About Eat Dorset Food Fair

13th and 14th OCTOBER 2012

Parnham House, Beaminster    10am - 4pm

EAT DORSET brings together the very best of Dorset produce from across the County. Over 50 great producers gather in the grounds of beautiful Parnham House to showcase the wonderful diversity of Dorset food ranging from chilli cheese to smoked venison, hand reared beef to seasonal chutney. This is a true showcase for Dorset food and presents a great opportunity to see and taste Dorset's great produce and an opportunity to talk to those who make it.

In addition there are cookery demonstrations from top Chefs (including Valentine Warner, Lesley Waters, Mat Follas, Gill Meller and Marcus Verberne) and LESLEY WATERS's 'pop-up' cookery school offering hands-on classes; a chance for children to cook, make bread and decorate cakes; and plenty of opportunity to eat great food cooked by great cooks.

NO DOGS PLEASE

 

 

EAT DORSET was launched to celebrate the publication of the book by the same title. Initially, just a few producers gathered in the beautiful grounds of Parnham House to showcase local produce. Over the past few years, the Festival has grown beyond recognition with more than 50 local producers from Dorset and the surrounding counties now gathering to promote and sell a wonderfully diverse and highly regarded range of produce.

Dorset has become synonymous with good food and the EAT DORSET FOOD FAIR captures the very best that the County has to offer. In addition to the wide range of produce available to taste, discuss and buy, there are Cookery Demonstrations throughout the weekend held in a designated Demo Kitchen. Top Chefs from all over the Country have been represented at the Festival and part of its extraordinary success is thanks to the huge support of Television Chef and owner of a Cookery School, LESLEY WATERS.

EAT DORSET has also had continuing and much valued support from Mark Hix, Matt Follas and Tamasin Day-Lewis. Aidan Chapman, another regular and valued supporter from the Phoenix Bakery in Weymouth, will demonstrate again this year in addition to running Children’s bread-making workshops.

 

 

Children’s activities have always been a focal point of EAT DORSET and this year there will be a numer of workshops – including breadmaking, chocolate making and cake decorating. Kite-making returns by popular demand and there will be a wonderful display of banners and kites showcasing the winners of a competition run for the event.

2011 will mark a change to the Cafe where a range of freshly-made food will be on sale all day ranging from tapas, to griddled chicken, to Moroccan tagine. The cooks will include Victoria Blashford-Snell who is well known and highly regarded both locally and nationally.

The HIVE BEACH CAFE will return with their hugely successful Champagne and Oyster Bar selling Oysters, Crab and Spiced Seafood Soup.

In 2009 EAT DORSET was named as one of a handful of finalists in the Country Life Magazine’s ‘Countryside Event of the Year’. This, together with listings in The Times and The Independent as ‘One of the best Food Fairs of the Year’ has given EAT DORSET an established and highly respected place in the wonderful range of food festivals that take place throughout the country.

Described by The Times (in their listings of the top Food Festivals of the year) as 'more like the Squire's Summer do than a commercial event' ...... 'but though it is rural it is by no means parochial, featuring talks and demonstrations by some of London's top Chefs.' The Times 



EAT DORSET FOOD FAIR OPENING TIMES

  • 13th and 14th October 2012
  • 10AM - 4PM
  • ENTRANCE £5, CHILDREN UNDER 16 FREE

  • Address:
  • Parnham House
  • Beaminster
  • Dorset
  • DT8 3LZ

 

 

 

Carlo wrote: Next year will be the third time in a row that I have attended this wonderful event. Each and every time I travel to the beautiful and mesmerising grounds of Parnham House in Beaminster (DT8 3LZ), I am welcomed with friendly people, very helpful staff and most importantly a huge variety of utterly irresistible local foods. The facilities at the fair whether it be the toilets, café's, stalls or even horse drawn carriage tours, are top notch. I highly recommend going to the Eat Dorset Food Fair if you like great foods, friendly faces, beautiful panorama and a very fulfilling day.