The Festival of Food and Drink at Clumber Park is hands down one of my favourite food festivals of the year. The drive through the park is extremely long and winding, and when the sun is shining it’s a lovely drive. Parking is super close to the entrance making it very easily accessible to anyone and the layout is perfect.
We headed down today at midday to have a wonder round, and although the rain didn’t hold off for as long as we had hoped it didn’t stop us. It was absolutely packed, easily more than any festival I have attended this year. The tents were heaving, I really hope the exhibitors did well as there were some amazing ones this weekend (more on those later).
We attempted to watch the wonderful Rosemary Shrager demo but the tent was absolutely heaving. We couldn’t get close to it. Thankfully I was bought a cookery lesson with her for my 30th by my lovely friends so I will meet her at some point!
Dogs are allowed in the park with gave Eleanor something to do for the majority of the day. She must have pointed out 20 cute dogs for me to ‘aaah’ at. There were a fair few young children too which was nice to see. It’s definitely a family day out. There’s also a really nice kids area with some rides which keeps them entertained. I’m not sure if you have to pay for these but I would expect so.
There’s also a lovely make and create tent for the kids, where you can make sand art of paint. Every time we walked past the tables were full with families.
Food wise, there is a completely separate area where you can pick from almost every cuisine. From Indian to Greek and hot dogs to alpaca, there’s something for everyone. Eleanor and I went for an amazing duck wrap, filled with cucumber, spring onion, tonnes of duck and hoisin sauce, all wrapped up in a tortilla wrap. Delicious.
There was live music throughout the day which was a great accompaniment. Again we couldn’t get near the tent to actually see who it was but the guy singing at around 2.30pm was amazing! The set list had me singing along all around the festival.
My top picks of the Festival of Food and Drink are:
SA sauces produce gluten free sauce concentrates that you mix with either double cream or creme fraiche and then pour over your chosen meat. I bought their peppercorn and Tennessee whisky sauce. It was gorgeous! I can’t wait to pour it over steak this week. They also do a green Thai curry and a wild mushroom concentrate among others.
Masons gin is a 42% ABV Gin created in Yorkshire. Their lavender gins is one of my favourites and pairs beautifully with ginger ale. They also do a Yorkshire Tea flavoured gin which is a MUST for any tea lover. I’ve written extensively about Masons on this blog so I’ll leave it there.
These guys are someone I’ve not come across before, and I’m so glad they were exhibiting! Their apple and blackberry and elderflower and gooseberry liqueurs are beautiful and I walked away with a large bottle of each for my collection. They are rich and warm and will work so well with a glass of prosecco!
The Cocktail Pickers was born when founder Jen wanted to serve cocktails at Christmas to a houseful. She thought that there must be a better way to purchase rather than buying the whole of the supermarket selection. I am so glad she did, it meant that I didn’t have to buy all the ingredients. I came away with a bottle of their English Country Garden Gin and made from London dry gin, elderflower and apple. It’s delicious and would be perfect in the summer. I’ll just turn the heating up at home and pretend! They had run out of their passionfruit martini which was probably a good idea or I’d have bought that too!
The Peckish Kitchen is a family run company from Yorkshire. They were exhibit their ‘feeling peckish’ range and the creations are gorgeous. from pink grapefruit and prosecco marmalade to apple and cinnamon jam, the flavours are creative and different to the standard I usually see at events. You can get serving suggestions from their website which is great! One to definitely check out if you see them at an event.
These gorgeous plates are made in the south of Spain and are gorgeous AND practical. They are a traditional plate used to grate anything from garlic and ginger to chocolate and even nutmeg. They grate quickly and you get no wastage. You can get rid of your garlic press! No more awkward cleaning! I took a video of it in use, you can see it here
This Cambridgeshire company are trying to get us to eat tasty food, simply. They have created a range of sauces that ‘deliver on flavour and are truly authentic’. Their mild Chinese curry sauce was delicious and their Satay was amazing. Considering it’s not made from peanuts, it’s incredible. I wish I had purchased some but the stall was 3 deep and we meant to go back but it started to rain and we headed to the car instead. I’m really gutted. They retail at various shops so I’ll be heading to one very soon!
There were so many amazing companies exhibiting at Clumber Park this weekend, is would definitely recommend you heading down to this next year. The weather could have been better but the festival itself is amazing!
