The rolling hills and rugged countryside of Dorset provide the perfect backdrop of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's experiment to leave the rat race behind and live off the fat of the land. Tucked away at the bottom of one of the county's valleys he finds his ideal home: River Cottage.

In his first year Hugh had just the cottage and the garden but he soon found he needed more land so, in his second year, he did a deal with a neighbour to rent four acres. His smallholding now boasts a polytunnel for growing vegetables, fox-proof high rise chicken accommodation and pasture for his sheep, cows and pigs.

It is now the start of the third year and, as well as being a time for looking back with joy and satisfaction at the events of the last two years, it is a time to ask the really big question: should Hugh stay at River Cottage forever?