River Cottage

What is River Cottage?

It was 1998 when Hugh moved into the original River Cottage in Dorset, to start growing and rearing some of his own food. 'River Cottage' has since moved on, and has grown and developed, but we continue to stand for the same principles: less dependence on the outside world, food integrity, and the consumption of local, seasonal produce.

Today, River Cottage consists of several different projects.

River Cottage HQ, based at Park Farm near Axminster, is our base for running courses and events inspired by the philosophy of the original River Cottage - ranging from a night's dining and entertainment, through to courses in foraging, curing, gardening, breadmaking, butchery and more.

River Cottage also has a Canteen and Deli in Axminster, where we work with a wonderful collection of local and organic food and drink producers from the South West.

We stock a wide selection of the very best local and seasonal provisions including milk, eggs, bread, meat, poultry, beers and wines.

The Axminster Canteen annexed to the Deli serves meals during the day and is open for evening service and Sunday lunch.

Our other projects include series for television, regular food columns, and a range of books, DVDs and online courses, some of which you may already be familiar with.

You can find out about our high-profile campaigns such as Landshare, Chicken Out! and Hugh's Fish Fight here on the website.

River Cottage is not a charity, but does aim to be a 'more than profit' organisation.

This means, firstly, that we are ready to re-invest much of our income in developing our ideology and the base of our activities.

It also means that we should be ready to hold back from, or turn down, business that conflicts with our ideology and our commitment to ethical business practice.

Thirdly, we feel we should also be making links with, and finding ways to support, other organisations who share our ideas.

Some of these organisations are indeed charities and you can click here to find out about the ones we are working with this year.