Event of the Week: Ottery Food and Families Festival

Tomorrow (Saturday 3 September) sees the return of the Ottery Food and Family Festival, a community run, family friendly event taking place in Ottery St. Mary.

The event will take place in the field next to Otter Garden Centre, which is about 10 minute drive from Honiton.

About the Food and Families Festival

The Otter Food Fest is 'community-organised and driven by a passion of local food and talent, this event shares with you our wonderful local producers, products and chefs.'

Otter Food Fest is the first event in September's Taste East Devon Food and Drink Festival, which is a celebration of local food and drink producers, restaurants and chefs taking place across East Devon.

Organised by a group of volunteers who are passionate and enthusiastic about local food, the event is now in its 9th year, and it is now bigger than ever. Last year more than 3,000 people attended the festival.

When the festival first started it took place in the centre of Ottery, but as it got larger each year the organising committee found it too complex to organise road closures and other matters relating to holding the event in a town. It was then that Otter Garden Centre, the event's main sponsor, said that it could be held in the field next to the shop.

The key driver for the festival is to raise local and regional awareness of Ottery St. Mary as a 'foodie' destination – for eating out, buying or producing.

Ruud Jansen Venneboer is a volunteer with the group. He spoke to Nub News about tomorrow's event: "We've been fortunate to have always had good weather for the festival, so fingers crossed for a nice day!

"The group are really looking forward to it – we love meeting local people and entertaining them with great food, music, live demonstrations and kid's activities!"

What to expect

There will live music, cooking demonstrations, an 'Ottery Village', a food hall and a range of events happening on the day. Here is a small selection of scheduled events to give you an idea of what will be taking place:

·      11am: Ottery St Mary Silver Band

·      10:30am – 11:15am: Dan Gavriilidis from The Pig at Combe returns for another year and will be preparing a meal using fresh produce from The Pig's gardens and meat and fish from local suppliers.

·      11:45 – 12:45pm: Zero Waste Cookery. Pierre Greaber will share his top tips to reduce waste and great homemade food gifts to share.

·      12pm: Ian 'Slide' Edgar will be performing folks/blues music on his guitar

·      1pm: Tessa Stone will demonstrate how to create a delicious meal using foraged ingredients

·      Throughout the day there will be a range of free classes and sessions in the Wellbeing Tent and in the Children's Area there will artistic sessions with Thelma Hulbert, Drama Tots and outdoor activity specialist Alan Bruford.

Practicalities

The event is free.

There will be a free shuttle bus departing every 15 minutes from outside the Silver Otter in Ottery. It is approximately a 15-minute walk from Ottery. 

Parking is fairly limited, so visitors are asked to use the shuttle if possible. Visitors from Honiton, Gittisham and West Hill can use the 4/4A bus.