Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage damaged in fire

In 1998 River Cottage became famous as the home of celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the setting for his TV shows, including Escape to River Cottage, Return to River Cottage and River Cottage Forever. River Cottage has actually moved location twice in recent years and Hugh no longer lives there himself. Instead, the Dorset farm known as River Cottage HQ is now home to a shop, deli and restaurant, as well as the host of a variety of cookery courses and events.

It was the main events barn at River Cottage HQ which last night bore the brunt of a fire which began in the adjacent kitchen. The kitchen is used for cookery demonstrations and to prepare food for the larger events held at River Cottage. Viewers may recognise the barn from the TV series The River Cottage Treatment.

While the fire does mean that some of the courses and events held at River Cottage will have to be postponed, the on-site restaurants have opened today as normal and River Cottage HQ has released a statement saying that "the team are in a positive mood." Fearnley-Whittingstall himself is away on a long distance filming trip, which means that he was yet to find out the news of the fire when the statement was released. However, since Hugh is not currently filming at River Cottage, his current TV projects should be able to go ahead unaffected.

Image courtesy of WENN.com.

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