Thursday 17 November 2016

Christmas Feast at River Cottage Axminster




My  first experience of River cottage was when I attended a bloggers cookery day there last year. It was an amazing experience so I was well and truly excited when I was invited again to visit River Cottage for a special Bloggers Christmas Feast. 



As  soon as we had confirmation my two food blogger buddies Heidi Roberts and Manjiri Chitnis and I known to our friends as "The Three Musketeers" excitedly booked trains, accommodation and started to plan our two night stay. 
We like booking an extra night to make the most of the trip as the nearby Lyme Regis is so lovely as is all the Jurassic Coast.



Our accommodation for the two nights was Millwater House B&B, the owners Tim and Ruth are really lovely. Millwater House is set is set in a beautiful location with great views very close by to Axminster town . The bedrooms are  comfy and the cooked breakfast is absolutely delicious. On both our trips we have stayed at the same B&B and we love it. Tim is a gem and he even picked us up from the station and ferried us to and from River Cottage as there was a shortage of taxis.



There were approx 50 bloggers who attended the Christmas feast at River Cottage. Upon arrival we had welcome drinks and then we were free to wonder around the farm to check it out. 




Next we had a session in Brining by Andy one of the River Cottage Chefs. He showed us various techniques on the subject. Although mostly it was about brining meat he did say that you can also brine vegetables and gave me some great ides on how to brine cucumbers, courgettes and root vegetables that can served as condiments or in salads.

The evening carried on where the bloggers split into two groups and did some networking. This was the perfect opportunity to meat new and old faces and share ideas.

With the networking over it was time for the feasting. River cottage chefs had been busy all day so that we were served a magnificent Christmas feast. They had catered for all types of diets, vegetarians, non vegetarians, dairy and gluten free too.




We were served Kingston Black Apple brandy aperitif served with Canapés of Carrot hummus on rye bread, whipped goat’s cheese and beetroot marinated in cider vinegar, leek, mushroom and blue cheese croquettes with green tomato chutney and finally roasted Romanesco with Romanesco puree.
For the vegetarian starter we were served Ravioli with celeriac puree cooked with wild mushrooms, sage and served with salad leaves.
The main course followed which was parsnip and potato rosti with shavings of goats cheese, carrot puree and cabbage fried in butter and garlic.  It was served with haricot beans cooked with tomatoes, fennel and onions
The feasting continued with a wonderful dessert of Apple tart served with apple purée, apple crisps and apple rye & treacle crumble. There was also the option of honeycomb crème brûlée.


Finally when we thought we could eat no more we were enticed with coffee and chocolate orange truffles and spelt biscuits .The entire experience was a culinary delight and a very pleasurable one.

I was a guest at River Cottage, all opinions expressed in this post are my own as are all the photographs shown.
 To read Heidi's account of her experience do read her post here.

33 comments:

  1. Lovely photos, this looks like such a lovely experience and the location is well cute and relaxing! Also - I'm well jealous about all the food you got to eat haha

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  2. Such an amazing event, the food looks simply beautiful. What a lovely opportunity to find out more about River Cottage

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  3. Now this is a perfect opportunity to relax, unwind and network.. I would really love to attend the River Cottage Meet next year.

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  4. That sounds like such a lovely event for foodies - great pics!

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  5. Thanks for the tour and the pictures! Looks like fun.

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  6. Wow, the Christmas feast at River Cottage looks amazing! It's making me even more excited for my upcoming trip to the UK :)

    Luci’s Morsels | fashion. food. frivolity.

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  7. Beautiful insight and the food looks delicious. Glad you had a good time.

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  8. What an absolutely amazing looking place River Cottage is - it seems like you had the most amazing time there.

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  9. Okay those chocolates at the end looked and sounded divine! What a beautiful location, I am definitely jealous!

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  10. Wow sounds like so much fun! The sweet touch me loves the sound of the biscuits at the end most :) x

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  11. What an amazing experience! And how lucky that you got to share it with friends & also see Lyme Regis <3 It's one of those places that I've always wanted to visit, but haven't quite made it there yet... one day ;) xx

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  12. It looks like everyone had a great time at river cottage and the food looked amazing too.

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  13. The honeycomb creme brulee sounds lovely. Great they catered to all food types too x

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  14. Just looks at all that food and Creme Brulee is my fave dessert of all time so I am uber jealous! x

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  15. What an amazing weekend at a British culinary icon! Very jealous. x

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  16. Oh what a beautiful cottage! Looks like it was super fun.

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  17. I remember going to Lyme Regis as a kid and it was always a lovely day trip x

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  18. This look amazing, I would so loved to have gone to this and all the wonderful food! YUM

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  19. Amazing photos and what a great time you had, the food looks just incredible x

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  20. Such a lovely looking cottage! the food looks really nice too.

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  21. What an amazing feast! We visited River Cottage Canteen in Winchester and had a lovely time. We love going to Axminster and Lyme :)

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  22. This looks like a fanatic place and delicious food was served!

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  23. Gat to love blogger events they are a great opportunity to collaborate with further bloggers and make new friends. Sounds like you had lovely time both at the B&B and river cottage

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  24. What a fantastic event to attend! I'd love to go there one day, alas, the transport costs (and time) from Shetland are prohibitively expensive!

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  25. I've never experienced River Cottage - it really does sound like an amazing experience and a great way to meet other bloggers and chit chat over delicious food! These chocolate orange truffles and spelt biscuits sound so good :D

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  26. The main course sounds so nice! Wish I was eating that right now

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  27. Love your photos, this looks like an amazing experience! I bet the food was amazing!

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  28. What an amazing event! The food looks amazing and what a fab opportunity to find out more about River Cottage x

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  29. Lovely to be reminded of such a marvellous feast again. It's such a good idea to stay on and spend a bit of time in the area again - there's much to see. If ever I need to stay over in Axminster, I will know where to book! Lovely to see you again.

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  30. It sounds like this was great fun and there was lots of tasty food.

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  31. It looks like a lot of fun! Tasty food and great social networking too. :) x

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  32. I'm so sad that I missed it. It looks like so much fun.

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