A fire has gutted a kitchen at River Cottage HQ, the famous home of TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

The fire broke out around 10.15 pm on Tuesday night in the events barn, which also contains a kitchen for the River Cottage’s cookery school.

Five appliances initially attended the incident, with firefighters requiring a further two to be called for water supply.
The barn contained ten ovens for the cookery school, all of which had their own individual gas cylinders, and two large propane tanks in the building were also involved in the fire.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall himself was believed to be out of the country filming for an upcoming television programme.

The fire was brought under control by around 2.00 am, leaving the barn gutted. All cooking courses and events have been cancelled for the foreseeable future.

River Cottage released a statement saying:

“A serious fire severely damaged the main barn at Park Farm, River Cottage HQ late last night in Axminster. Thankfully no people, or animals were hurt.

“The River Cottage team are shocked and upset, and are dealing with the damage today.”