Cakes, cider and crow pies on the menu

Darren Beaumont of the Medieval Pie Company with his squirrel pieDarren Beaumont of the Medieval Pie Company with his squirrel pie
Darren Beaumont of the Medieval Pie Company with his squirrel pie
Visitors to the annual food festival at Chatsworth got a genuine taste of history as they basked in the sunshine at the stately home, seat of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.

Highlights included a “medieval” pie shop with rarities such as crow, hedgehog and squirrel bakes.

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Featuring more than 60 stalls selling locally-sourced produce, there was also an array of refreshing tipples including raspberry cider, and a variety of tasty offerings from the award-winning Chatsworth Farm Shop.

Chatsworth’s own farm shop stalls had on offer a range of artisan breads, tarts, cakes and biscuits, produced by the in-house team under the watchful eye of new head baker Roger Coulson.

The farm shop’s sandwich stall was also doing a roaring trade in hot roast pork, turkey and ham rolls.

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Lucy Cooper, 20, grew up in nearby Bakewell and now
works for the Chatsworth Farm Shop.

She said: “Some of the most popular breads have been the stilton and walnut, and also the Pumpernickel.

“The farm shop is a wonderful place to be – we all enjoy working there so much.”

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Tim Gilmore, who was selling his own traditional-recipe
pork scratchings, said the pub snack was more popular than ever.

The 48-year-old said: “Lots of old-style British foods are coming back into vogue.

“Demand is such that we’ve started delivering our pork scratchings internationally, and we’re getting orders from all over the world.”

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For those with full stomachs, entertainment on offer included face painting for children and music from acts such as the Sheffield-based Little Bigfoot Barndance Band.

The free event continues next weekend on June 8 and June 9, and will be open from 10am to 5pm.

A £3 parking charge applies.

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