, home made produce or home baked cakes, pies or biscuits and then swap them for someone elses goodies.

The swap started at 12.30 but it was very busy in the tent so I decided to come back later and see what was left.
I went to the next tent where Hugh was serving up Duck Wraps with cucumber and Hoisin Sauce. When I got to the front of the queue. Hugh asked if anyone would like to stay and to be filmed eating the wrap. Well if you know me, you will know that I am a huge fan of Hugh, so I thought I would stick around. Hugh asked me to come over and talk to him about the wrap, for the camera.

The point of the piece to camera was that the wrap was half wild duck and half domestic duck. I had to say which I preferred. To be honest I couldn't really tell, which was which. One was a bit more gamey than the other so I winged it a bit. I will have to wait until the show is aired to find out if they will use my piece.

There were lots of Duck themed attractions; Splat the 'duck', Hook a Duck, Rubber Duck shie and Duck air rifle shooting. (Not real ducks!)

To wash the duck wrap down I had some home made cider.

When River Cottage have an event, you can see the people who Hugh has had on his programmes. In the events barn we saw Fraser Christian, fishing expert, do a cooking demonstration and John Wright explain the joys of mushroom foraging. He was very entertaining and fun to listen to.

On the way out I asked Hugh if I could have a photograph with him. "Why not", he said.

I have watched Hugh since his very first programme, when he arrived from London and rented a little cottage called 'River Cottage'. I have always enjoyed watching his programmes and was not disappointed when I spoke to him - he really is a lovely chap!

River Cottage

Last Sunday we went to River Cottage for an open day. We have been to Friday Night at River Cottage, which I throughly recommend, but this was an opportunity for a look around the farm.

River Cottage HQ aka Park Farm, is situated outside Axminster just 1 1/2 hours from Poole.

Unfortunately the weather at the moment isn't very seasonal and as we arrived the heavens opened (again!) but the tractor with its trailer, was on hand to take us down to the farm. Farmhouse
Veg plot
Wood Pile
Bunting
I absolutely adore the yurt and would love one in my garden. When we went to Friday Night at River Cottage it was December. The evening started off with everyone piled into the Yurt and the wood fire was roaring in the middle. It was so cosy inside with fairy lights twinkling, something I will never forget and the food was amazing. Everyone eats from the same menu and it's a wonderful atmosphere. The great thing is that you eat food that you wouldn't normally try, for instance our starter was called Pigs Head Salad with free range soft boiled eggs. I wasn't very keen on eggs at the time so I was more concerned about the eggs than the pigs head. Of course you didn't see the head, it was just the meat and delicious it was!

Talking of pigs!
These pigs were lovely - behaving just how pigs should, snuffling around in the dirt.
Hopefully foxy loxy doesn't have a head for heights

I had a lovely talk with the gardener and he was very helpful and I was very happy to see a chap making hurdles and got his details as I want some willow hurdles to go around my new veg bed.

There were lots of demonstrations. I loved the preserve making demo by Pam Corbin. She really inspired me to make some jam from my raspberries, which are well on their way to having a second crop. I bought her book, which she signed.

There was also food served. I had some fabulous Cornish Blue Cheese http://www.cornishcheese.co.uk/home.html which was really yummy and of course had to try the cider - scrummy and the ice-cream - amazing!!!!

I love HFW and the River Cottage ethos. Growing your own doesn't just taste good but it makes you feel good too!

http://www.rivercottage.net/