Dales Food & Drink Festival, part 1

Yorkshire Dales is where I have been living for more than six years and is also a place where I will buy my first house when I win the lottery. I would buy two others elsewhere but first I have to be obscenely rich. Dales are part of the national park, so you can easily find here lots of lovely nature, but also fantastic food. Not only Dales as a matter of fact, but whole Yorkshire is a place of very good quality produce.

I was fortunate to visit local Dales Food and Drink Festival in Leyburn (6-8 May). Three days, twelve thousand visitors, over eighty exhibitors, good food, even better drink, music, entertainment, farming and more.


I hope you will enjoy my photo story.

I am not a big fan of cupcakes, so popular in Britain, however these look adrable and I am not suprised that some people are willing to have then on their wedding day. Beautifully decorated, little pieces of art.

"No denying times is hard, sir! Even harder than the worst pies in London!" (Sweeney Todd). Again something very British and very good. I have tried three different pies and every single one of them was delicious, not like those Helena Bonham - Carter baked in "Sweeney Todd". As a matter of fact these were the best pork pies I ever had.  Farmhouse Direct  make their pies from rare breed called Gloucester Old Spot, crust melts in your mouth and the toppings are very, very interesting and compliment the meaty filling very well - red onion marmalade and Leicester cheese or apple and cider chutney.

Porridge in the morning is so British, isn't it? :) This one was particularly interesting - a mix of oats, quinoa and cinnamon.

Festival of Food and Drink would be nothing without good tea. Beautiful flowering teas and wide selection of accessorize and leaf teas from  The Tea Experience.

Morris dance  form of traditional dance usually accompanied by music. Implements sticks, swords and bells may also be wielded by the dancers. "So this is what you do when you don't have sex anymore" - said my partner. No interest in this whatsoever if you ask me. By the way my partner has the same opinion about playing golf. 

Fantastic cold pressed Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil. No nonsense, chemical free. Plain or with a hint of chilli or basil - very, very tasty. Not only this oil is produced using rapeseed from local farms but the company  actively support low food miles and ensure that their bottles and labels are all produced using British companies. I like it, I buy it.

I mentioned about these cordials made by Country Cordials in my post about the lavender cordial. Wide selection and interesting flavours of cordials that I found on the festival inspired my to experiment more with my homemade cordials. I only bought one bottle - wild nettle flavour, but the decision was hard. What would you say about rhubarb, orange and ginger in one bottle? 

Time for lunch! What you can see on my tray is authentic Indian cuisine by Prett Tejura, who had her theater  of cooking the day before. I like it a lot, she seems to be such a nice person and experienced cook. Love the idea of cookery class (based in Leeds) as well as catering dinner parties! She also sells her homemade pickles and chutneys. Please don't be fooled by my outfit, it was very cold, at the beginning of May it was around 5-8 C!

I am fortunate to have great meat supplier locally in my favourite local deli called Campbells of Leyburn. It is worth mentioning because it is quite impressing that this shop has been run by one family since 1868. Today it is the fifth generation of Campbell family running the business. And the butchers... Lovely lads, who are always wiling to help and advise and those who I make cake for when I need odd ingredients such as beef bones. Kevin in the front cooking burgers.

Kippers, something not everyone like, but very tasty, especially when freshly smoked. This was  Port of Lancashire smokehouse. By the way - I am hoping to build our own this year.

Daleside Brewery was hosting the Yorkshire Dales Real Ale and Cider Festival which included more than 30 different beers and 10 different ciders. It is a shame that we had to drive back home, as we would try more, and more. As huge fans of  Monty Python we could not resist Holy Grail. I absolutely love this word game!

And this is Black Sheep one of my favourite to drink and to cook with produced as well as Holy Grail by Black Sheep Brewery in Masham.

To be continued...