Monday of this week was a bank holiday in England. Adam and I both had the day off, so took advantage of our free time to visit the Great Malvern Food Festival. When I lived in Australia, Wagga Wagga’s annual food and wine festival was one of my favourite events of the year so I was keen to check out my new community’s version.
It was cool, grey and low clouds hung covered the tops of the Malvern Hills, adding a unique atmosphere to Priory Park, right in the centre of town. We arrived quite early, wanting to check the offerings before it got too busy.
I enjoyed an open-top Morrocan lamb, vegetable and lentil pie. It had just enough hint of spice and the addition of dried apricots throughout added a lovely sweetness.
We couldn’t help but stop at a Herefordshire based ice-cream stand. I had a tub of the most delicious honeycomb ice-cream, while Adam chose apricot and amaretti.
There were cooking demonstrations throughout the day, which were set up in a special marquee. Adam particularly enjoyed the Peter Cooks Bread segment, getting slightly star struck!
We came home with the most beautiful asparagus and of course, my baker boy couldn’t help but purchase a few loaves of the locally made Peter Cooks bread. The Malvern Sour (the round loaf) is made using water taken from the springs of the hills.
My only disappointment with the festival was, to me, it was more like a food market. There were a lack of areas to sit and enjoy the food – a few bench seats in the park, but they were hard to snaffle. The grass was damp from early morning rain and bringing fold-up chairs didn’t appear to be the norm. I think people would’ve been encouraged to stay longer if there were areas set up to just sit and enjoy the atmosphere. Nonetheless, Adam and I enjoyed our long-lunch and I’m looking forward to squeezing in visits to a few more food festivals before the summer is out.
If you’ve got any recommendations for good food festivals within the U.K., let me know!
Wattle and Ash 