Taught by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall & Team
The River Cottage Cooking Diploma
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Want to buy for a business or group?
You can buy this course through your business or organisation for individuals and groups up to 20. To find out more contact us
Cook with purpose
Turn your passion for food into a recognised, industry-respected qualification with the River Cottage Cooking Diploma – expert-led training with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his team.
This immersive online course takes you behind the scenes of the River Cottage kitchens and gardens, where you'll develop professional-level skills in areas like vegetable cookery, fish prep, shellfish, and ethical sourcing.
Ideal for aspiring chefs, food entrepreneurs or anyone looking to start or shift a career in food, the diploma builds your confidence, knowledge and technical ability – all grounded in sustainable, health-conscious cooking.
Opt for the Expert Option to receive tailored feedback from River Cottage chefs, helping you refine your technique and grow with professional guidance. This is your foundation for taking the next step in the food industry – with a recognised qualification that stands out.
recognised diploma
Independently assessed by the Independent Cookery Schools Association (ICSA) for curriculum design and teaching excellence.
Accredited Learning
Accredited by a globally respected CPD body, this course certifies 174.35 learning hours and proves your skills—helping turn passion into profession.
Watch the preview
What you’ll learn
You’ll master 12 carefully curated topics in the River Cottage Cooking Diploma.
Across 48 cookery lessons, Hugh and the River Cottage team will guide you through their specialist subjects—demonstrating techniques, setting cooking assignments, and offering expert feedback. You’ll learn a wide range of skills, from vegetable cookery to fish filleting and shellfish preparation, all with a strong focus on provenance, sourcing, and seasoning.
Much More Veg by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall teaches you how to make delicious veg dishes and how to be more creative using veg in your cooking.
Sourdough and Wild Yeast Baking by Andy Tyrrell
River Cottage baker Andy Tyrrell teaches you the art of making sourdough bread with wild yeast. You'll be creating a starter and baking your own sourdough bread as you learn.
Gluten Free Cooking by Naomi Devlin
Led by nutritionist and gluten-free expert Naomi Devlin, this Gluten Free cookery course will give you the knowledge and skills to cook tasty gluten-free recipes.
Fermenting for Taste & Health by Rachel de Thample
River Cottage's Rachel de Thample teaches you how to use fermenting to create your own fermented food and drink.
Foraging & Feasting by John Wright
Foraging expert John Wright, author of three River Cottage Handbooks about foraging, will take you on three forays: along the hedgerow, beside the seashore, and to the fields and woods hunting for mushrooms.
The Pie Shop by Gelf Alderson
Tom Morrell will teach you all the skills necessary to make a variety of savoury pastry recipes – including shortcrust, rough puff, hot water crust and suet. He'll then show you how to make a pork pie, bake sausage rolls, make pastry bases for quiches and tarts and make a classic British suet pastry for steamed or boiled puddings.
Eat the Veg Patch by Adam Crofts
Expert organic Gardener, Adam Crofts, takes you behind the scenes at the River Cottage garden and teaches you how to create your own kitchen garden, make your own fertiliser and grow veg, fruit and herbs to cook with all year round.
Hands on Fish & Shellfish by Gelf Alderson
Chef Gelf Alderson teaches you how to be confident sourcing, preparing and cooking with fish and shellfish.
You look at fish seasonally available, learn about sourcing your fish and shellfish sustainably and how to shop for the freshest fish locally.
Gelf will teach you the basics of fish preparation including gutting, scaling and filleting three types of fish – flat, round and oily – with a particular focus on knife skills.
River Cottage on Fire by Gill Meller
River Cottage's outdoor cooking expert Gill Meller teaches you how to cook over fire - from fire starting (and fire safety), to cooking with a wood oven, cooking in an earth oven (or hangi), and cooking in embers of your fire.
Charcuterie at Home by Steve Williams
Artisan charcutier Steve Williams teaches you how to create charcuterie including cured, smoked and dried meats at home.
You'll start with looking at the equipment you need, before learning how to butcher a pig ready to create charcuterie. Steve will then show you how to brine and dry cure your pork cuts. You'll learn how to choose which brine to use and you'll start creating your first charcuterie alongside Steve.
Spice it Up by Gelf Alderson
Chef Gelf Alderson teaches you how to cook with spices from around the world. Gelf will demonstrate how to build flavours with spices and how they can be used to enhance and compliment meat, fish and vegetables.
How to have a River Cottage Christmas
Embrace the Christmas spirit with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the River Cottage team and learn to make a selection of River Cottage Christmas recipes and edible gifts.
You'll learn how the River Cottage values of Seasonal, Local, Organic and Wild are woven through everything we do - upheld even at Christmas, traditionally a time of excess.
Choose how you want to learn
Expert-level
Develop your learning further with marked assignments and personal tuition:
- Start the course whenever you like
- Tutor access for personalised assignment feedback & coaching
- Certificate of completion and CPD learning hours
- Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
- Lessons with expert videos & notes
- Group chat & direct message with tutor & classmates
- Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
Peer-level
Get the most from shared knowledge and community study:
- Start course whenever you like
- Practise what you learn with your peers
- Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
- 4 lessons with expert videos & notes
- 4 course assignments
- Group chat & direct message classmates
- Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
Why choose Learning with Experts?
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between PEER and EXPERT options?
At Peer and Expert level, you get access to the same core content and features:
- Video lesson tutorials led by your expert tutor
- Downloadable lesson notes
- Option to practise what you learn with lesson assignments
- Group learning within an online interactive classroom of up to 20 classmates
- Lifetime access to videos, notes and classroom
If you choose Expert level, you get all of the above plus the following:
- Personalised assignment feedback and coaching from your expert tutor
- Opportunity to interact with your expert tutor through a private messaging system
- Certificate of completion.
What is an online classroom?
Our online classroom has been developed to allow you to learn from our experts in a sociable environment alongside up to 20 other students. After each video tutorial led by your expert, you will be encouraged to practice what you have learned with optional assignments - these can be seen by the other students in your class, who are free to share their own thoughts and questions with you.
You will be encouraged to take part in an ongoing class discussion where you can discuss ideas, post images or work, and comment on each other’s assignments. It’s a great way to learn from other like-minded people who share your passion from all over the world.
This means not only do you benefit from people who are outstanding in their field, but also from a close-knit group of like-minded people whom you can learn alongside. Group learning has shown to greatly improve not just the experience of studying, but also how well you retain the knowledge, and we have built our classroom experience around this fact.
When can I start my course and how long will it take?
You can start your course any time within 12 months after receipt of your purchase confirmation email. Once you start, you’ll have lifetime access — meaning you can revisit the lesson videos and notes whenever you want.
Our courses are designed so that you can study at your own pace, some prefer to binge learn while others like to spread their studying over a longer period of time - it’s completely up to you. To give you a rough time frame, each lesson video is approximately 30-40 minutes long, and we recommend that you spend around an hour on each assignment.
How often can I speak with the Expert?
If you opt for the Expert version of your course, the time you have to interact with your tutor is limited to course length. You will have one week per lesson to chat to your tutor and to have your assignments marked, and during this period you can ask them as many questions as you would like.
To find out the length of each course, head to the product page and look at the Course outline to see how many lessons it contains. e.g. a four lesson course assumes that you will have completed the assignments within four weeks.
Your tutor interaction period will start as soon as you enter the classroom. If you find that you are struggling to complete the assignments in the allocated time or you wish to put this function on hold, just get in contact with one of the team via the support button and we will help you out.
Support and full FAQs
If you need any help with a course, be it one you’ve started already, or one you are looking to purchase, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support email address.
You can also use the orange speech bubble on your page to start a conversation with us.
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Awards and accreditations
