This year the Powderham Food Festival is celebrating ‘Pickling, Potting & Preserving’ from ancient roots to space food technology. The festival takes place on 5th October 2013, and is sponsored by Helpful Holidays, the leading holiday cottage specialists in the South West.

The event will celebrate food and food-growing in a spectacular location – Powderham Castle: an exceptional, family run 600-year-old stately home which is situated beside the picturesque Exe estuary, and surrounded by stunning deer park.

There will be over a hundred producers exhibiting in the castle and grounds, with fascinating demonstrations, talks and tastings by artisan makers, small producers, growers, and experts in the field of food preservation. Heading the talks will be ‘The Incredible Spice Men’ recently seen on BBC2 and television gardening broadcaster, Toby Buckland, who will be giving a talk on 'How to grow your garden and eat it' then hosting a panel of experts for a foodie gardening question-time session.

Autumn at Powderham Castle in the last few centuries was a busy time with the kitchen and still-rooms, busier than ever, preserving the harvest for the lean months to come. There were once great hooks in the vast old kitchen inglenook fireplace where hams were smoked; great earthenware crocks used for salting and the lovely old copper pans and stoneware pots used for jams, vinegars, and cordials. The larders were crammed with great sides of pork, to be dried, cured and turned into potted meats and bacon. Even milk and cream were “pickled” - cheese after all, only being “pickled” milk!

But here at Powderham Food Festival we are looking to the future. We’ll be investigating ways of preserving your own harvest with talks and demos on drying, smoking, salting, jam-making, pickling, brewing and much more. In addition to how new foods and preserving methods developed by NASA for astronauts in space have impacted on our domestic kitchens.

There’ll be food stalls, a ‘Preserves Competition’, children’s gardening activities, apple pressings, talks, workshops with the ‘Victorian Cook’ and live music to keep you entertained.

Join us in this unique historic setting for family fun, and an abundance of fabulous food.

Adults £5, children under 16 free.

www.powderhamfoodfestival.com