Blenheim Food Festival 2015 Review

Blenheim Food Festival
Oxfordshire

23-25 May 2015

www.fantasticbritishfoodfestivals.com

Reviewed by Trevor Jay

The food festival was held at Blenheim Palace from 23-25 May 2015. It was the first of 8 festivals being held across the country this year. Further details at www.fantasticbritishfoodfestivals.com. Whilst entry to the food festival is free, you have to pay to get into the Blenheim Park and Gardens (£13.50 adult or £20 to include entry to the Palace). We spent an interesting 2 hours exploring the Palace and learning more about Winston Churchill, before strolling across to the pleasure gardens for the food festival.

There were over 50 stands, attractively set out amongst the trees. A really nice touch was the central area which had lots of straw bales spread around. Most people were sitting on these to enjoy their chosen food and drinks and some of the kids were climbing over them and having a great time. Further entertainment for the children was provided by a kids’ club with activities such as face painting and a small petting farm.

Choosing what to eat is always difficult when there is so much on offer. After several circuits we chose to eat BBQ smoked brisket, a homemade Cornish pasty and a delicious Vietnamese pork and rice dish washed down with beer and cider from the Severn Cider Company. If you fancied something sweet there were cookies, handmade marshmallows and a build your own cheesecake stall.

In addition to standard stalls, there were a number of innovatively converted vans, notably old Citroens, a Volkswagen camper van and a Tipple Taxi.

Talks and demos took place throughout the day in the Demonstration Tent. You could pre book for these (there were a few reserved signs on the straw bales), but we found there was plenty of room when we saw Dipna Anand from the ‘Magnificent’ Indian restaurant in Southall. After showing us how to prepare Chilli Paneer, we were given the opportunity to taste the dish and then went on to learn how to make chapattis.

The festival was great fun and added immensely to a visit to Blenheim Palace, park and gardens.

Rating: 5/5

For more information or to book tickets for Fantastic British Food Festivals that run until October visit www.fantasticbritishfoodfestivals.com.