Rutland Food Festival

Say the words " food festival " and I'm hooked. Especially a food festival on the banks of Rutland Water which is a favourite location of mine.

Add sunshine, some really interesting cookery  demonstrations, mix with  some of my favourite music tracks, and there you have it -the Rutland Food Festival.

A lovely walk first though to the site.....

The first stop was the cookery demonstration marquee....engagingly and expertly  compered by  Sean Hope, the Head Chef and Co Owner of the Olive Branch at Clipsham and the Red Lion at Stathern.

I got there just in time to see Julian Carter from the Hambleton Bakery. Now, I love good bread, and I've been buying his sourdough bread for the last year or so.

He's passionate about what he does, artisan bread ,and pulls no punches when he talks about the  bread industry and what we in our family call "plastic bread" .

And while he was making us laugh and think about what we eat....he was making a big batch of focaccia....little loaves to take on a picnic or have for lunch. He used a myriad of fillings...an english breakfast with bacon and egg, roasted vegetables,  a ploughmans with cheese and pickle, and a pungent garlic focaccia too.

Within minutes ,the audience were hustling at the front to try them.....the roasted vegetables and ploughmans that I managed to taste were full of flavour with just the right texture.

 

 

But I hadn't come to the festival to sit down all afternoon. There were over thirty food stalls to look at and buy from....including Little Cakes.....whose orange blossom and almond cake was delicious....well worth the £2 per slice.

 

 

I found some wines I'd not come across before....and learnt something new....I didn't realise that the makers used grapes from Rutland, and from Keyham in Leicestershire. This particular bottle was £6.50 ....

 

Having tasted and bought quite a few bits and pieces,it was out into the sunshine to sit watch the dinghies race.....

..... wander around the rest of the stalls,  and then sit in the sun with a cold bottle of water and listen to the Atlantics perform so many classic tracks from bands as diverse as the Beatles, Kings of Leon, Oasis....you name them, they played them!

All in all , a lovely, laid back day out on the banks of the water.....with edible mementos of the day in my cupboards to eat in the forthcoming weeks, and a determination to try and make my own focaccia..