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• Note: This book carries a £5.00 discount to those that subscribe to the F.B.A. mailing list 

For conditions, please view our photographs. In this new book, the follow-up to his bestselling River Cottage Cookbook, Hugh writes about the year on his Dorset smallholding. He recalls, month by month, the highs and lows of past years, and anticipates the 12 months ahead – what’ll be in season when, and when’ll be the best months to crack on with such tasks as chick rearing and sheep shearing, haymaking and hedge laying. But, for all its outdoorsy information, the real focus of THE RIVER COTTAGE YEAR is indoors – at Hugh’s kitchen table. With over 100 brand new recipes, this is above all a cookery book and for once a genuinely seasonal one, celebrating local seasonal produce at its very best – chestnuts in January, artichokes in March, rhubarb in April, asparagus in May, strawberries in June, blackcurrants in July, tomatoes in August, plums in September, apples in October, pumpkins in November and parsnips in December… Full of his hard-earned smallholder’s wisdom, seasoned with his infectious good humour, THE RIVER COTTAGE YEAR is Hugh’s rallying cry for us to reclaim the seasons.

Review:  For an ever-growing army of admirers, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall can do no wrong. The River Cottage Year seems sure to follow the commercial and critical success of his previous book, The River Cottage Cookbook, which was something of a publishing phenomenon, selling by the bucket-load and winning every major cookery book award. The format of this new book is intriguingly different: this time we are given (in chronological order) the author’s insights and observations on life and food as the seasons and months go past, interweaving cookery with the cycles of the natural year. These sections aren’t all the book has to offer: the new volume is crammed with 100 original seasonal recipes, all beautifully detailed. Of course, we may look at the results of these mouthwatering delights in the new Channel 4 series that accompanies this book and lament how we’re not quite in the same cookery league. But Fearnley-Whittingstall has a gift not possessed by some of his rivals: we are always made to feel that the delights offered here are within our grasp, provided we follow the helpful advice we are given. The food is a mixture of the ambitious and the achievable, and looking through The River Cottage Year is a blissful experience, whether your intention is simply to dream about dishes or to actually get down to the nitty-gritty of making them. The illustrations are as tempting as anything in the text, and the book will unquestionably raise the author’s profile still higher. —Barry Forshaw

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a multi-award-winning writer and broadcaster known for his uncompromising commitment to seasonal, ethically produced food and his concern for the environment. He has earned a huge following through his River Cottage TV series and books, as well as campaigning documentary series such as Hugh’s Fish Fight, Hugh’s War on Waste, Britain’s Fat Fight and War on Plastic with Hugh and Anita. A new River Cottage series, River Cottage Reunited aired in June 2022. Hugh established River Cottage HQ in Dorset in 2004, and the operation is now based at Park Farm near Axminster in Devon. An organic smallholding, HQ is also the hub for a broad range of courses and events, and home to the River Cottage Cookery School. Hugh continues to teach and host events there on a regular basis. He also oversees the menu and sourcing in the River Cottage Kitchen, the restaurant on site at HQ. Hugh’s broadcasting has earned him a BAFTA as well as awards from Radio 4, The Observer and the Guild of Food Writers. His award-winning books include The River Cottage Cookbook (2001), which won the Glenfiddich Trophy, the River Cottage Meat Book, which won the Andre Simon Award in the UK as well as the James Beard Award in the US. Hugh’s latest book How to Eat 30 Plants a Week, a Sunday Times bestseller, was published in May 2024. Hugh continues to work as a journalist, writing occasionally for the Guardian, Times and other national newspapers. He is a vice president of Fauna & Flora International and a patron of Switchback, a charity that helps young offenders find opportunities in the catering industry.

This book is from the library  gathered by the famous Cambridge Don, computer scientist, food and wine connoisseur, Jack Arnold LANG. Jack founded the Midsummer House, Cambridge’s paramount restaurant. This dining experience is hidden amongst the grassy pastures and grazing cattle of Midsummer Common and perched on the banks of the River Cam. The Midsummer House experience is imaginatively curated to delight and amaze, so our surprise set menu changes regularly and is our playground to showcase our reverence for purity of flavour and natural seasonal ingredients.