It’s been customary to celebrate the bounty of the season and the end of filming with a mini festival at Park Farm. Our theme this year was the Strawberry Fair, which allowed us to think creatively about concocting food, drink, growing and fun activities, which would signify the arrival of summer.

The planning for the event is fraught with endless possibilities of things going wrong. Needless to say we haven’t really had a summer to speak of, the last few years and getting the site looking right, with enough shelter, was one of the main considerations. However, Cat Streatfeild, our outside events organiser, seems to have a direct line to Him upstairs when it comes to choosing dates for events because it’s nearly always sunny. This year was no exception and the site looked splendid with red and white marquees dotted around like an expanse of strawberry and cream teas.

There was a lot of ground work, which started way back in March with the garden team setting about growing enough strawberries to feed over 500 guests. We have over 65 acres at Park Farm but are limited to where we can grow things. This meant we were looking for all the available spaces possible and came up with some ingenious methods such as hanging them in upturned plastic bottles. The only problem with this method is you just can’t help but pick them as you walk past – or maybe that was just me? Anyway there was a ‘picking embargo’ set by Dave the director a week before the event. That was a very long week.

To get the party off with a bang there was a fruity strawberry and gorse wine cocktail handed out to everyone on arrival. We had a terrible time getting the taste just right – in fact Tim, John, Hugh and I were insistent we had several tasters before anyone arrived. It was purely a quality control issue. Of course, there were cream teas – which are still probably the best thing you can make involving strawberries – as well as lovely snacks from the local producers’ tent and lunch supplied by Gill and the River Cottage Kitchen Team.

The event turned out to be a lovely family affair with lots of familiar faces turning up throughout the day. The real highlight was the children’s parade. There was so much effort put into the costumes that it was a real dilemma having to choose a winner. Hugh and I decided to give all the participants an ice cream each and extended special praise to three outstanding entrants just so they all felt like winners (and took the pressure off having to single one out!)

The day was rounded off with a three-legged race across an assault course which had to be seen to be believed. I will take this opportunity to say, partnering John Wright on a forage challenge is a pleasure whilst having him as my race partner was just an unfair handicap. I’m not bitter but I thought, at one stage, he had fallen asleep.

Enjoy the rest of summer and see you in the autumn.

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There have been several occasions when John Wright our foraging expert and I have been set a challenge by Hugh to find ingredients for a meal, where we have to think about what is in season and then see if we can find them. This time, though, our challenge was to make something palatable without initially knowing what our ingredients were.

We were asked to go and collect our mystery ingredients from the Canteen kitchen in Axminster and when we got there were presented with a bucket of carrot peelings. I thought we had been given the wrong bucket, but John quickly got into gear with a couple of suggestions and, as ever, his thoughts moved swiftly to alcohol.

We were allowed to supplement our ‘leftover brew’ with a few foraged additions – plus anything that can be used in the normal brewing process. Hops weren’t in season but John had heard that spruce tips were often used in brewing beer, particularly in Canada. We managed to track down someone locally who farms spruce trees for the Christmas market and we set about adding to our haul of rather tired and still dirty carrot peelings. We chose to pick the young spruce tips from the bottom of the trees so as not to hinder any growth and eventually had enough to add a bit of freshness to ingredients thus far.

I think that, on reflection, John could make alcohol out of a pair of Hugh’s old slippers, so my initial concern was soon forgotten. When eventually it came to tasting the beer my heart sank a little because it looked like muddy water but it did have quite a nice ‘heady’ bouquet. The first sips brought a pleasant surprise and, although I wouldn’t drink pints of it in my local, it was certainly drinkable.

I wouldn’t say Hugh was a fan but both he and Tim (head chef at the Canteen) were interested in it enough to allow it to be served to our guests. However, you may notice that we chose to serve it in green recycled glasses which helped hide the rather dull colour of the beer.

The brew went down well on the night, but I don’t think the breweries will lose any sleep – although I would encourage anyone to have a go at home brewing and if that means using up ingredients that would normally be thrown away, then all the better.

Try the carrot beer recipe for yourself.

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When you are involved with a project that has integrity as its underlying theme and the person that drives it just happens to be a passionate, campaigning advocate of all things good concerning animal welfare and food production (who also has a near pathological desire to champion best practice and not be afraid to challenge anything or anyone that falls short of his high ideals), then you know you are in for quite an experience. This, I’m sure you will agree is quite apparent in ‘Chicken, Hugh and Tesco Too’.

When Hugh originally highlighted the plight of British broiler chickens in the River Cottage Chicken Out series it was clear that there were serious questions left unanswered by the supermarkets. I remember the very real emotion of running our own River Cottage experiment which in effect meant we had to replicate the conditions of a standard broiler house and I can assure you that none of us here at River Cottage would want to repeat it.

As the resident smallholder and host at River Cottage I work with Hugh to ensure that our animals and in this particular case our chickens have the best quality of life and care. Unfortunately 95% of the meat birds sold in supermarkets are not so lucky and it is because the situation is so bad that we feel strongly about how we choose to raise our own chickens. It might sound daft but if you allow your chickens to behave like chickens then they will naturally be happier and produce far superior meat and eggs.

We keep two types of chickens here at River Cottage, layers and table birds. In fact we don’t actually call our layers chickens at all. We distinguish them from the table variety by referring to the layers as hens. We don’t run a cockerel with them so it seems a fitting description. However, recently one of the hens has taken on the characteristics of a cockerel and my good friend Pammy Riggs (aka The Chicken Whisperer) tells me that it is quite common and in her neck of the woods they are called a ‘hinny’. Whether or not it will go the full distance and complete its sex change I have no idea but it does give you an insight into the incredible complex natural behavior of this magnificent bird.

We get on average 300 eggs per bird over the course of the year and during the current cold spell and darker nights they have more or less slowed right down. We keep Cuckoo Marrans and Black Rocks in a paddock by the farmhouse and they are with us until their natural laying lives are over. Traditionally, in the past they would have ended up in the pot however that would probably not be the case today. Laying hens put so much energy into producing eggs that they have very little meat on them at all and would not be considered good to eat unless you were starving or a fox.

So we keep table birds for that reason and they are thus called because they are reared solely for the meat. The meat chickens are a totally different proposition and although we are still talking about the same genus in the poultry world, they are as alike (or different) as a dog and a frog. For one they are much bigger and have been bred to produce large, long legs and round pronounced crowns. They do not get to the point of lay as they are taken on to slaughter before this happens even though they are a slow growing variety called Hubbard. We adhere to the Soil Association standards for organic free range chickens which mean they are with us for over 90 days and then once slaughtered, we hang them in a chiller for a few days before eviscerating them. Treating them much like a game bird and extend their meaty offering across two or perhaps three dishes. On the occasions Gill or Hugh do serve chicken you can guarantee that a stock or perhaps a risotto will be made from the leftovers in the days to follow. This is one way that you can show respect for your animals by making sure that there is no waste if they are being bred for food.

Of course another way of showing respect is making sure that their welfare is uppermost. We are currently in the process of having four new houses built for both hens and chickens which will be delivered to us by our friends, Stephanie and Chris, who have developed some fantastic bespoke designs and understand that space, correct access, ventilation and comfort are the main criteria for the welfare of the birds. The new houses will be set in areas which will allow access to plenty of space and natural light with dappled shade from young trees.

When you create the correct environment for your chickens it really shows in their behaviour. They dig for grubs in the grass, chase each other around and have boisterous rough and tumble sessions just like they would in a wild habitat. Here at River Cottage it’s not uncommon to see toys for them to play with or shaded ramps and bridges for them to cross. It’s bit like Alton Towers for poultry. Truth of the matter is that they go mad for pecking at old DVDs which we hang on string – although we don’t tell Hugh that they are from his early episodes, we tell him they are from the F Word.

Catch up on what went down on Chickens, Hugh and Tesco Too.

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One of the many interesting things about living in the place that you work is that you get to experience some surreal moments. If your home and place of work happens to also be a backdrop for a popular television programme then those surreal moments occur all the time.

You get used to the camera appearing from around every corner and the constant flurry of lights and sound boom pointing in your general direction but you never get used to the feeling of being in a ‘behind the scenes’ or ‘the making of’ story of your everyday existence.

It feels strange when you are sat at home and you see footage of the inside and outside of your home being broadcast to millions of people across the UK! The normal viewer/programme relationship is shattered and you half expect to hear a Hugh voice-over when doing something mundane like washing the dishes.

The time and effort that goes into making River Cottage is immense, particularly as it is shot, edited and broadcast with a short turnaround. Events that were filmed last week appeared in last night’s episode. I was watching Dan sweat over the spelt loaves and seeing the clock run down in real time. He may have looked cool last night when he finally arrived at the Canteen but at the time there was a spot of panic.

I think that it helps to maintain the integrity of the place when the programme shows it as it really is and yes, Hugh really is that competitive, especially when it comes to catching fish. He also was genuinely surprised at Tim’s fantastic cheese and cauliflower dish.

Next week there is another element of strong competition when John and I go head to head with Gill and Hugh on a wild food forage. I can’t reveal the result, you’ll just have to watch it and when you do, imagine what it is like to watch yourself at home whilst watching yourself at home…

Catch up on all the goings-on at River Cottage.

Try all the River Cottage Autumn recipes from the show.

Read all the River Cottage Autumn blogs.