Saturday’s Food Festival, organised by Farnham Town Council, has been hailed as a huge success.

For just one day, Castle Street was closed to traffic and was transformed into a bustling, vibrant setting for the Food Festival. Glorious warm sunshine, freshly cooked food and live entertainment provided all the necessary ingredients for a fun and enjoyable day.

The Food Festival included more than 70 stalls. A number of local restaurants took part and cooked delicious dishes from their menus for people to enjoy at the Festival. There were many familiar faces from the Farmers’ Market selling their locally grown or produced food and drink. Lots of the stallholders offered free tasters so people could try new flavours and sample different types of food. There was also a variety of non-food items on sale.

Cllr Jill Hargreaves, Lead Member of Tourism and Events says: “There is no doubt in my mind that this year’s Food Festival was the best one yet. We estimate that over 10,000 people visited including couples, families with young children, friends and people walking their dogs! It was such a friendly event and the atmosphere was amazing. The stallholders gave positive feedback and lots of people made a special point of saying what a lovely time they had, which was wonderful to hear.”

As well as food, there was plenty of entertainment including live music performed by Voice and Keys and Grandpa Spells Jazz Band. At the food demonstration stage, local chefs gave the audience an insight into their tricks of the trade and the Hogs Back Brewery gave an interesting talk.

At the bottom of Castle Street there was face painting and a chance for children to see inside a fire engine and meet members of the fire service. People could also learn life-saving first aid skills from the St John’s Ambulance.

Cllr Jill Hargreaves adds: “The Food Festival was followed on Sunday by the monthly Farmers’ Market. This was the final event in our fortnight long Feast of Food, which has been enjoyed by thousands of people and has involved pubs, restaurants and food producers from both the town centre and surrounding villages.”

Anybody who has comments about Feast of Food or who is interested in getting involved in future events should email Farnham Town Council.