River Cottage Australia

ClissAT

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Has anyone been watching River Cottage on SBS?
I have never had pay TV so I never knew it was on that media. I just found it 2wks ago on SBS.
It is unusual for something as interesting as RCA to get by me so thoroughly undetected!

I thought that young chef Paul West, seemed to have fallen on his feet on that VERY nice soil down Tilba way.

Green, with envy I am, mmm! Said in my best Yoda voice! :D

He just pops those seedlings in the ground & they boom away. Oh I hate it :cry:;)

In the first episode when Hugh arrived, Paul made a starter for his sour dough from just flour & water & let it ferment on the kitchen bench.
Now he makes fantastic bread from that same starter batch.

So while I've been writing this post, I have also googled it & I see Paul never owned it & that he has a family stashed away in another town! The farm is up for sale due to the ending of the show.
http://aboutregional.com.au/river-cottage-australia-takes-a-break/

It was sold end of May/early June
http://aboutregional.com.au/river-cottage-australia-at-central-tilba-sold-meet-the-new-owner/

Always sad when quality local programs get the flick. But I will enjoy watching all 64 episodes! At least at the end I will already know the final story which is more than I can say for several other series I have watched then hunted high & low for, only to be disappointed.

On that note, Mathew Evens "Gourmet Farmer" in Tasmania is back for another series. I like watching this one too.
 

Steve

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I watched the original series as I'm one of those suckers that pays top-dollar for pay TV.
We loved it as we were big on the British version of River Cottage.

I didn't know that they sold the property. Such a shame. I guess it was never his anyways. Must be hard to put your heart and soul into something that isn't yours.
I think that guy that bought it got some pristine soil. I was always to jealous of the Tilba dirt. Not so much on the Tilba wind. Man that place is windy.
 

Mark

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I actually applied to be the River Cottage Australia dude but got rejected (I wasn't good looking enough lol...) but in hindsight, I think it's a bad idea to take on someone else's franchised show and the fakeness came through thick as nice as the bloke was the show wasn't authentic.

My wife grew up in Bermagui (next to Tilba) so it was interesting from that POV.

I was very close to creating a a fun send-up video on my YouTube channel calling it "River Cottage Caboolture" (satire of course) but then I had second thoughts as to if people would take it the wrong way so I binned the idea.
 

ClissAT

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That's very interesting Mark.

How do you get to find out about that sort of show requiring personnel?

I think they traded on the brand because we the Aussie viewers, were already familiar with & fully lapped up Hugh et al. It had been a very popular show here & the filming company wanted to trade on that, using it as a vehicle into something more Aussie.

It's my understanding that the show has not been completely abandoned, just on long term hold. In an interview, Paul did say he wanted to get back to it some day on another property.

But of course people's lives change to take new directions, so previously laid out life-paths get left behind all with the best of intentions.
 

Letsgokate

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I actually applied to be the River Cottage Australia dude but got rejected (I wasn't good looking enough lol...) but in hindsight, I think it's a bad idea to take on someone else's franchised show and the fakeness came through thick as nice as the bloke was the show wasn't authentic.

Ha ha I don't think the current guy is good looking anyway. I've only just started watching since this post and am enjoying it but do find somethings a little setup like when the goats got out. As a teenager we had goats lots of them and if they got out it was all hands on deck and we certainly didn't leave them out to find there way home.

Still I think it's good and interesting.
 

ClissAT

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I was scathing of Paul at he way he kept those poor goats.
Exposed on the hillside with no shed or protection roof.
And only kikuyu grass to eat. Goats need browse.
I think they got out & headed for the hills because they were too cold & they needed a proper feed.
Animals wont leave if their feed & housing is correct!
They know when they are on a good thing.
 

Letsgokate

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His fencing of animals and chickens has been a bit poor. They all need a safe night pen especially since he has foxes.

When we had our goats 100 plus, we had a very large high night pen they used to get locked up into every night. We would call out dinner and they would all coming running. We had dingoes in the area so if one goat didn't come we all had to go looking until they were all safe.
 

OskarDoLittle

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I actually applied to be the River Cottage Australia dude but got rejected (I wasn't good looking enough lol...) but in hindsight, I think it's a bad idea to take on someone else's franchised show and the fakeness came through thick as nice as the bloke was the show wasn't authentic.

My wife grew up in Bermagui (next to Tilba) so it was interesting from that POV.

I was very close to creating a a fun send-up video on my YouTube channel calling it "River Cottage Caboolture" (satire of course) but then I had second thoughts as to if people would take it the wrong way so I binned the idea.
Hmmm because clearly George, Gary & Matt are extremely attractive men, and Australian viewers wouldn't watch anyone less attractive than Brad Pitt on River Cottage (although that would be quite nice!).
You could scrounge some weeds for a salad beside the Bruce Hwy...you could certainly come to my house and shoot some deer (though you might get arrested!)
Bermagui is such beautiful country (a little on the cold side though) great pub down on the river.
 

ClissAT

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I also like Gourmet Farmer & Matthew Evens (& of course Sadie).
It's in a similar vein.
He also knew nothing about farming when he moved to Tassie.
Some of the footage of how he managed animals & did the farm management that made it to air made me cringe.
But he also found good friends who helped him enormously & showed him the error of his ways.
Now he is a reputable pig farmer.
Now they have a huge restaurant & I hope they do really well.
They certainly have worked hard enough for it.

So I also hope Paul West does well too in whatever endeavour he takes on.
 

Mataeka

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I've been loving this show - although as mentioned above sometimes the fakeness comes through - particularly when there are extras that come on the show. But there is some really good information on there and I love watching him making some of the food from scratch - even if I'm unlikely to do it myself half the time XD
 

ClissAT

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Just wanted to let you all know this is the last week of RCA.
I'm sure SBS will have it on loop on catch up TV.
Disappointing that just as he was getting it all going properly he pulls the plug.
Although according to the blog it was due to him needing to care for his elderly parent.
We didn't really see anything of the cooking school he as running though.

From next Monday SBS are running Gourmet Farmer from the beginning.
If you have been watching the up to date series on Thursday nights you will know they had a successful soft launch for their on farm restaurant on Fat Pig Farm.
Fortunately, Mathew Evens owns his own farm so it will be around for a long time yet.
Unlike RCA that was owned by the film company.
 

OskarDoLittle

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Hmmm, it's a little weird as his Dad was on the show not long ago (well it was a repeat I guess) and I definitely wouldn't have called him "elderly". Still for all i know it's an in-law that required them to relocate. I'd hate to think they invented that story. (Would be horrible if you're his folks sitting at home healthy and well and NOT elderly and that story came out!)
 

ClissAT

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Yes if I remember rightly, it was his wife's parent.
She was not very keen on the filming part of the farm life in anycase.
Maybe she wasn't keen on the whole farm experience in the first place & finally got her own way.
This filming that is airing now was done almost 2yrs ago.
 

Mark

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How do you get to find out about that sort of show requiring personnel?
A friend of mine sent me the Foxtel link to apply online so I did - you had to demonstrate an ability to A - be ok at backyard farming and B - do ok in front of the camera. Obviously, I failed... lol... Probably a blessing in disguise really as I'm pretty happy being a YouTube creator, to be honest, I'm not a big fan of TV anyway - now I'm just sounding like sour grapes :D
 
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