A Butter Shaking, Bread Making, Photo Taking Day At River Cottage

Last week I had the opportunity to tick off one of those ‘bucket list’ items that I’ve had on my to do list for about 4 years, but never really been in a position to justify – added to which I’ve been pregnant or in possession of a very small baby for much of that time. Excuses aside, last week, I went off to River Cottage!

Arranged by Foodies100, we arrived at River Cottage in the morning, parked up and were ferried down, down, down a bumpy road by tractor – you really do feel like you’re leaving the world behind!

On arrival, however, there’s no luxury spared – we were welcomed in a warm yurt with a log fire going, hay bales spread around for sitting on, and the smell of coffee in the air. We were told about the day ahead, what we could expect and where we were going.

I have seen some fantastic posts from other food bloggers who attended, and I must say I am slightly intimidated by their beautiful photos of the day – just look at Victoria from Vevivos, or Melanie from Le Coin de Mel as two fantastic examples. None the less, food bloggers must post food photos, so here’s breakfast! 

The first session of the day for me was baking – one of my favourite things to do, so a fine start for me! I often make butter, and with my Thermomix it’s normally about 3 minutes start to finish, but I took on the challenge as set by chef Gill Meller, to whisk it by hand. I did it, and think I was one of the first to have butter on the plate, but would I be exaggerating if I said my arms still hurt?

It was amazing having a workbench with loads of space, and fresh herbs within arms reach – so I turned my butter into a salted thyme butter, which was delicious with BBQ’d sweetcorn over the weekend.

We also made a soda bread – I usually use this recipe, which is a River Cottage one anyway – but Gill’s bread contained spelt flour and oats, and I’ll definitely share it once I’ve had a chance to make a new bread (the one we made that day served as my dinner on the drive home!)

Our second session for the day was food photography, something I’ve never been amazing at, but following which I realise I have more to learn than I previously thought! Well, one day at a time and all that, but there’s definitely going to have to be some changes in my (blogging) future. Lucy from Capture by Lucy has a beautiful Instagram feed, where you can see some of her work. We all had to pick a few props to take a photo during the session, and I wasn’t overly confident in mine till other people came over and started taking pictures of it too – amazing what a confidence boost other people can be!As you’d expect from River Cottage, we had an incredible lunch consisting of Ravioli with 5-week matured beef from the farm, slow cooked for a ridiculous number of hours. It was rich in flavour, and as delicious as the vegetable base in tomato sauce – and that coming from someone who doesn’t really like tomatoes is high praise.

Dessert was a taste experience – I make meringues often enough, but these were fennel meringues! A whole new level of delicious flavour. Accompanying that was an ice cream that has led me to decide that I need to buy an ice cream maker. I tend to do the old fashioned: get it out and stir it every so often when I make icecream – like my brandy butter ice cream – but now I’m determined to buy a machine because the difference is irrefutable – such a soft, silky delicious ice cream. This one was coffee and salted caramel flavour too. Just indescribable.

Our final session for the afternoon was a walk around River Cottage Farm. Our guide, head gardener Will Livingstone was incredibly impressive with his knowledge of the farm, and the plants on it. He even managed to answer questions about the plants in our own gardens back home. I had serious green finger envy during that session.And with that our #Blogcamprivercottage day was over, and we made our way back up, up, up to the car park and to reality.

If you ever find yourself in the position to get to River Cottage for a baking course, cooking course or even a Christmas decorating course, do it – you’ll feel like Mary Poppins, dropping into a painting, and who wouldn’t love that?