FOODIE festivals

Cheese & Chilli, Crab & Lobster, Smoke & Fire, Sausage & Cider… John Sootheran selects 10 of the best festive feasting events

AS THIS ISSUE of Practical Caravan proves, touring and tasty treats go together like Yorkshire pudding and gravy (and of course, there are festivals to celebrate both of these fine culinary traditions!).

This admirable enthusiasm for honouring the best in British cuisine can be enjoyed all over the country. So here, we’ve selected just some of Britain’s finest and funniest food fests for you to experience in the next 12 months.

1 Smoke & Fire Festival

If you enjoy the prospect of seeing grown men cry, head down to Maldon, Essex, each August, for the Smoke & Fire Festival.

On the banks of the River Blackwater in the county’s wonderful Promenade Park, otherwise intelligent men will show flagrant disregard for their tastebuds by consuming a series of increasingly super-hot chilli peppers. Tongues will melt and tears will flow, but he (only men are daft enough!) who conquers will achieve deity status.

And if you think that you, too, might have the oesophageal fortitude, just £10 bags you a place on stage. You’ll even get a cool, if potentially presumptuous, ‘I survived the Smoke & Fire Chilli Challenge’ T-shirt.

This is just the tip of a smokily delicious culinary iceberg, as a multitude of foods (mainly meats) are cooked over open fires to achieve the level of tantalising flavours an oven never can.

Feast of Fire is the highlight of the weekend, when giant joints of meat are liberally doused in marinade and flamecooked to perfection over charcoal.

Vegetarians are probably best advised to leave the county for a couple of days! Web smokeandfirefestival.com

Stay here

Mill House Caravan Park

Church Road, Little Baddow, Chelmsford CM43 4FL

Tel 01245 464 060

Web millhousecaravanpark.co.uk

Price From £14 per night

2 Abergavenny Food Festival

This is one of the country’s top food fests, celebrated in September each year.

Located in Abergavenny, South Wales, it has a reputation for attracting the best chefs, farmers and food producers from all over the UK and beyond.

The event offers a unique Welsh welcome to its 30,000 guests, and total inclusivity, making it the perfect destination for a little light browsing, some in-depth tasting or perhaps a full-on culinary masterclass.

Its 2020 line-up is yet to be announced, but you can expect to see a cast list that could include high-profile pan-flippers like Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-whittingstall and Monica Galetti. Web abergavennyfoodfestival.com

Stay here

Blossom Touring Park

Tredilion, Abergavenny NP7 8BG

Tel 07802 605 050

Web blossompark.co.uk

Price From £18 per night plus electricity (includes 30 minutes of free Wi-fi)

3 Clovelly Seaweed Festival

Here’s a date for your diary: Sunday 24 May 2020. Don’t forget, because this is Seaweed Festival day on Devon’s beautiful north coast. The charming seaside town of Clovelly holds this event annually,

to promote the (alleged) deliciousness, nutrition and all-round health benefits of eating seaweed.

Now, I love a bit of seafood and I’m pretty down with most offal products; but I must admit, seaweed has never taken my fancy.

It might take a festival like this to open my eyes (and mouth) to the varied colours and tastes of seaweed, packed as it is with minerals and fibre.

The event features plenty of quayside kitchens, creating a surprising range of seaweed-based dishes, and there are stalls selling other seaweed products.

Expert plantswoman Emma Gunn will preside over a masterclass on seaweed identification (a self-kelp group, perhaps?), and there are craft activities and workshops. Meanwhile, forager Adam Reeve will deliver a talk on finding and gathering seaweed.

There’s lots of live music, too – and it’s all in aid of the North Devon Hospice. Web clovelly.co.uk

Stay here

Greencliff Farm

Abbotsham, Bideford EX39 5BL

Tel 01237 424 674

Web greencliff-farm.co.uk

Price From £14 per night

4 Sausage & Cider Fest

Head to the East of England Arena in Peterborough on Saturday 16 November 2019 to take part in some serious sausage and cider action.

The event, running from 6.30pm to 11pm, combines these two great British delicacies with some really fabulous live music and a fantastic atmosphere.

There’s a wide range of Britain’s tastiest ciders available, as the organisers scour the country and only bring back the best. It’s a tough job, etc…

Likewise, there are all sorts of artisan bangers to devour – absolutely not your normal supermarket sausage, these have been carefully crafted by experts.

Non-cider drinkers shouldn’t be deterred, either, because there’s a superb craft beer and gin bar, too. Over-18s only!

Ticket prices for the event range from £11.10 to £22.20 (the sooner you buy your tickets, the cheaper they are). Web eastofenglandarena.com

Stay here

Ferry Meadows C&MC Site

Ham Lane, Peterborough PE2 5UU

Tel 01733 233 526

Web camc.com

Price From £10.45

5 Crab & Lobster Festival

The Crab & Lobster Festival, on 16/17 May 2020, is a fun and fascinating seafood celebration, shared by the pretty seaside towns of Cromer and Sheringham.

This North Norfolk region has become increasingly trendy in recent years, and the rival towns now host the county’s premier coastal foodie event together.

The festival combines the area’s seafaring heritage with its current fishing activities. Events focus on the pier, but involve other buildings and park areas, too.

The action starts on Friday evening, with a traditional variety concert at Cromer Pier’s Pavilion Theatre (NR27 9HE), then expands to the town’s Evington Lawns.

Crab and lobster are obviously the toast of the weekend, because they’ve brought prosperity to the towns over the centuries. Local chefs and restaurants are involved, so you can taste many exciting ways in which these crustaceans can be prepared.

Less ‘crabby’ foodstuffs are on offer, too, including some fine chutneys, jams, cakes and charcuterie.

Why not spend a weekend enjoying this wild and wonderful coastline, and visit the festival for a few hours of entertainment… and to buy your supper? Web crabandlobsterfestival.co.uk

Stay here

Incleborough Fields Station Close, West Runton, Cromer NR27 9QG

Tel 01263 837 419

Web camc.com

Price From £12.70

6 Leamington Food Festival

This elegant Regency town hosts one of the Midlands’ best foodie get-togethers each year in early September.

The free event takes place over two days in the pretty Pump Room Gardens, and features all sorts of fun activities, as well as live music and cooking demos.

Kids will love the Make & Bake Cookery School, where they get hands-on experience creating some tasty morsels, from raisin bread in a bag, to pizzas. Space is limited, so pre-book on arrival to avoid disappointment. Web leamingtonfoodfestival.co.uk

Stay here

Harbury Fields Farm Caravan Park Middle Road, Harbury, Leamington Spa CV33 9JN

Tel 01926 612 457

Web harburyfields.co.uk

Price From £23.50

‘Feast of Fire is the highlight of the festival, with giant joints of meat flame-cooked to perfection’