Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3323 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-09-10
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 538 minutes

Synopsis
This special collection features three series of this fascinating journey. Join Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for a culinary quest like no other.

Customer Reviews

Amusing, Informative & Nostalgic
Whether you wish to call Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall a journalist, cook, smallholder, entrepreneur of story teller, after viewing the River Cottage Box Set one could argue that he trancends every one of these traits in one way or another throughout the three volumes.

Fearnley-Whittingstall takes you through a journey, starting at the beginning where he purchases his first two pigs, some chickens and plots out his vegtable garden, to the end of his experiment at down sizing where the series ends with Hugh posessing a thriving polytunnel, pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens and numerous amusing tales of his journey from being a 'city downsizer' to an established 'dorset smallholder'.

The 3 series' all include amusing anecdotes about Hugh's relationship wih his animals to even the smallest critters such as mice and slugs. It also provides great information about animal walfare and cooking (with some great recipies included) and conveys a great sense of nostalgia and takes one back to the 'Great Britain' era where food was sourced locally and there was a great sense of community.

After viewing the River Cottage Box Set it would be naive to assume that Hugh's smallholding operated soley down to his quaint bartering technique but it does provide an intrinsically warming and a humerous approach to the idyllic, country life and asks questions of the quality of food the general public consume. Overall this Box Set comes highly recommended, is well worth the money and highly compulsive.

Brilliant...
This series is amazing, I first watched an episode of River Cottage on Sky, was at home with a friend zapping through numerous channels and landed on this, my friend insisted it was a brilliant TV show and we should watch the episode.

My friend is not into cooking that much so it got me interested!

Anyhow the stories, the recipes and the adventure got me hooked, i had to buy them.

I have watched the two first seasons and i love it, kind of makes me dream of a house in the coutryside, although i guess a lot of aspects of self-sufficiency are not covered he looks at the food side of things with a lot of attention.

The only negative i have about his show is that he uses railway sleepers in his vegetable garden, most of those are full of chemicals and really should not be used for that purpose!

Anyway I highly recommend this DVD Boxset, watch it, love it and live it! :-)

Living the downshifting dream
If you don't get on with the latest incarnation of H F-W, these earlier series may be the antidote. Over the course of three years you watch him grow his own vegetables, raise livestock and integrate himself into the local community. Of course some of this is probably set up to make good TV but it's still appealing. He shows his skill at the traditional pastimes of huntin', shootin' and fishin', but leavens that with a willingness to learn and take part. As he gets involved with things from farmers markets, to cider circles to mouse whisperers, he relates his tale with wit and charm.

For your money you get three double DVD boxes:
- River Cottage Forever: 6 episodes + the Christmas special + goose recipes + a H F-W Bio;
- Return to River Cottage: 6 episodes + Q&A (from a conference) + outtakes + (the same) H F-W Bio; and
- River Cottage Forever: 8 episodes + a made-for-DVD Q&A + a H F-W Bio (again).

For me, the extras, other than the Christmas special, were a little dull (although the made-for-DVD Q&A is around 30 mins long and may appeal to aficionados) but they aren't the reason to buy this box set. This box set is about watching one man live the dream of giving up the city, moving to the country and trying to become self sufficient. And, as such, it's inspiring for those who daydream about doing the same.