River Cottage Chef Cooks for NGO at BBC Countryfile Live

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Acclaimed chef, presenter and food writer Tim Maddams will be cooking venison on the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation stand at this year’s BBC Countryfile Live which attracts more than 125,000 people from across the country. The show will be held at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on 3-6 August.

Tim Maddams is the author of the River Cottage game handbook, and is best known for his time as head chef at River Cottage, the brand made famous by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and who has described him as ‘a fantastic chef with incredible energy and commitment who cares deeply about his ingredients and their provenance’.

Tim will be on the show stand (number D51) during the first two days of the show, with game kindly supplied by the National Gamedealers’ Association.

Speaking about the show, NGO Development Officer (South) Tim Weston said: ‘Last year the NGO stand was constantly thronging with activity and the feedback we had from the public was hugely positive. The value of this show to us is in being able to talk to so many people about what we do, many of whom have little knowledge of what gamekeepers do and of their valuable contribution to countryside management.’

The NGO will be running fun and educational activities and competitions for children throughout the event. The Game &, Wildlife Conservation Trust will be on the stand with a presentation on the relationship between curlew breeding success and predator management. Regional moorland groups from across northern England will be providing a display on heather management and gamekeeping in the uplands and Sparsholt College will be providing information on careers in gamekeeping.

Other presentations will include Chris Rogers, Head Deer Stalker from the Euston Estate in Norfolk, talking about British deer and Tony Lowry of UK Deer Track &, Recovery talking about how gamekeepers work with police to find injured deer that have been involved in traffic accidents.

The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation Educational Trust will host a display showing the role of the gamekeeper across a whole range of habitats, and will show how the keeper’s everyday work is vital not only to the conservation of habitats, but also to the many vulnerable species that live there.

Brights Seeds will be providing a display of game and stewardship crops and its team will be on hand to explain how gamekeepers use cover to hold birds and improve habitat management and develop wild flower meadows and wildlife habitats in the countryside which benefit biodiversity.