The event takes place in historic Ludlow Castle, which although built during the very early medieval period is probably best known for the fact that Catherine of Aragon lived there with her first husband, the future King Henry VIII’s older brother, Prince Arthur at the turn of the 16th Century. The rich history of its past blends perfectly with the present and makes it an ideal setting for such a great weekend.
Visiting a food festival as lovely as Ludlow can be made all the better if you plan ahead, especially with regard to money! It can be all too easy to pay a visit to an event like this and overspend without really realising it. One of the best ways of managing your money is to make sure you decide on your budget before you go – draw out the requisite amount of cash to take with you and leave your credit or debit cards at home. This makes it easier to plan and to have fun without worrying you’ll have bled your bank account dry.
This year the festival will take place on the 12-14 of September 2014. A few years ago, I was fortunate to attend it for a day. I enjoyed that visit immensely so next month I hope I'll be there again to sample the foodie delights this food festival can offer. It's just a matter of deciding which day to go!
This is one long post on a wonderful food-filled day two Sundays ago at the Ludlow Food Festival. I've always liked that market town where amidst the fascinating old timbered buildings and its castle it regularly has a farmer's market every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday in the square opposite the entrance to the castle. This time in addition to the market lots of stalls and demonstration tents were assembled inside the castle grounds by the organisers to highlight and celebrate all the wonderful produce around the Marches (the England-Wales border area).
[Click on the pictures for a bigger view]
Just look at the beautiful timber-framed old buildings in Ludlow's streets. This is the old Feathers Hotel which used to be the residence of Rees Jones a lawyer for the Council of the Marches area sometime in the early 1600s.
Old buildings in Ludlow are not only preserved but used quite well. These parade of shops are very interesting to behold indeed with the ancient buildings they are housed.
The main festival was within the castle grounds but the festivities and exhibitions were not confined there. Numerous other shops, pubs, and restaurants in Ludlow laid out tables outside to sell their wares and of course the regular market was in full swing as well.
Before we went inside we had lunch among the food stalls that came out especially for this 3-day event. I got my lovely paella from this stall. £3.00 for a small plate that had 2 slices of chorizo in it, chicken, some veg and lots of flavourful Spanish rice. Yum!
My daughters had their usual jacket potato with cheese (no baked beans this time). They raved on the deliciousness of the potato and cheese from this stall so much so that my youngest insisted on getting another one on our way home. So we'll keep them in mind if we come across them next time.
Lechon! Look at that steaming hot roast pork being pulled into shreds. Over here roast pork is eaten one way by putting the shredded meat in a bun with gravy. It's nice but I prefer mine in chunks with liver sauce. Better yet any leftovers stewed in liver sauce as Lechon Paksiw. Okay we're digressing a bit ... let's get back to Ludlow. See all those shops and food above - that's just outside of the festival grounds. And now we come to view the festival itself.
As I said before, the festival was in the grounds of Ludlow castle now a ruin. The castle had a very rich history which was very much entwined with the history of English throne. It was here that Prince Arthur (Henry VIII's elder brother) died while on honeymoon with his bride Catherine of Aragon who after his death became Henry VIII's first of six wives.
Entrance fees are a reasonable £6.00 for adults and £2.00 for kids. Then they give you this red wrist band to separate you from the racing pigeons. ;)
Here was a map of the place in case you need to find yourself.
There were loads of stalls of small scale producers. Come to think of it I didn't see any big-named companies there except probably for Tyrell's who was the main sponsor. But then they're not really that big - yet.
Oh yes there's one for Veuve Clicquot champagne where you can dine with some hot seafood dishes with your champagne.
I've always wondered how apples juices are extracted and this traditional press was on hand to show us how.
He must be feeling really hot in front of that pizza oven. We saw him sitting there all day.
I nabbed 3 bags of different flours plus a nice hessian bag from this stand. Bacheldre Watermill produces stoneground flours of very good quality. Later I will definitely blog about the results of my baking using their flours.
We love this bottled spring water. For me it tastes like very clean rain water. Really soothing to drink especially when chilled. We definitely recommend Wenlock spring water if you ever have a chance to come across it.
They have several huge tents where most of the smaller producers exhibited or sold their products. There were a large variety of exhibitors which range from farms showing their meat products (see previous picture collage) to ice cream makers, vegetable retailers, etc. The following were also in the tent:
Quite a number there were small breweries making distinctive ales and spirits. As expected these were very popular with the male guests.
Chocolate makers, other sweet producers and bakers were also on hand. Though there were not too many of them.
Lots of dairy producers were in attendance. We like the organic yoghurt of The Dairy House. They were very creamy and had lots of different interesting flavours.
Cheese galore!
Some non-edible things were also there in the form of cookbooks (still food-related).
These are well crafted hand-made ceramic products in fun and colourful designs.
Fancy smoking your salmon while driving? It can be done!
The army came in culinary force as well, treating people to some inexpensive but tasty soup and bread.
The music on offer were top-notch as well. Good enough to make a whole gaggle of people crowding in front of them while scoffing their tasty nibbles and drinks.
This trio on the other hand entertained people who patronized the cafe in the dry moat of the castle. They were very good, too.
They even have the resident fairy to sprinkle twinkly dust on everyone. ;) Well actually these are visitors as well, why they dressed like that I've got no clue. Must be a hen party? But he's a bloke ...
The little ones were not neglected. A circus tent was provided where they can try out different circus skills under the guidance of some circus masters.
They even make the kids do some artificial milking. :) How cute.
I've been very complimentary of this festival and its exhibitors. I just want to make it clear that I am in no way affiliated with any of them nor was I paid to do any kind of advertisement. I am just happy, despite previously moaning about the dearth of foodie places in the West Midlands, to discover all these artisanal producers almost at my doorstep. It's so heartening to know that they're out there in the countryside. I just have to drive about 25 miles west and I'm in foodie country!
Here are some pictures from that family outing (click on the picture for a larger view):
After paying our reasonably priced entrance fees, we each got tagged with a red wrist band. J3 said she felt like a pigeon (maybe a homing one at that).
The Soil Association is the organiser of this whole extravaganza.
Here's a view of the harbour and foot bridge at the back of the festival ground.
The one stall I forgot to take picture of is an umbrella-shaded wheeled cart with a young lady giving free Yeo Valley strawberry yoghurt. My daughters loved it so much that we kept coming back to get more from the patient lady. Between us we might have consumed more than a dozen sachet tubes! Other big organic companies were in attendance as well:
There are of course more of smaller producers represented in the different stalls:
One of the most favourite stall (it certainly was mine) is Green & Black's chocolates. They were giving out whole chocolate mini bars in big volumes! They were not even breaking them up in little pieces. You should see how they disappeared once the staff laid down one plateful of these gorgeous chocs.
My husband and youngest (J3) love cheese so it's just natural that they gravitate to the cheese stalls. One such interesting stall is Villanova Food where J3 particularly requested for a chunk of Grana Padano to buy.
I took the opportunity to buy some organic sirloin steaks at a discount (they were doing a buy 2 get 1 free promotion). And Brown Cow's steaks did not disappoint at all. We cooked them on a stove top grill right after we arrived home. It was one of the best I've tasted ever, very tender and flavourful. My only regret was I only bought three thinking my kids won't finish theirs like they normally do. But as it turned out everyone enjoyed it very much that all had clean plates. :)
There was also a kitchen demonstration tent where the likes of Sophie Grigson and Darina Allen did some cooking demos.
Besides food stalls, there are also other non-food organic stalls that were promoting or selling things like plants and herbs, toiletries, clothes, cleaning products, etc.
It's good that they provided entertainment as a minor distraction from all the wonderful food around. Here is the band The Courgettes dishing out funny food-related adapted songs like 'Beat It' which turned out into 'Eat It'. I must say they were good.
A different type of music were performed by the Bollywood Brass Band at the main Millenium Square stage.
We had a good day out that Saturday despite the overcast skies. I just wish the delicious organic food and produce were all more affordable. Well, just goes to show you can't have the best of both worlds.
The threat of terrorist bombings did not deter my husband and I in going to this year's London Thai Food Festival last 24th of July. I was determined to explore more of Thai food and no bomb threat can discourage me from it. Battersea park was the venue where I've always loved coming to, admiring its attractive gardens, well maintained lawns, to its towering old trees. Though we only get to see it when we pass by on the way to central London, this time (which is probably only our third) we purposely set off to imbibe its refreshing atmosphere. I think the organisers picked an excellent venue.
By the way, prior to this I called on a fellow blogger's Thai food knowledge to point me in the right direction on sampling the food. A big thanks is in order to ever helpful Thess of Eet Smakelijk. Cheers mah dear!
Unfortunately, our food orgy was rudely interrupted by a bomb scare and we only managed ogling around and sampling food for about 1 hour before police came to escort everybody out of the park. As you can see from the above picture (click on it for a bigger view) there were quite a number of things and stalls to nose around. They have lovely smelling barbecues, lots of spicy looking dishes with offal and seafood - two things that my husband is very interested in. Also stalls with handicrafts, mobile phones, freight companies, even ones doing Thai massage, plus Thai dancers in native costumes. 
Almost all of the food stalls were serving the popular fresh papaya salad where ladies prepare it right on the spot only when somebody ordered it which makes it ultra fresh. The lady who did it for us asked me if I want it spicy and I made the mistake of nodding my head. All I can say is I only managed one spoonful before throwing my hands up in spicy defeat. It was really really spicy hot - phwoarr! While my husband happily finished it noting that it would be good with barbecued or fried meats or fish. Next time I'll make sure not to overestimate my wimpy self and order it mild only. But I did notice its lovely crunchy texture and from watching the lady do it I think I can make it at home I just have to find green papayas around here which is like trying to find fresh peaches in a tropical country - nearly impossible.
We also tried their longganisa or sausage which has noodles in it! Quite yummy. And of course my day wouldn't be complete without my favourite Pad Thai. I need to gripe with what I got - though the prawns were excellent, the flavouring itself was so-so. It seriously need more patis/nam pla and lots of lime juice.
One of the more attractive stalls there was the Blue Elephant restaurant's. They even have chefs who demonstrated the making of desserts cooked in a cast iron pan with lots of 2-inch holes where they first poured some kind of galapong or rice flour batter. They let this cook for about 15 minutes then topped with sweet coconut cream - cooked again for about 5 minutes. Then finally topped alternately with sliced green onions and sweet corn. Delicious!
They also had lots of Thai veggies and fruits on display which are familiar to us Pinoys, too. Since it was closing time they were selling these off. The only thing that prevented me from buying them all is the steep London style price. It was like £2 for 1 piece of atis (apple custard)! So we just contented ourselves with 1 atis, 1 slice of pumpkin, and 1 banana heart. We cooled ourselves from the heat of the haggling with fresh buko (young coconut) - you sip the coconut water then spoon the meat from the shell. Nice ...
Despite having limited time there, we did enjoy getting a food adventure that day. In the words of the Terminator - I'll be back!
