He opens Episode 7 by saying how rewarding growing and rearing his own food is and how he has enjoyed the warmth and generosity of his neighbours, who have helped him as a rank farm amateur care for his livestock.

It’s mid-winter and despite the fact Paul can feel the cold in his bones, he heads down to the main beach at Mystery Bay with his four-legged mate Digger to forage some washed-up seaweed that’s packed with micronutrients that the garden loves, once rinsed and chopped.

Apparently there is a 20-litre limit and some beaches are off limits – there is a lesson there for inspired locals.

Paul also needs some fresh seaweed, bubble weed or Neptune’s necklace as well as cray weed and sea lettuce, not to feed the plants but himself, by making a seaweed pickle.

The growing “Cobargo Home for Gnomes” garden signals Paul is heading down south to catch up with the CWA ladies – even though he admits his baking has failed to impress and being “naughty” for overcooking his scones.

Now is his chance to redeem himself by helping out at the morning tea and working bee on the Cobargo CWA Cottage.

Just in case his baking lets him down, he invites branch members Louise Allery and Mary Williams over to River Cottage to supervise his contribution, a hazelnut syrup cake using his own eggs and candied mandarins.

The ladies are on top of their game making a Portuguese tart and a lemon-slice slice.

Next comes another farm drama and ritual “friendly intervention” when Paul realises his “rookie mistake” of not supplementing the diet of his Jersey cow Bessie who is emaciated and not producing as much milk.

Tilba dairy farmer Nic Dibden comes to rescue and lets him know the kikuyu grass once browned off lacks nutrients and two kilos of pellets a day is not enough.

A truck quickly arrives with grain and high-protein pellets from a local stock feed supplier and Bessie actually wanders over to the truck to check it out.

His attention turns to his own appetite when he starts the process of making home-cured bacon from the meat of “Big Boy” his recently slaughtered Berkshire pig, although the bacon is only busted out in the final episode that airs this Thursday night.

Cow crises averted, it’s time for Paul to catch himself dinner and he decides to offer himself the challenge of flyfishing for flathead down on Corunna Lake, just downstream from the farm.

He actually uses some hair off the tail of his quick growing border collie cross pup Digger, some Bessie hair and some feathers from his chickens and Muscovy ducks, and to be fair, a bit of his own hair.

Narooma local and fishing fly maker Bruce Robbins is met down at the lake and the pair get to making a Clouser fly using these special materials, and Paul names it the “magic morning rounder”.

He has never fly fished and so gets a lesson from Bruce and fortunately behind the scenes was Darren “Dash” Bowater from the Narooma Ocean Hut, who was on hand to offer his expertise.

They manage to get a couple, the second being a keeper Dusky flathead, over the 36 minimum and not a big female breeder either.

It’s the perfect fish for Paul to bake wrapped in some of kelp he foraged earlier, a technique used by the local indigenous people, and he dips into the seaweed pickle – the local as usual is fed as a reward and Bruce seems impressed.

It’s off to Cobargo now for the painting of the CWA hall and he decides to feed the locals with a rather exotic Laotian inspired pork dish.

It’s all about using his produce and doing his bit for the CWA that he says helps people around Australia even lobbying governments.

Legends of the country kitchen Mary Williams, Dot Hathaway and Norma Allen are at work in the kitchen setting up morning tea.

Norma quickly steals the limelight giving Paul a kiss, admitting her blood pressure has gone up and even letting him lick syrup off her fingers, which is followed by some more flirting and cheeky banter.

Paul is pushed outside with the hard-working Cobargo blokes such Kevin Allen and Dave Rugendyke, who finally take a break, first for the cakes and the later for a lunch of Paul’s Asian dish made with a shoulder of “Big Boy” enough to feed 40.

His reward for spicing up the day is a CWA apron – as close as a bloke can get to become a member.

The final yarn of the episode looks like at the fine craftsmanship of local blacksmith and bladesmith Iain Hamilton of Mother Mountain Forge at nearby Dignams Creek.

Together with a little help from Paul, Iain stokes the fire and bashes the metal to make a rather special handmade chef’s knife that ends up being gifted to someone else rather special who returns to Australia in the final episode.

We hear that Iain actually made two knives - one for Paul and one for Hugh - and you can't blame Paul for not wanting one of these fantastic masterpieces!

Foxtel publicity says this Thursday’s grand finale will see the return of mentor and founder of the institution that is River Cottage – Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstal.

It’s been nearly four months since Hugh left the Tilba farm, returning to River Cottage in the UK to let Paul to go it alone.

But now he’s back, and he’s amazed at what he finds.

Where there used to be rundown enclosures and sheds, there are now homes for chickens, ducks, pigs and a dairy cow.

The vegetable beds they laid out together are now a mass of leafy winter greens, and the citrus grove is thriving.

They decide to harvest what they can as a starting point for a huge community feast they’ve got planned.

At the beach, Paul and a couple of Bermagui locals join Hugh for a spot of beach fishing down at Tilba beach  - but will they get enough fish for a feed?

And as they prepare for their final feast, the pair reflects on the journey so far. The seeds of River Cottage Australia have well and truly been planted, and the future looks bright indeed.

The final episode airs on The LifeStyle Channel on Foxtel this Thursday at 8.30pm, and as always for those who don’t have pay television, local pubs and clubs in Narooma, Bermagui and Bega are showing the episodes.