Food for thought: annual Faversham Food Festival to whet your taste-buds

Foodies are in for a treat next week, as the annual Faversham Food Festival returns to the Market Town of Kings from 16 – 18 September.

Celebrating the best of locally-produced food and drink, the festival, this year the festival also includes the Ale Trail, a new venture inviting you to explore the beers and pubs of Faversham. Amongst a rich plethora of tempting events, the market will be offering food tastings, demonstrations and talks; St Mary’s church will host stalls and tea and cake; live jazz in the Abbey Physic Community Garden, followed by a Teddy Bear’s Picnic; local MP Helen Whateley will be presenting the festival’s Food Hero Award during a dinner at the Phoenix Tavern; champagne-tasting at the Creek Hotel; and a Gala Dinner at the Red Sails Restaurant. You can also vote for your favourite sausage on the Sausage Trail.

Details about all these and more can be found on the festival’s website here, or you can download the brochure here;  between 16-18 September, there’ll be something to really get your teeth into…

Whitstable’s Pearl: WhitLit returns next month

Literature-lovers are in for a treat next month, when WhitLit returns to set Whitstable abuzz – and this year it looks bigger and better.

Building on the success of its inaugural festival last year, this year’s programme promises a veritable literary feast, including a mixture of national and local writers, writing workshops, and there’s also space for younger bookworms with events for younger readers.

There’s a focus on crime literature on Weds 13 May, with Peter James in the evening, whilst author David Nicholls will be in conversation at Whitstable Community College on Thursday 14 May. Patrick Gale and local author Peggy Riley Gale’s appear on Sat 16 May to talk about Gale’s A Place in Winter.

Poetry also features as part of the festival, including an Open Mic night at the Horsebridge Arts Centre on Sat 16 May.

Local author Julie Wassmer talks about her recently-published The Whitstable Pearl; and on the final day of the festival, Kate Mosse (of Labyrinth fame) will be taking part.

Writing for younger readers is also a focus of the festival, from toddlers to teens,  including workshops on writing and the graphic novel.

The festival will also pay tribute to Whitstable’s famous literary son, W Somerset Maugham, on Sat 16 May in an evening in which Penny Vincenzi will also be talking about her new novel, A Perfect Heritage; earlier that evening, writer, presenter and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig appears. Maugham’s novel The Painted Veil also forms the basis of this year’s book debate and the festival’s ‘town read.’

The most appealing aspect of WhitLit is that it manages to embrace both national writers alongside its own local writers, celebrating both the wider literary sphere as well as its own home-grown writing talent;  there are also many free events (see here); and there is something to appeal to literature-lovers of all ages, all at venues throughout the attractive seaside town. Find out more about the festival here and see for yourself why the festival is Whitstable’s very own literary pearl.

Brogdale Cider Festival next week

Kent’s very own Cider Festival at Brogdale will take place next weekend, the 22/23 September.

Festival fun 2012

There will be lots of free activities for children including craft activities, tractor tours, pig-racing and story-telling; there’ll also be plenty of live music. There will also be a free shuttle bus service running between the festival and Faversham station for festival-goers.

And of course there will be plenty of opportunity to explore a wide variety of ciders, with ‘Taste Something New’ the tagline for this year’s Artisan Cider Festival.

Find out more on the festival website here.

Hip to the Hop: Faversham Hop Festival

The annual Faversham Hop Festival bursts into life on Saturday 1 September, with live music, entertainment and of course a celebration of Kent’s hop-picking tradition.

Hop Festival 2012

The two-day festival features an array of events on stages and in venues both in and around the town centre, which you can see on the festival’s Live Music page, and also on the Playing in Faversham website. Bands include the ever-popular Hullabaloo.

The full guide to everything that’s happening at the festival can be found on the festival’s official website here.

Sponsors of the Faversham Hop Festival

The mOare, the merrier

The mini mOare Festival is currently teasing us with the promise of a weekend of events at The Anchor Inn, Faversham, on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 September.

The organisers are holding their cards close to their chest in not revealing what’s coming up, but tickets have now gone on sale online here.

Keep up with the Festival on its Facebook page here, and keep an eye out closer to the time for full details.

The Faversham Hop Festival will also be taking place at the start of September, too; preview to follow – it’s all happening in Faversham this September!