Food and drink festival is a big affair

This event which started in 2012 as a two-day show is now a three day extravaganza with over 50 trade stalls, activities for children and live music.

Growing year on year in both high quality local producers and visitor numbers, this year saw 50 high quality local growers and respected food retailers showcasing their tasty treats in marquees and gazebos in and around Lancaster Brewery’s garden.

This year the festival was sponsored by Miller Homes and organised by the events team at Lancaster Brewery.

I’ve always been involved with the festival but as it grows bigger and I get a bit older, I have to hand some of the reins over to my events team, who are excellent.

It means I can concentrate on running the antiques centre, which, of course, during the festival weekend was a lot busier than usual. We welcome over 2,000 visitors through the doors of the centre on a normal Sunday, but the festival sees an average of 10,000 visitors over the weekend, so that’s a lot of people to manage.

It’s not just the antiques centre that benefits, as during the event, all the regular attractions on the park are open as usual. The festival is open from noon to 6pm. We listened to all the feedback from visitors and exhibitors last year, and decided to open a bit earlier this time. Opening in the afternoon gives our foodie fans chance to eat their lunch or tea with us, as well as allowing regular visitors to the leisure park time to enjoy all the attractions before the event opens.

Of course the usual brewery hospitality was be in full swing. Live music and real ales were the focus inside the brewery while outside in the garden, visitors browsed the many stalls.