Thousands flock to The Shops at Dartington Food Fair

The Alice in Wonderland inspired The Shops at Dartington Food Fair this weekend (24th – 25th May) attracted record crowds of over 7,000 people. Over the action packed weekend visitors to the free The Shops at Dartington Food Fair, which celebrated its fifth birthday, enjoyed tasty treats from Devon food and drink producers, an abundance of fun and educational workshops, live music and plenty of activities to keep the children entertained.

Kicked off in style, the Food Fair launched with a pop-up supper on Saturday 23rd May hosted by guest chef Jane Baxter. Set in the enchanting courtyard at The Shops at Dartington, Jane, the former head chef of Riverford Field Kitchen, treated all to a fabulous feast using locally sourced, seasonal produce. Dishes included divine sharing platter starters, a mouth-watering main course of lamb cooked three ways and heavenly desserts all accompanied with Sharpham Wine.

Held in association with Food & Drink Devon, over 40 of Devon’s best food and drink producers both large and small showcased their wonderful products. Producers who attended included Devon Distillery, The Bloomberry Juice Company, Hunt’s Cider, Portlebay Popcorn, The Blueberry Brothers, Bell & Loxton, Beanbug, The Wonky Kitchen, Te Cake, South Devon Chilli Farm and Frandie Macaron as well as many other favourites. Luscombe Drinks kindly donated all the proceeds from the sale of their award-winning drinks to Richard’s Wish, an amazing £900.

Throughout the two days, packed out workshops with guest chefs and food and drink experts took place. ‘The Perfect Pairing: Food & Drink Partners’ with regular wine expert on BBC1’s ‘Saturday Kitchen’ Susy Atkins and South Hams food hero, David Jones; Ben Palmer, chef patron at The Greedy Goose’s ‘Three-course springtime menu’; Rachel Lambert’s ‘Foraging the Dartington Estate Hedgerows’; crab cracking with Alan Steer and Anuj Thakur, head chef at The White Hart’s ‘Behind the scenes of The White Hart: Chicken Blanquette’ all proved extremely popular.

Children were entertained in the new children’s marquee with face painting, biscuit icing, a Mad Hatters’ tea party and the chance to meet a life-sized white rabbit from The Alice in Wonderland tale. There was also a constantly busy bouncy castle, Totnes Rare Breeds and birds of prey for the children to meet, a chance to get messy with Crazy about Clay and for those wanting to get their adrenalin flowing, Dynamic Adventures.

To celebrate The Shops at Dartington’s Food Fair’s fifth birthday, highly acclaimed Richard Hunt co-owner of The Devon Scone Company judged the competitive cake baking competition. Rosie Cook won the over 16 category with a vibrantly iced cake, with Chloe Piper winning the 16 and under category.

Commenting on the success of the Food Fair, managing director of The Shops at Dartington, Barbara King said: “To have over 7,000 visitors to our Food Fair this year is astonishing. We are absolutely thrilled with the event and the feedback we have received from producers and exhibitors, chefs and of course the public.” Barbara continued: “When we started the Food Fair back in 2011 we wanted to raise awareness and help promote Devon food and drink businesses and also introduce people to The Shops at Dartington. To have such an impressive number of visitors just five years later is far more than we could ever have expected.”

In addition to the Food Fair visitors where able to browse The Shops at Dartington’s 14 onsite shops, many of which had visiting suppliers conducting demonstrations. The shop’s employees took The Alice in Wonderland theme to their hearts with several dressing up as their favourite characters in full consume.

The Shops at Dartington is owned by the Dartington Hall Trust, an independent charitable organisation, trading ethically and sustainably as a social enterprise in order to help support the Trust’s activities in Social Justice, Sustainability and the Arts.

For further information about Dartington Food Fair please visit http://www.dartingtonfoodfair.org.