River Cottage Forever

- Season 1

(2002)

Hugh cooks up a limpet pie and his neighbour Jo Forsey comes to check his sheep stock and declares that at least two are in lamb and that the birth is imminent.

After several days and sleepless nights, Hugh's first ewe finally gives birth to twins - the perfect Easter present.

It's late May, the vet calls and it's bad news: Marge the cow is not as pregnant as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall once thought, there'll be no more lambs and the first batch of eggs are all addled.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall invites two local felt-making experts to turn his sheep's fleeces into a fashionable garment. He is asked to make the tea for a cricket match, and ends up having to play.

Hugh's beginning to get the hang of his Dorset down-shifting experiment - or so he thinks. Under the hot summer sun, the animals at River Cottage are giving him considerable grief.

It's high summer and with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's vegetable garden in fine shape he's decided to enter the Vegetable Challenge Cup at his local horticultural show.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall finds that one of his old ewes has died. It's a sad day at River Cottage as later on he sends two of his pigs to the abattoir.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Dorset down-shifting experiment finally comes to an end. As winter draws in, he has one major money-earner up his sleeve.