River Cottage ramble

Warren Rossiter heads to Devon to talk to chef Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and awardwinning bike designer Darron Coppin of Sven Cycles about the custom bike they've created

- Warren Rossiter

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall is best known for his food, alongside campaigning for the environment, broadcasting and writing. In recent years, he's rediscovered his youthful love of the bicycle, thanks to a fun collaboration with one of the UK's finest custom bike builders.

Fearnley-Whittingstall fondly remembers bikes bringing him a lot of freedom as a child. "As kids, we practically lived on bikes when growing up in Gloucestershire. We moved there from London around 1970, and for me [aged about five], it was like moving to the biggest playground in the world with its fields and country lanes, and my sister and I learned to ride bikes very quickly. I had a Raleigh Chipper [smaller version of a Chopper], then my mum and dad bought me a second-hand bike with the Sturmey Archer three-speed gears, and we used to spin about on those all day in the summer holidays," he recalls.

Fast forward a few years and Fearnley-Whittingstall's reconnection with bikes came by chance after bike designer and builder Darron Coppin, founder of Sven Cycles, read a press release for the 2016 Bespoke handmade bike show (where Sven Cycles has picked up a number of awards) asking for builders to make a connection with local businesses for upcoming bike designs for the show.

Coppin explains, "I saw the press release and, being based in Dorset, I knew I wasn't too far away from Hugh's River Cottage (East Devon). So, I wrote to him asking if I could build him a bike and he replied enthusiastically. A custom bike should be whatever the individual needs of the customer are. The trick is balancing all this with parts that aren't too bespoke, because a bike needs to last, and be serviceable and updateable without extra cost."