River Cottage Cooking Diploma: Behind the scenes

We've just launched our new River Cottage Cooking Diploma: Next Level, and we thought you might like to see some of the filming work that goes on behind the scenes to create a Diploma with twelve courses and ten River Cottage tutors.

We start by planning the whole Diploma with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall & the River Cottage team. Each River Cottage course is split into lessons, then we plan what needs to be filmed, which tutors will teach the lesson, where each class will be filmed and when we can film.

Locations

In the Next Level Diploma there's a variety of locations including:

Inside at River Cottage itself - for courses such as Boosting Gut Health & Immunity):

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In the River Cottage gardens - for courses such as Next Level Much More Veg:

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At a local beach - for the Next Level Wood-Fired Cooking course:

Alt textTiming

Some courses are seasonal, so need to filmed at specific times of the year, and of course we need to work with River Cottage's own schedule of in-person cooking courses and events.

Ingredients

In every food and drink course the ingredients are the stars of the show (along with the tutors!), and Hugh and the River Cottage team believe passionately in sourcing local, ethical and sustainable ingredients.

Ingredients range from veg grown in the River Cottage garden:

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To a whole pig:

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Or ingredients for boosting gut health:

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The River Cottage team is led by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who teaches Next Level Much More Veg, Ethical Meat Source & Cooking and introduces each of the River Cottage cooking courses.

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Rachel de Thample, Andy Tyrrell, Naomi Devlin, Gelf Alderson, Gill Meller and Adam Crofts return with Next Level courses on Fermenting and Preserving, Bread & Baking, Boosting Gut Health & Immunity, Fish & Shellfish, Wood-fired cooking and Eat the Veg Patch.

New tutors for the Next Level Diploma include:

Marcus Fergusson teaching Cheese Making at Home. Marcus is an award-winning cheesemaker from Feltham’s Farm. Marcus first learned to make cheese at River Cottage and has gone on to win Best British Cheese at the Virtual Cheese Awards in 2020 and 2021:

Steve Williams teaching Next Level Charcuterie. Another River Cottage alumni, Steve Williams is now one of Britain’s most revered artisan charcutiers. He runs Good Game in Topsham, Devon, which was one of the first commercial producers to avoid nitrates.

Steve Kiernan teach Pasta Making at Home. Steven is an extensively trained chef, having worked for Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey. At Jamie’s Fifteen he developed a love to making pasta from scratch. He’s since moved to the West Country and is now the Head Chef at River Cottage HQ:

Learning with Experts Film & Production crew

Behind the camera is Learning with Experts' Rob Ludgate and his team of expert lighting, camera operators, editors, producers and directors.

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Ready to learn with River Cottage?

We can't wait to open the classrooms to students from all around the world - you can pre-book your place on any of the River Cottage Cooking Diploma Next Level courses, and classrooms open 31 January 2022.