mountainboarddude Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 At last I have gotten round to writing about my week in Devon at River Cottage HQ. sorry about the lateness of this post but i have been busy working and putting my river cottage knowledge into action. so i started on monday the 3rd august at around 10am as i had a flat tyre on my way but once i had arrived i was shown round the farm by Steve Lamb who is resident smallholder and events organiser and he lives in the big white house that is seen in the opening sequences to river cottage. i met everybody that worked there in the kitchens, office and grounds and was then taken to lunch in Lyme Regis . when we got back it had started rainging so i helped the head gardener Victoria in the polytunnel ready for the TV crew to come at the end of August. on Tuesday it was still raining heavily so the rest of the day was spent in the polytunnels sowing microsalads and checking on the crops in the larger polytunnel, doing a bit of weeding and rearranging things to make them look nice for the filming. wednesday was sunny and warm and ironically this was the day i was working with the events team prepariing for people to come back fom one of the sea fishing courses in Lyme Regis. i also spent half of the day in the kitchen preparing food, making brawn and preparing the catch ready to cook up for lunch. thursday was my chance to go sea fishing from weymouth with one of the events. an early start at 5.30 with an hour long ride up the biggest hill in devon to get to river cottage hq but i made it and we set off at 7. the sea was rather choppy and as i am not brilliant on boats i did contribute shall we say . but in the end i found my sea legs and caught a nice big pouting in amongst baiting hooks, removing the fish from the hooks and serving lunch. however the rain put a stop to the afternoon bbq that was supposed to take place on board the boats in thye harbour so with a refund and a bag of fish everybody went hom happy whilst we went to the pub for a drink. friday was the last day at river cottage hq for me and as the weather was good i got the chance to look after the animals and work as sck manager for the day. the usual duties of mucking out, feeding and checking over the livestock seemed all more imporatnt due to the fact that it was in river cottage and being able to driver the atv pick up round the site was the icing on the cake for me. in the afternoon my parents were given a tour of the site and i was given the complete collection of river cottage handbooks along with a t-shirt and the valuable knowledge that the week had given me. i have been asked back to visit, and wil do so as soon as i have passed my driving test. um, that it most of it however i might have missed a few points out which i will add in as i remember. sorry about the length and the speeling mistakes. hopoe you enjoy reading about my time t river cottage hq matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaireG Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 It sounds like you had a fab week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 I am exhausted just reading that. Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Chick Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 Sounds brilliant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clur Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 Oooh, am I too old for work experience?! I'd love that. Sounds like you had a great time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeckyBoo Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 Sounds brilliant!! Any pictures? Although I reckon you sounded too busy to get a camera out, you'll remember that for long time I should think. And should we look out for you on camera? BeckyBoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 Wow Sounds good Did you get any photos or were you not allowed? And did you meet HFW? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainboarddude Posted September 7, 2009 Author Share Posted September 7, 2009 yeh it was an amazing week and i made sure that i got some pictures though mostly of the location and not the people. and if you are too old for work experince then you can volunteer at river cottage for a week or so usually in the summer. if you email them they will get back to you however you must include the area thta you would like to work in like gardens. unfortunately i did not get to meet hfw however i will be going back next year in the spring so hopefully will meet him then. and one thing that i did learn was how to make a clay oven for baking bread or pizza or doing a slow cooked shoulder of lamb so i have been putting this into use and have built a clay oven in my grden. i hope to be finishing it off tomorrow. i am trying to upload pictures now but have never donne it before so it may take a while Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
