The sun is shining and the temperatures soaring! Who’d have thunk it? It won’t be long before hosepipe bans, people moaning about the heat and incessant talk of how we need a thunderstorm to clear the air. So let’s enjoy the brief window of opportunity to get outside, eat lots of food and party with August’s food festival update. So don’t slap on the sun cream or pack your glamping gear without checking here first… The month begins in suitably hot fashion with Dorset’s self-styled hottest day out, The Great Dorset Chilli Festival in Wimborne St Giles on 3rd and 4th August. Dorset is home to the one-time hottest chilli in the world, the Dorset Naga, so what better place to host a selection of hot tasty dishes, alongside cooling ice creams and beers? The Huddersfield Food and Drink Festival takes up the baton from 8th – 11th August with live music, cook offs and chocolate truffle making demos among many other events, as well as dozens of quality suppliers. The same weekend also sees the Clitheroe Food Festival on Saturday 10th August, showcasing the best food and drink in Lancashire and the Ribble Valley including cheeses, wines, coffees, chocolates and game, all introduced by renowned food writer Matthew Fort and featuring great chefs like Northcote Manor’s Nigel Haworth. Also sharing the 10th August is the Cardigan River and Food Festival featuring river events, live music and demos from local chefs all in a beautiful Welsh riverside setting. We move south to the Isle of Wight Garlic Festival on 17th and 18th August where huge garlic marquees will offer day-long cookery demos. There’s archery and a giant fun fair to entertain the kids and live music and a beer tent for the adults. The 26th of the month is August bank holiday Monday and what better way to celebrate than at the Newlyn Fish Festival, Cornwall’s annual celebration of all things fishy? There will be music, cooking demos, a fish auction, the Cornish Fishmonger of the Year competition and a fishy trail for the kids. The 31st of August and 1st September see Jamie Oliver team up with ex-blur guitarist-turned-cheese-maker Alex James’s for their joint food and music festival, The Big Feastival. Set in Alex James’s farm in the Cotswolds, The Big Feastival features a top line-up of cheffing and musical talent with Jamie Oliver, Gennaro Contaldo, Tom Kitchin, Simon Hulstone, Gizzi Erskine and Jonray and Pete Sanchez gracing the cookery stage while the likes of Rizzle Kicks, Basement Jaxx, Mark Owen, The Feeling, Lianne la Havas and KT Tunstall provide the tunes. Under 12s go free for the whole weekend, providing a family-friendly atmosphere in which to kick back, tap your feet and stuff your face. We round off August’s food festivals with the Norfolk Food and Drink Festival which runs all the way from 31st August to 6th October with hundreds of events all over the county including the North Norfolk Food and Drink Festival on 31st August and 1st September, the Brecks Food and Drink Festival from 13th-15th September and the Aylsham Food Festival from 4th-6th October along with many, many more. We seem to have ended August’s food festivals in October but hey, who’s counting? Let’s just put it down to the effect of all that sun.
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