River Cottage

Head of Events Steven Lamb has penned his latest update from River Cottage HQ as work gets underway on the temporary structure which will replace the barn while it's restored to its former glory:

Anniversaries are meant to be either a time of celebration or at least commemoration for an event passed.

Having no real appetite for celebration just now I was casting my mind back to the beginning of the original River Cottage HQ.

There hasn’t been much time to reflect since the fire but memories flood into my mind like the daylight hitting corners of the old barn now it is without the barrier of a roof.

If I was the eternal optimist I would say that we have at least procured more sky but I’m not sure that it was a fair barter.

Eight years ago, almost to the day we were busy preparing the barn at our previous location in Lower Atrim for the inaugural River Cottage HQ dinner.

It was captured in the ‘Beyond River Cottage’ series and took place on February 14 2004, commonly known as St Valentine’s Day.

There seems to be some terrible synchronicity taking place except it is happening in reverse.

Instead of dressing our barn with bales of hay and rustic tables in preparation for a feast we are removing rubble and broken crockery to be taken away in a skip.

Even this optimist fails to see the romance in that and it seems hardly a fitting way to mark the beginning of who we are.

I think it is time to let go and leave the day for lovers. Where the only thing that burns is your heart’s desire.

That chapter is over and it has been sealed with a loving kiss.

So now we need to pick a new day to celebrate and I envisage it will be the day that we open our doors again, fully operational in the newly restored barn.

A good friend of mine used to say “it is a pendulum not a spiral” when adversity struck.

We have reached the extreme point of negativity and now we are moving back into the positive. Peter Snow and his swingometer can come out of retirement.

We have commissioned a new temporary structure whilst our barn gets restored.

It will house both our banquets and cookery school.

It will also contain a full commercial kitchen and deliver the kind of unique event that you would expect from us.

There will be water, electricity and drainage all feeding from and into our own generated supplies.

It will tick every one of our green and energy efficient credentials and be a typically recognised River Cottage space – except there will be more toilets.

It will take us into and through the phase up to getting our barn back

Work started on this yesterday, so we are keeping to tradition.

The true meaning of Valentine is ‘strong and healthy’ and this is a more fitting association.

When this period of intense building and planning is over and we finally move back into our barn we should it mark it as our new anniversary.

I will keep you posted on our progress and hopefully before the end of the year we will have news of that date. When we know we will let you know.

Put it in your diary because it will It will be quite a party.