Tastebuds tickled by local fare in the Dales

Leyburn has attracted thousands of visitors by hosting the event, with warm sunshine bringing perfect conditions for families to trawl food stalls and witness top local chefs in action on the opening day.

Artisan products take centre stage at the festival and locally caught and smoked mackerel produced by Staal Smokehouse in East Yorkshire has drawn plenty of interest while Rubis chocolate flavoured wine has made for a somewhat unusual addition.

Visitors have been getting tips on how to make good use of leftovers by the Love Food Hate Waste team, with cook Nigel Brown demonstrating how to salvage ingredients to make bakewell tarts, among other tasty treats.

Besides the local food on offer in the food hall, there are 40 different beers and ten ciders, all produced by micro-breweries in Yorkshire, to sample at the event’s real ale festival.

Sandy Carter, the festival’s administrator, said the event was once again proving to be a big hit.

“It’s going really well and the atmosphere is great. People are becoming more aware of where their food comes from. They like to see locally produced food sold locally.

“We have another day today so come on down and join us. Among the highlights is sure to be Gervase Phinn, who is always fabulous and packs out the marquee.”

Last year’s event attracted an overall attendance of around 12,000 people and organisers at the Leyburn and Wensleydale Partnership are hopeful of hitting a similar high this time around.

One-day tickets for admittance to the festival cost £8 and children under the age of 16 accompanied by an adult can enter free.

For full listings of today’s programme, visit www.dalesfestivaloffood.org