The River Cottage Team

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall

To read Hugh's biography, click here.

Gillon Meller, Head Chef, River Cottage HQ

Before joining Hugh to set up River Cottage HQ, Gillon had set up his own catering business with the help of the Princes Trust, providing clients with access to great local and seasonal cookery.

After meeting Hugh, Gill started working on the River Cottage series and simultaneously became involved in the running of the cookery school and the River Cottage HQ. Gill is now Head Chef and leads a team who produce the highest standard of local and seasonal food.

Simon Hansford, Head Gardener at River Cottage HQ

Becoming Head Gardener is a family tradition for Simon, who is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, great grandfather and even great great grandfather. Simon was the Head Gardener at the award-winning The Leaping Hare Restaurant, part of the Wyken Estate, Suffolk and has also worked on a number of private estates in Essex and Suffolk.

Simon has a degree in Horticulture from Writtle College in Essex and is highly knowledgeable in all aspects of gardening. His wide-ranging experience includes everything from woodland management, hedge planting, fencing and general farm and vineyard duties, to beautifully maintaining a rose garden, knot garden, wildflower meadows and kitchen garden supplying year-round organic vegetables, fruit and cut flowers to many delighted kitchen tables up and down the country. Simon joined us at River Cottage HQ as Head Gardener in September 2007 and since then, he has developed a close working relationship with our Head Chef Gill Meller, supplying the River Cottage kitchen with organic vegetables and salads for our evening events and day courses.

Simon is responsible for a small team here at River Cottage HQ, working alongside Mark Diacono, Caroline Lowery and Emma Stapleforth to deliver an exciting range of River Cottage Garden Courses, including The River Cottage Approach to Gardening, the Eco Kitchen Garden and Urban Kitchen Garden.

Ray Smith, Butchery Expert

An extremely knowledgeable butcher, Ray Smith has over 40 years of experience, starting with his own butchers shop in Dorchester over 30 years ago. Ray makes butchery look so easy, because of the skill, finesse and ease with which he brings to the art. Ray leads our many butchery courses and is a regular contributor on ‘Hugh and Friends’. Ray also worked with Hugh on the River Cottage Meat Book and produced the very popular Pig in a Day DVD.

John Wright, Fungi Expert

John Wright’s passion for mushrooms and toadstools began aged 14, when he came across what turned out to be a Common Inkcap whilst on holiday in the New Forest. In 1980 John joined the British Mycological Society and in 1994, decided to share his accumulated knowledge of Fungi, teaching adult education classes in Dorchester. John now runs fungus forays for several organisations in and around Dorset.

John first appeared on the River Cottage TV series in 2001, taking Hugh on a (successful!) truffle hunt. Several TV episodes later, John is now a regular contributor at River Cottage HQ, running courses on mushroom foraging and edible seashore plants. John's own Mushrooms: River Cottage Handbook No.1 is now available, accompanied by the Mushroom Magic DVD and online course. John is now working on Edible Seashore: River Cottage Handbook No.5.

In addition to his foraging exploits, John runs his own business as a cabinet maker. He is married with two young daughters.

Mark Diacono, Gardening and Climate Change Expert

Mark runs Otter Farm, the UK’s only Climate Change Farm, home to orchards of ‘foreign’ foods including almonds, pecans, persimmons and apricots – as well as the olive grove.He’s hoping to take advantage of global warming to grow these crops and sustainably add them to the British larder, in so doing making these foods available to a local market without the heavy carbon load/food miles normally associated with them – a beautifully virtuous circle of working with climate change in a way that helps arrest its acceleration.

Mark is keen to spread the idea of climate change growing. He is in discussions to write the Otter Farm Climate Change Food Book, and is currently writing Kitchen Garden: River Cottage Handbook No.4 as part of the River Cottage Handbook series. He is also working closely with DEFRA, Forum for the Future and an emerging consortium of consultants, government agencies, European and New Zealand organisations with a view to developing international exchange and information programmes for climate change adaptation globally.

Fraser Christian, Skipper and Host

Fraser grew up in the south Cotswolds, where he developed a love of the outdoors and all things wild. After reaching the summit of Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike as a boy scout, he trained as a chef, qualifying with distinction. He worked professionally as a chef in various restaurants and country hotels, before spending time travelling around Europe and India.

On his return he moved to Sussex where he fell in love with the sea. He recently moved to Dorset to work as a skipper and fishing instructor, and is a host for both our Catch and Cook and Introduction to Fish Skills & Cookery courses. 

www.fish2fish.co.uk