The Dales Festival Of Food And Drink 2007

Well, it’s that time of the year again. The Dales Festival of Food & Drink is in full swing, and opening day was as manic as usual.
I’ve visited loads of food festivals, but this is easily my favourite. Stalls seem to grow in number and ambition each year, and the beer tent seems to offer more and more choice. In short, if the weather stays good, it’s a foodie’s paradise.

Over the coming weeks I will be bringing profiles on the suppliers that impressed me the most, as hard as that may be. The standard of this market is incredibly high – and a fantastic advert for local produce.

Raydale Preserves were in attendance as usual, and their excellent Jams and Jellies grow in range year on year. The Rushyford Game stall had a massive queue at lunchtime and their range of game and venison pies and sandwiches looked awesome.

Most impressive, however, were the sausages from The Yorkshire Dales Meat Company. Everything a sausage should be – porky, meaty and cooked to perfection. Their humble sausage sandwich was easily the hit of the weekend for us. Also impressing was the mackerel pate offered by Mackenzie’s Yorkshire Smokehouse. It lived up to the standard set by their bacon, which is outstanding. Smeared thickly on crisp toasts it made the perfect light supper on the return home.

The Pies and pastries on the North Country Lass stall looked absolutely perfect, and Loopy Lisa’s fudge proved that people still have sweet teeth when it comes to home-made fudge. Keep an eye out for profiles of these companies and many more over the forthcoming weeks on The Good Stuff, and a full run-down of the excellent beer festival.

Loopy Lisa’s
4 Loop Lane, Butterknowle, Bishop Auckland, Co Durham DL13 5JR
Tel - 01388718794
E-mail: loopylisasfudge@hotmail.con

Yorkshire Dales Meat Co.

Mill Close Farm, Patrick Brompton, Bedale DL8 1JY Tel. 01748 810042
E-mail: info@yorkshiredalesmeat.com

http://www.northcountrylass.co.uk/
http://www.mackenziesyorkshiresmokehouse.co.uk/
http://www.rushyfordgame.co.uk/
www.thedales.org.uk/RaydalePreserves