We’re in Dorset, having driven down from Nottingham today and the further south we got, the better the weather became.

We’re here because we’re both River Cottage fans and it’s a very difficult thing indeed to watch the tv show and not want to come to the south west of England.

For those who haven’t seen it (and shame on you), River Cottage began as a documentary of Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall, a London chef who moved to Dorset to try to live, as much as possible, off the land. He rented a small property and grew his own vegetables, raised some pigs and became very involved in the local community. Over the years HFW moved properties, opened restaurants, trained chefs and promoted a wonderful ethos of responsible, ethical food production. I very much admire his dedication to something so important and the success he’s had both locally and internationally. It’s hard to know whether River Cottage started the trend of gourmet, organic, locally sourced farm produce down here, but food in this area is seriously good. We’ll report back tomorrow on the fare we’re served at the River Cottage Canteen in Axminster. Can’t wait!