With just five weeks until the gates open for the Festival of Food and Drink, the organisers have revealed some new and exciting experiences that can be enjoyed by foodie fans of all ages at this year’s event.
Held at Nottinghamshire’s Clumber Park on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September, new features for the adults include Wine Tasting with Woodthorpe Wines, focussing on four wines of varying style and flavour.
There is also a Cocktail Masterclass each day with the master Mixologist from Hugo’s of Sherwood, creating a classic cocktail as well as one of Hugo’s signature tipples. Each session costs £15 per person and booking in advance is advised to avoid disappointment.
Savage BBQ will offer three demonstrations each day showcasing ‘Live Fire Cooking the Savage Way’ with chef Ozi Lala, ‘Fire Table Cooking’ with Highland Fire Cage Chef Peter Gottgens, and ‘Not so BBQ with Eddy Brown of Savage BBQ, who will be supplying and selling all the BBQ kit.
Plus, there’s a hearty menu of celebrity chefs cooking up a feast of fabulous recipes in the Cookery Theatre which is free-to-attend for all Festival ticket holders.
Whilst the adults can enjoy watching the demonstrations, the children can actually do some cooking themselves with workshops held over the weekend.
Lee-Anna Rennie-Johnson, also known as the Dairy Maid, teaches at The School of Artisan Food and has worked in the dairy industry for 15 years. She will be offering ice-cream, cheese and butter making sessions each day.
She will be joined by Viki, owner of Twiddle Food based in Sheffield. Twiddle was founded in 2019 to improve her daughter’s diet. She learnt more about nutrition and tried different techniques to get her daughter to eat better.
Seeing her appetite growing while enjoying cooking and baking with her in the kitchen, it gave Viki the idea to teach children and help other families too. Viki will offer chocolate biscuit rolls, gnocchi and pasta making each day.
Children’s Cookery School sessions can be booked on the day for just £2 with places allocated on a first come, first served basis so make sure you arrive early and get booked in straight away. Children taking part must be six years old or over.
Once they’ve finished cooking, children can also enjoy archaeological activities from local archaeological park and museum, Creswell Crags. They can discover a range of replica Ice Age artefacts, become an archaeologist for the day and find hidden artefacts as well as recreating their own Ice Age art by engraving ‘bones’, drawing with charcoal and make clay figurines.
There are also forest crafts, circus skills and ARTventurers, offering lots of colourful, creative, crafty fun for youngsters of all ages to enjoy.
In its ninth year, this celebration of local producers and global flavours attracts some of the UK’s best traders and street food vendors with over 150 on offer including many visitor favourites as well as newcomers. With live music and DJs, it’s no surprise that the Festival of Food and Drink is the biggest and most popular in the region.
Ticket prices start from just £10 in advance for adults and £6 for children for the Festival of Food and Drink with entry into Clumber Park included (usually £5 per adult). Family tickets are also available at £26 in advance for two adults and two children. Children aged five years and under are admitted free with a paying adult. For more info, visit www.festivaloffoodanddrink.com.
