Foodies Festival at Tatton Park, July 2017: Cheese, Pork Products and Booze in the Cheshire Countryside

By and large, I'm very fond of a food festival. And how could I not be? The premise is a tempting one - interesting producers and suppliers gathered together in one venue (often, pleasingly, a field), ready to talk with enthusiasm about their produce and to proffer samples on cocktail sticks to the hungry potential purchaser. All too often, though, a food festival is a disappointment - too crowded, full of pushy people with sharp elbows out to eat and drink all the samples they can get their hands on without the slightest intention of buying anything, with lots of very samey, very over-priced food outlets demanding £8 for an average burger openly removed from a frozen Tesco box before your very eyes.

Not so Foodies Festival, the biggest food festival in the UK, which pops up at various locations around the country every summer. This weekend it's been at the lovely Tatton Park in Knutsford; we went on Friday, traditionally the quietest day of the three, although still attracting a good crowd and a gratifying number of dogs carrying their own toys and eyeing up cheese counters. Here, in no particular order, are some of the highlights of our wanderings:

1. Cheese. There are few sights more beautiful than a table of cheeses, ideally with someone standing behind it, cheese knife in hand, ready to cut slivers of whatever you fancy. Good selection too, with stalls featuring Great British Cheese, Snowdonia Cheese, Saddleworth Cheese Company and Rostock Dairy. Many of the items you see here now reside in my fridge.

2. Good booze. There was also lots of decent booze to be had, starting with a large glass of Cremant for a fiver and proceeding through a number of stalls with both samples to try and glasses to purchase. We didn't get round to any Pimm's (although we liked their teapot stall, and luckily the rain you see in the clouds above it remained there), but enjoyed the Chardonnay and the Merlot from Dark Horse Wines and the tequila from Cazcabel, particularly the Reposado, which I bitterly regret not buying. We probably spent the most time at the Thomas Dakin stall (my current favourite gin by some distance) and the Feeney's Irish Cream counter (complete with bell to be rung every time anyone mentioned Bailey's), and as I came home with a bottle of each and some cocktail recipe cards, I shall post again soon with the results of my jigging and shaking.

3. Food and beer pairings. We elected not to get tickets for any of the demo tents although - impressively - there were three, offering food, drink and cake demonstrations, and the line-up was a good one (Rosemary Shrager was on when we walked past, and Luis Troyano from GBBO had just finished). We did, however, very much like the mini food and beer pairings from There's a Beer For That. These were quick, entertaining events every half hour, some led by the lovely Melissa Cole ahead of her main gig later that afternoon in the demo tent. Also, I now have a badge that says BEER on it, which I shall wear proudly in the hope that people are subliminally lured in and buy me beer.

4. Assorted pork products. A food festival visit is simply not a success for me if I don't sample a range of pork products and come home with a bulgingly porky handbag. We tried lots of very good pork pies, and ended up spending wildly on sausages (all from Northumbrian Sausage Company, and including pork & black pudding and CHEESE & MARMITE) and excellent bacon from Spoilt Pig.

5. Burger. There were loads of options for lunch, including Peruvian, Mexican and an entire stall dedicated to calamari, but I believe a big fat burger to be de rigeur on such occasions, and had a very good Wild Boar patty from Silverside Grill, washed down with a salted caramel pudding from the Bonne Maman van.

A good day out then, AND I had sausages for breakfast yesterday. There's still time to catch the last day of the show at Tatton Park today, otherwise I highly recommend you track them down the next time they pitch their tent on our shores - full details here.