Ludlow Food Festival Magazine 2016 by pebble pr

9-11 SEPTEMBER 2016 | LUDLOW www.foodfestival.co.uk

LUDLOW FOOD FESTIVAL

Great British Chef From a triumphant Great British Menu to fulfilling a life long dream, we catch up with Richard Bainbridge ahead of his Ludlow appearence.

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It’s a Bug’s Life

Shhhh ... Sneak Peak

Find out why the festival is getting serious about the future of food.

From Ale Trails to a Zotter chocolate factory tour competition, we have the alphabet of food and drink all sewn up. Take a sneak peak at what’s on this year. Full listings including chefs and exhibitors can be found on the website www.foodfestival.co.uk

TABLE OF CONTENTS

27 6 Award winning teamwork We drop by the gorgeous Eckington Manor to meet husband and wife superchefs Sue and Mark Stinchcombe, eight months after his win on Masterchef: The Professionals.

WIN A TRIP TO AUSTRIA To celebrate 100 years since Roald Dahl’s birth, we’re sending one lucky winner to Austria for a tour of the Zotter chocolate factory. He’s a modern day Willy Wonka!

LONDON, NY AND LUDLOW The world’s hottest food photography exhibition stops off at the Ludlow Assembly Rooms. Photo 2016 Competition: David Griffen, Smoked Wings. Ludlow Food Festival | 2016

ALSO IN THIS EDITION

14 Taste Workshops An hour long treat in the world of food and drink.

18 Marcus Bean

He’s the man behind our Friday Chefs Stage. We catch up with him at Brompton Cookery School.

Volunteer Opportunities Love helping people? Want to be part of our volunteer team? Then we have a role for you!

22 Richard Bainbridge He’s travelled across the county for a second visit and we can’t wait to welcome him back!

Reducing Waste

See how the Festival is reducing its environmental impact.

Buy-From Shropshire

31 PoBIT

One dynamic business community for small producers!

Driving Success

Director David Chantler looks at the Festival’s unique appeal.

32 Grown Cook Learn Find out how this innovative organisation is helping people across the region.

Is this the greenest car ever? We take a look at the BMW i3.

Ludlow Special

We’re streaming the Festival live for the first time, see how you can catch all the action.

34 35 UKTI Opportunities for export.

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WELCOME LUDLOW FOOD FESTIVAL, LUDLOW CASTLE 9-11 SEPTEMBER We can hardly believe that another year has flown by and the next Ludlow Food Festival is just around the corner! Food remains a subject high on the agenda, with the world’s population estimated to increase to 9.6 billion by 2050 (it’s currently around 7.4 billion), the need to find sustainable ways of eating and reducing the amount we throw away has never been greater. Over the last few year’s we’ve really been taking stock of the waste the Festival produces and have reduced the number of skips we send to landfill from 59 to just 2 in the last four years. Our ultimate aim is to send none. You can read about this and our environmental impact study on pages 8 and 9. This year we have lots of advice to help us all live more sustainably. There will be a number of talks on the Buy-From Shropshire stage and Romy Gill, MBE will be joining us for an evening of talks and demonstrations. Romy is one of the few Indian Chef/Owners in the UK as well as being a great ambassador for Slow Food! Pentabus will be bringing their ‘Farm Land to Mouth’ project to the Festival, a series of audio messages from farmers about food and fair prices, diversification and change, and their hopes and fears for the future. If you feel like being adventurous, then make sure you take part in the edible bug tasting with Harper Adams University ... it could very well be the future on a plate! Enjoy the Festival, there’s lots to do and see right across the weekend. Jo Gadsby, Editor

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“If you love food and drink, then this year’s festival is a must from Radio 4 Food and Farming Award Winners to the very best Herefordshire burgers, there’s something for everyone” Phil Maile, Ludlow Food Festival Chairman.

A Flavour of the Festival This year we have a really fantastic line-up of chefs taking to the stage including Mark and Sue Stinchcombe if you recognise the name, Mark was the latest winner of MasterChef the Professionals. Also joining us will be Raymond Blanc’s Development Chef, Shropshire born Adam Johnson, Great British Bake Off’s Howard Middleton and Great British Menu Winner, all the way from Norfolk, Richard Bainbridge. A full listing of all the chefs, food writers and producers on stage can be found on the Ludlow Food Festival website www.foodfestival.co.uk

We also have 180 of the very best small food and drink producers from across the Welsh Marches region. There’s a great array of Slow Food Taste Workshops and we have expanded the Slow Food area with some guest exhibitors. Chef Steve Lyons will be running the Chef’s Kitchen Masterclasses. Outside the castle there are our famous trails around town and a full line-up of attractions at the Ludlow Assembly Rooms including The Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year, cookery demonstrations and kids activities. Please visit www.foodfestival.co.uk for complete listings.

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UNCOMPROMISING TASTE

It’s not hard to be captivated by Eckington Manor, just outside Pershore in Worcestershire. Round the corner into the venue, which includes a farm, cookery school, restaurant, event space and luxury accomodation and you’re met with a mix of medieval buildings, striking scupltures and swaths of gorgeous countryside. But beauty is far more than skin deep at Eckington, it positively courses through its veins. Everywhere you look from the exquistely embroidered silk wallpaper to the seasonal restaurant menu there’s an attention to detail that’s meticulous.

Having trained at Gordon Ramsay’s Royal Hospital Road restaurant, worked in places such as San Franciso and won a string of accolades including Worcestershire Chef of the Year, she’s no stranger when it comes to TV crews either having appeared on the Great British Menu, Britain’s Best Dish and Hairy Bikers television series. When Eckington owner, Judy Gardner learnt a developer was interested in the farm next to the venue, she decided to buy it herself and now it provides Sue and Mark with a high quality larder right on their doorstep. It’s how they are using those ingredients that is really exciting though, showcased most recently by Mark on Masterchef, its all about creating the very best from each and every component of the dish. Take for example heritage carrots, a humble vegetable under normal circumstances, but carrots five ways, now that’s attention to detail. Sue and Mark clearly love what they do.

So it comes as no surprise that the two chefs heading up Eckington’s restaurant have the same ethos. Mark, the latest

winner of Masterchef: The Professionals has worked and trained at some of the leading restaurants in the world including The Fat Duck, Le Manoir and Driftwood in Cornwall. It was when he was working at Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham that he met his now wife and fellow chef, Sue Ellis.

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Having met in the kitchen, they have travelled the world together most notably Australia, New Zealand and Thailand, along the way developing a love for Thai cuisine. But food is never far from their minds, even on time off they’re discovering the newest local artisan suppliers, eating out or reading the latest cookbooks. Eckington Manor has been supporting the Ludlow Food Festival for a number of years and will again be running their very popular knife skills workshop across the weekend. However, this is the first time they have done a demonstation on stage. So what can we expect? Well as you would imagine Mark will be demonstrating a dessert from his time on Masterchef along with a main course of lamb. Sue and Mark will be on the Wot’s Cooking Stage on Friday 9 September at 11.30am.

“Food has come full circle, people want provenance and quality. Using the best there is on our doorstep means even the humblest ingredients can be stars on the plate.” Sue Stinchcombe.

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NO WASTE OF TIME Reducing our impact on the environment is really important to the Food Festival, so we’re working with two committed companies to make sure it’s as minimal as possible.

collecting glass, plastic, cans, food waste and paper plates and cups. And behind the scenes we make sure that traders know not to bring materials that can’t be recycled on site, like polystyrene. We also provide a back of house system that makes it easy for them to recycle too. How many Cwm Harry personnel are on site over the weekend? There’s a team of 7 to support all the exhibitors and food vendors as well as keep on top of the bins! How much waste did you collect last year from the Festival? In 2015 we sent just 2 x 4yd skips of waste to landfill compared with 59 mentioned earlier. We sent the following materials for recycling: 12 x wheelie bins of food waste approx 800 – 1000 kg 15 x dumpy sacks of compostable stuff like plates, trays, cups atc 5 x 1100s (big bins) of glass We asked Ali Thomas , Zero Waste Events Manager at Cwm Harry to talk us through their work with the Festival. How long has Cwm Harry been working with the Food Festival? Our Zero Waste Events service has been working with the Ludlow Food Festival for four years. I know when the Festival started working with you our waste to landfill was quite high and recycling quite low? Yes, a lot of recyclable stuff used to go to landfill . Before we started 59 skips of waste went to landfill, now it’s only 2. What did you implement to change this?

As a company you seem incredibly switched on in terms of minimising waste, is that a fair assessment? That’s what gets us out of bed in the morning. It’s really exciting to see how quickly you can reduce waste if you work with people to find easy ways to avoid it. It is a messy and physically demanding job but we love it – we love to work with events like the Food Festival where there is such a strong commitment on the part of the event organisers to minimise the environmental impact of the event. Ludlow Food Festival was one of the first festivals we worked with and your support in our first year has helped us to build a portfolio of 17 events each year.

We set up a recycling system that’s easy for visitors to use,

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Credibly Green - The Circle of Life The lifespan of a lion in the wild is between 10 and 14 years - this was part of the ‘circle of life’ famously sung in the Lion King. In England we have undergone a revolution over the last 14 years in terms of changing how we think about and manage the waste (or ‘rubbish’) we produce as households, and also from our offices and factories. In 2002/3, three quarters of our household waste was sent to landfill. Six years later this amount was reduced to 50%, and now, six years further on, less than a quarter of our waste is put into landfill. That is a revolution. Over the same period, recycling of household waste has increased from 13% to 43%, this means that we are reclaiming more resources and avoiding both the harmful effects of landfill and also that of raw materials extraction, as we utilise secondary materials recovered from the ‘waste’ stream instead. The Ludlow Food Festival takes its responsibility for the management of waste

on site seriously and Credibly Green, are monitoring and reporting on the environmental impacts of the Food Festival this year. So how can we all do our bit, especially when it comes to food waste? It is always best to avoid generating waste in the first place and there are plenty of great tips on this via the Government funded Love Food Hate Waste programme www.lovefoodhatewaste.com However some food waste will always arise, even if it is only banana skins and tea leaves! So how should it be managed? The best solution is to collect it separately, then it can be digested in a vessel known as an anaerobic digestion (AD) system, sometimes mixed with other wastes like agricultural wastes. Anaerobic Digestion is a technology originally trialled at a Government funded facility at Ludlow and since expanded at numerous sites across the Country, to treat food waste. It uses microbes to degrade the food waste to generate a slurry which

can be applied (like a compost or fertiliser) to farm land, in order to help grow more food. A circular approach that has many environmental and financial benefits. The technology also has the advantage of producing a biogas that can be used to generate electricity – and even cleaned for injection into the national gas grid, avoiding the need for fossil fuels. We all can take a role in managing waste more responsibly, and a great starting point is putting the right waste into the right bin! This action becomes a step into a circle that ultimately becomes a new item of packaging or supports the growth of the next crop of food. As they say in the Lion King – It’s the Circle of Life. For more information on becoming greener as a business, school, event or other organisation contact Credibly Green on 01746 552423 or see what we do on www. crediblygreen.com or by following us on twitter @crediblygreen

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PICTURE PERFECTION PINK LADY FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR The Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year Competition has become a global phenomenon since it launched in 2011 and each year we are delighted to welcome the top images to Ludlow as part of the Food Festival. We spoke to founder Caroline Kenyon about how the idea developed. What was the inspiration for setting up the competition in the first place? I’ve loved photography for many years - when I was editor of a travel magazine in London, one of my favourite things was seeing photographers who would bring me their portfolios. When I ran my own PR business, specialising in food, I commissioned a great deal of photography, and sometimes I would look at images from a shoot, and think, that one is fantastic, I wish I could enter it for an award!

“We’ve had 30,000 entries since we launched in 2011. This year, we had over 7000, from 60 countries.”

How has the competition grown since it first launched? We’ve had 30,000 entries since we launched in 2011. This year, we had over 7000, from 60 countries. It’s so exciting seeing the entries come in from places like Guatemala, Laos and South Africa. It makes me and my team realise that what we do is touching the lives of people very far away. Did you envisage it would get so big? So quickly? I hoped it would! I did have absolute faith in it as a project and I was thrilled by the enthusiasm with which everyone seems to embrace it, from judges, to media, to entrants. When I first asked people like Sheila Dillon of The Food Programme on Radio 4, and the Food Director of M&S to join the judging panel of a project that was, at that point, just an idea in my head, they all said yes immediately, which gave me great encouragement. What are the current prizes? £5000 for the overall winner, a life time Zenfolio account and a huge amount of global publicity. £1000 for the winner of Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year, £1000 for the winner of Pink Lady® Apple a Day category, £1000 for the winner of unearthed® Food in Film category; a special feature on the Production Paradise website ,as well as a Spotlight feature on their work for

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the winner of Production Paradise Food off the Press category, and a fantastic photo shoot at a top gastro hotel in the Lake District for the winner of the Food Bloggers category, as well as a Zenfolio account for all winners. Who are the current sponsors? Our wonderful headline sponsor is Pink Lady®, the premium global apple band. They sponsored from the outset and have committed until 2020 which is amazing. Other great sponsors include Errazuriz, the leading Chilean winery, Champagne Taittinger and InterContinental London Park Lane . And some very exciting new brands we will unveil shortly!

Above: Photograph from 2014 Competition: Louise Lister, Spanner Crab Opposite: Photograph from 2015 Competition: MalaĂŻka Weber, Homme et Boeuf

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How many categories are there and how has it grown since launch? There are at least 17 categories - that sounds a bit strange but we have some new ones coming on stream very shortly. There were only a dozen when we first started. We have created some very exciting categories for different partners - for example, in April we unveiled Marks & Spencer Food Adventures for images from the Americas to celebrate Rio 2016. This year, we have a great new category created for the World Food Programme called Food for Life, showing food in its humanitarian context and also InterContinental London Park Lane, Food at the Table category for stunning shots of food .

(Left) 2016 Competition. Jean Cazals: Chicken Cheese Toasty.

(Below left) 2015 Competition. Helen Cathcart: Supper Club. (Below right) 2016 Competition: Mark Benham, Flour Frenzy. (Opposite) 2014 Competition. Tessa Bunney: Noodle Making.

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Who are your judges and how do you select them? Where do I start? We have a fabulous ‘core’ of judges who have been with us from the beginning, such as Chris Beetles, of Beetles & Huxley, one of the world’s top dealers in photography and Helen Lewis, Creative Director of Quadrille Books, the leading cookery book publisher. Then there are names such as Antonio Carluccio, Michel Roux Jr and Yotam Ottolenghi. Jay Rayner has been our Chair of Judges for the last few years and David Loftus, Jamie Oliver’s photographer, is an integral member of the panel. Every single judge brings a huge amount of differing experience to the idea of food photography. What has the media’s response been to the competition? Utterly amazing. In year 1, we did have a bit of an explaining job to do, we were the new kids on the block and a lot of press thought the images would just be pretty pictures of food on a plate. When they saw that the Awards are so much more wide-ranging, things really took off. What kind of people are entering the competition? Absolutely all sorts, from top professional photographers to hobbyists and beginners. As every image is judged anonymously, it is a completely level playing field. There is a children’s category - why was it important to include that? Because we really want to encourage the next generation of photographers. Photography is so accessible nowadays with mobile phones and really young children can be amazingly talented. David Loftus is a great champion for the Young category and presents the trophies each year. There must be some amazing and interesting stories behind the images? Can you let us in on a couple? The winning image this year, Flour Frenzy, by Mark Benham, came at the end of a very hot and tiring day shooting at Duncan Glendinning’s bakery. Everyone was feeling weary and stuffy and Mark suggested they have some fun, so Duncan started throwing dough and flour about it - hey presto, a winning shot was taken! In our second year, Alexandra Paduretu took the winning shot, which was of her grandfather in Romania, eating an apple, He has the most wonderful lined and crumpled face, the juice is dribbling out of the apple and running onto his quilted jacket which he, a retired tailor, had made himself. What happens on awards night? We have 450 guests at the Mall Galleries. You can imagine it is an event of military precision as it is not just a party, but also an exhibition and a presentation. Detailed planning starts months in advance, pictures and boxes are sent to London as far in advance as possible, sometimes a bit of challenge. One year, one Finalist was travelling in Bhutan and couldn’t send us the high res image for printing until he got back to America which was three days before the Awards. We take possession of the gallery the day before and then it’s like a speeded-up film until an hour before guests arrive. What have been some of your personal favourite images? Ah, that’s like being asked to choose your favourite child! I love them all and when I go back into the archive from previous years, I sometimes get a bit emotional when I see so many outstanding images that didn’t get through to the finals and I feel really bad for the entrants. Where is the exhibition touring this year? CK: It’s coming to Ludlow again, which is great, it’s already been in Cyprus and a few other places and goes to the Food Film Festival in New York.

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BRINGING INGREDIENTS TO LIFE TASTE WORKSHOPS 9-11 SEPTEMBER, LUDLOW FOOD FESTIVAL Taste Workshops have been a regular feature of the Ludlow Food Festival since 2004 when a group from the Ludlow and Marches branch of Slow Food, inspired by similar workshops at the bi-annual Salone del Gusto in Turin, decided to recreate them in Ludlow.

Illtud Dunsford of Charcutier Ltd, winner of this year’s BBC Food and Farming ‘Best Producer’ award.

Over the years the core team of Sue, Tish, Kate and June, with the loyal band of volunteers have played host to more than 3000 people and run close to 130 workshops. Planning for the event starts in earnest each February but if truth be told, there’s an ever ongoing ‘hit list’ of producers and chefs. As Sue Chantler explains; “We might ask someone and they can’t do that particular year so we add them to the list for a following year, or one of us might read about a certain producer or eat at a great restaurant and they get added to the list too.” Renowned for their diversity, Taste Workshops have covered ingredients and topics such as seashore foraging, Mortimer Forest vension and the chocolate of Austrian Josef Zotter, the modern day ‘Willy Wonka’. But one thing they all have in common is a clear commitment to Slow Food values. “Slow Food is a celebration of good food and by that we mean that its traceable, is produced to good ethical standards and of course tastes delicious too” says Sue. You might think with such an illustrious inspitration as the Salone del Gusto and the usual rosta of speakers, that the talks might be, well let’s say it, a little pretentious. But as anyone who has attended one knows, nothing could be further from the truth. Workshops have a capacity of 40 people and for an hour you get totally immersed in listening to the people behind the brand, as well as tasting great food and drink. Its the perfect way to discover something completely new or see a familiar ingredient in a whole new light. This year’s line up promises to be just as eclectic and enthralling. Illtud Dunsford of Charcutier Ltd, winner of this year’s BBC Food and Farming ‘Best Producer’ award will be sharing his passion for artisan cured meats and their will be plenty of samples to try. When it comes to familiar ingredients then salt and

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gin are regulars in many shopping baskets. Alison Lea-Wilson from world famous Halen Mon will be sharing the story of its production with comparative tastings of different salts. Workshop attendees will discover how their differently seasoned salts are used in an amazing range of products, from Bloody Marys to popcorn. Are you ready to try Umami or Charcoal salt? If you like Gin then you won’t want to miss Phillipa Cook from specialist spirits retailer Moonshine and Fuggles who will take you on a botanical journey as you taste six very different styles of premium distilled gins, neat and with appropriate mixers. And perhaps its worth noting if you do book onto one of the workshops then there’s a whole army of volunteers behind the scences making sure everything runs smoothly. “The build up to the festival can be quite hectic making sure the chefs and producers are ready and that we have everything we need for them on the day, even down to the correct saucepans or utensils”, says Sue. “Across the weekend itself the team arrives early as getting ahead is absolutely essential, we’ll run through the day, what time we expect certain chefs or speakers to arrive and talk through each workshop, including details like how the food should be plated and presented.” “With evening workshops too, the day can be long but we all get really enthused by the speakers and the response of the audience. If you’ve never come along to one of the sessions before, its well worth it.”

Food beautifully presented for workshop.

You can find the full list of 2016 Taste Workshops on the Ludlow Marches Slow Food website. One hour sessions cost between £8.00 and £16.00 depending on the workshop. www.slowfoodludlow.org.uk

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DERWEN COLLEGE

Derwen College, based in Gobowen, Shropshire is a specialist college for young people with learning disabilities, attracting students from across the UK. The work is focussed to give students the skills they need for employment and the experiences to help them live as independently as possible in the future. The college offers both day and residential placements and has three satellite sites at Higher Penley near Wrexham and at Walford and Craven Arms in Shropshire. They have just received their third consecutive ‘Outstanding’ grading from Ofstead. “Unbelievably wonderful” is how Ruth Thomas, Chief Executive of Derwen College describes the news. Inspectors noted the college excelled across the board in; Effectiveness of leadership and management; Quality of teaching, learning and assessment; Personal development, behaviour and welfare; Outcomes for learners; and Overall effectiveness.

2016 is the first time... that we have welcomed Derwen College in Gobowen to the Festival. Students will be selling their handmade preserves and chutneys as well as a range of hampers. They are totally delicious so make sure you visit their stand. Read on to find out more about the college and how its helping people from across the UK with learning disabilities get ready for employment and independent living.

Meryl Green, Head of Education and Training said “We are immensely proud of this result. The outcome of the inspection highlights the unique work that goes on here at Derwen College. Inspectors were clearly impressed by the culture we have developed. All staff have very high expectations of students and, as a result, students are supported and challenged to achieve their very best – and they do” “Our results with qualifications, work outcomes and competitions are impressive and development of employability skills is key. Increasingly we work with partners, including national chain organisations to ensure that we are providing the very best in vocational training and work experience and this innovative approach was praised by the inspection team. But this is only half the story – high quality education and training is underpinned by the highest standards of care and support and an extensive independence, health and wellbeing programme tailored for every learner. I believe it is this comprehensive, joined-up approach that has helped us to sustain our ‘Outstanding’ profile.” “This success would not be possible without our fantastic staff team who are well trained, highly skilled and truly innovative. Staff go ‘above and beyond’ to ensure the best possible chances of success for each individual coming to Derwen College and this ‘Outstanding’ judgement is a reflection of the hard work and dedication of each one of them”.

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FROM IRON CHEF TO GOOD FOOD Chef Marcus Bean has been coming to to cookery demonstrations at Ludlow Food Festival since 2008 and for the last two years has been responsible for organising the Friday Chefs stage. Things have changed a lot since his first visit, when he owned and ran the popular New Inn in Baschurch, a country pub and restaurant with his wife Jenny . In addition to the birth of three gorgeous daughters, Marcus’ career gained momentum quickly. In 2010 he won Iron Chef UK and since then has appeared on This Morning, written his first cook book and is currently a regular

host of the BBC Good Food Super Theatre at their massively popular food shows. Always a popular face at the Festival, he says of his first visit, “I immediately fell in love with the place, the passion that everyone had in the shops, located around the town, to the producers and artisans within the Festival grounds. It just had something about it! History, character and most of all great people and amazing food!” From then on he was hooked and has been involved in some way with the Spring and September Festivals ever since. Along the way he also became good friends with

“Keep your eyes on the Food Festival website for announcements about the Friday Chefs stage. I can’t say too much at the moment but there will certainly be a twist!,” another Festival champion, Will Holland while he was at La Becasse. Marcus also appeared on Will’s All star line up on the Friday of the Festival. After Will moved away to Pembrokeshire to start a new restaurant, Marcus offered to take over the helm. Since then Marcus has used his great network of friends and chefs from around the country to bring them to Ludlow. From Great British Bake Off favourites to Michelin starred chefs and even Saturday Kitchen regulars, Marcus never fails to impress with the line up of Guest chefs. He assures us this year will be no different. So keep an eye out for the chefs line up, its going to be great as always!

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The farmhouse at Brompton is a luxury B&B perfect if you’ve booked a course or just want a beautiful escape to the country.

Brompton Cookery School Marcus & his wife Jenny own and run the successful Brompton Cookery School. Based on a National Trust Property near Shrewsbury in Shropshire, Brompton is the perfect environment for cookery enthusiasts or novices to develop their culinary skills. The Cookery School is based in a beautiful barn conversion within a collection of original farm buildings. A spacious, purpose built farmhouse style kitchen allows for the tuition of 16 people at 4 large workstations. There’s also a chef’s demonstration area and lower workstation for a wheelchair user. The cookery school also has a stylish dining room for you to savour the dishes you create. On top of that the cookery school and dining room are available for private dining and dinner events, and also corporate days. The school and grounds also make a great location for video and photography shoots. Marcus Bean

Marcus & Jenny don’t like to stand still so as well the Cookery School & Bed & Breakfast they also offer outside catering with their Brompton events team catering from weddings to product launches around the country.

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SUPPORTING LOCAL Ludlow Food Festival partner, Buy-From Shropshire, is a dynamic business community for creatives and food and drink producers, supporting them to reach an audience both within the county and beyond. Buy-From Shropshire has a shop window for amazing products made in the county and supports producers with PR, events, networks, social media, enthusiasm and love. Their ethos is to create a dynamic community for independent businesses, creatives and producers that enables them all to feel inspired and grow. Here, Buy-From Shropshire’s Director, Louise Welsby, tells us more… Why did you decide to launch Buy-From Shropshire?  The concept for the business first arose from a conversation with my dad who runs a marketing consultancy business in Shropshire (he has years of marketing, sales and product development experience). He could see that small and micro businesses were struggling online and there was an opportunity to create an online service to help these businesses reach an audience not only in the county but throughout the UK. The business that I have set up is very different from the one we first imagined together but the ethos remains the same – we are here to support, celebrate and champion businesses in Shropshire with a specific focus on those who make their own products. What can you tell us about how you promote Food and Drink businesses in the county? We launched the Food & Drink side of the business in March this year with a visit to the Houses of Parliament with some amazing producers to showcase food and drink production in Shropshire. Since then we have started working with some incredible businesses, many of whom play a part in the Ludlow Food Festival. The services we provide can be totally bespoke and we work hard to get to know each business so that we can tailor our services to them.

Buy-From Shropshire’s Director, Louise Welsby

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We are absolutely passionate about promoting local producers and celebrating the incredible range of food and drink businesses in the county. It is one of the many reasons why we were so keen to partner with the Ludlow Food Festival, as their ethos is so similar to ours and they have done such an incredible job championing local producers for years now. Who are you looking forward to seeing at the Ludlow Food Festival? Obviously I have to highlight the wonderful producers we work with who will be exhibiting and demonstrating over the course at the weekend. Though this may well change at the time of print, currently we are celebrating Bennett & Dunn, Masala Magic, Maynards Farm, The Tipsy Tart and Tom Dickins Fine Art. With any luck we will be showcasing many more at Ludlow Food Festival by September!

How is Buy-From Shropshire be working with the Festival? Saskia, Siobhan and I will be writing case studies, blogging and helping to co-ordinate dynamic social media coverage of the Festival both in the run up to and during the weekend. You will find us chatting, photographing and generally enjoying every minute of our work with the Ludlow Food Festival. It is a real privilege to be in this position. What has been your highlight since launching the brand?  Getting the community together has been the highlight. I hold quarterly networking events for everyone involved in Buy-From Shropshire and seeing all these incredibly inspirational people from so many different businesses together, talking and supporting each other, has to be the highlight. It is the reason I am doing this, so seeing it in action is amazing. Describe the brand in 3 words? Unique. Fresh. Quality. How can creatives and producers join your network, what is the criteria?  They need to be working and living in Shropshire, creating products that are quality. There is a qualifying process that is indicative of their desire to grow and reach a wider audience themselves. They do not have to have their own website as I can manage their online sales should they need me to. Before I can get their businesses live on the site they need to have excellent photography, although I can help them achieve this as well. In summary, creatives and producers need to have quality products made in Shropshire and a desire to grow their business. What are your plans for the brand in 2016?  We want to build the brand so that it is the go to website for anyone who lives in Shropshire and anyone who is visiting the county. For clients I work with we plan to develop significantly the services we can provide for them. We want to ensure that they grow with us. www.buy-from.com/shropshire 21

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RICHARD BAINBRIDGE ON STAGE SUNDAY 11 SEPTEMBER Benedict’s has been open around a year now, is it everything you imagined? It is so much more than I had ever imagined. It has not been easy on any level, but it is a dream come true with the help of my amazing wife Katja. Tell us a little more about the restaurant, it’s in one of the more bohemian areas of Norwich, does that influence the menu? I love St Benedicts Street in Norwich, where we picked to open our Restaurant. It represents who and where we are, but the only thing that influences my menu though is produce. You’re obviously known to viewers across the country for your winning courses on the last series of the Great British Menu - how long did it take to create those dishes? To be honest, my wife and I had a glass of wine the evening we received the brief and it was all done and dusted that evening. After that I just spent weeks perfecting it!

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RICHARD BAINBRIDGE CONT.. Taking place in September we’re obviously an autumn festival, what ingredients get you excited at that time of year and which are your favourite dishes to cook? Autumn is a wonderful season, earthy flavours and sweet game. I love it. What’s your guilty pleasure when it comes to food? My wife’s potato salad with barbecued sausages You’ve been to Ludlow Food Festival before and we’re delighted to have you back … any idea what you’ll be cooking for us this time around? Ask me 10 minutes before I go on, no seriously I will showcasing the best of the season. At the Food Festival we have a young persons bursary (£1000 towards furthering a career in food) and a young chefs competition. We know that opening your own restaurant was the culmination of a 20 year dream. What would you say to a young person just starting out who is harbouring the same ambition? Small achievable goals, will get you to your big dream.

A REAL GOOD EGG Following our principles of reducing waste, the innovative bakers at Merangz have come up with a cracking new product, ready to use liquid egg yolk! Like provenance, green credentials are important to Merangz who take their corporate and social responsibilities very seriously. So, having used the light and fluffy egg whites to create their award winning meringues, the yolks are now pasteurised to produce the free range liquid egg. Merangz use Freedom Foods accredited quality local free range eggs sourced from the heart of rural Shropshire where hens roam in vast grassy fields day in, day out. The egg whites used to create their giant and bite sized Merangz in a variety of natural flavours, are painstakingly hand separated, just like you make them at home. See them at the Festival this September!

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MAKING IT HAPPEN - VOLUNTEERING In addition to the Directors and Festival Office Team, there’s also a loyal band of volunteers who make the Festival possible. Vince Bufton who runs this side of the festival gives us an insight into this most important group of people. If you would like to volunteer please call 01584 873 957. How many volunteers does it take each year to run the Ludlow Food Festival? It varies each day but generally Friday and Sunday up to 100; and then Saturday our busiest day up to 150. Give us an insight into their backgrounds? We have people aged from 16 into their 80s! Many are retired but we also have bank workers, teachers and business owners, as well as volunteers from America and Germany. Any volunteers we need to give a special mention to that won’t be joining us this year? This year we will miss Julia Ionides and Margaret Pryor. Julia was the manager of the hand stampers/ wristband team for many years while Margaret was a long time helper backstage on one or other of the Festival demo stages. Rodney Leary has stood down after many years looking after the exhibitors car park. We will also be without some youngsters who have worked for the Festival for years - brother and sister Tom and Anya Collyer and brothers Chris and Andy Walker. What are their tasks across the weekend? Everything from working on tills, selling trail tickets, helping exhibitors, giving advice and information to festival-goers, being there if assistance is needed and generally being a welcoming presence. What are some of your favourite memories/anecdotes from past festivals? Most festivals are memorable for the smiles on the faces of those attending, they have come to enjoy themselves and love the setting. A couple of “incidents” come to mind -the lady who walked into the inner bailey and asked a steward where the castle was, and another who asked where the flowers were, it turned out she thought she was on a trip to Malvern Flower Festival!

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KIDS CORNER This year we have so many exciting things to keep little people happy whilst visiting the Festival - from hands on cookery classes and pottery to musical madness in the Castle. Not to mention a delicious chocolate themed day at the Ludlow Assembly Rooms on Saturday 10 September. We are joined once again this year by the fabulous KidzKitchen and Grow Cook Learn who offer FREE children’s cookery sessions inside the Castle. KidzKitchen sessions can be booked in advance on our website. Grow Cook Learn are celebrating 30 years of the ‘discovery of the Mammoth bones’ so sessions will be themed accordingly! Spring to Life These very cool musicians perform children’s songs for education and fun. As seen on “Something Special” series 10- BBC Cbeebies, their songs include Down on the Farm, Wonky Donkey and Recycle King! Let your little ones also enjoy playing the ukulele and join in with the sing-alongs.

COMPETITION: Seriously not to be missed! The Big Friendly Read, in association with Ludlow Library and Ludlow Assembly Rooms is the chance for your children to enjoy a summer of reading 6 books of their choice collecting rewards along the way. Those who complete the read will be invited to an awards ceremony on Saturday 10th September at Ludlow Assembly Rooms to collect their medal and certificate. To make the challenge that bit trickier, your child can enter the competition by writing a 250 short story and creating a Roald Dahl style illustration for the chance to WIN a Willy Wonka style factory tour in Austria! Thanks to Zotter Chocolate and the Ludlow Food Festival there is the chance to visit the factory during a specified weekend in October for the winning child and one accompanying adult. For full details of the competition visit the Ludlow Food Festival website or alternatively there will be a copy available at your school. www.zotter.co.uk

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COMPERE EXTRAORDINAIRE

As former BBC radio presenters and producers, Katie and Glyn Johnson know a thing or two about putting their best voice forward! HOW LONG BEEN INVOLVED WITH LUDLOW? We’ve been compering and looking after the sound and visuals at Ludlow for 8 years, beginning with The Graeme Kidd Stage before moving to both stages the following year. Our own kitchens were used in 2014 which is when ‘The Wot’s Cooking Stage’ was named. In 2015 we took on a greater role to book the chefs and demonstrators and also created the ‘Talks and Tastings’ area, which has proved really popular. TALK US THROUGH WHAT HAPPENS EACH YEAR? Planning begins as soon as the current Festival ends, thinking about the demo line up. As we get closer to September, there’s several days of planning for the staff and equipment required, not just for the demonstration stages, but also Masterclasses, Talks and Tastings and pop up cookery schools. Installation of the kitchens, sound, video and other equipment takes around four days with a team of three on site. The chefs will have already been sent all their information and passes so it’s then time for a spot of gardening, making sure the planters you see around the stage are looking good! During the three days of Festival the ‘Team in Green’ will total eight. 29

HOW DO YOU PICK THE CHEFS? The first year we were asked to book the chefs, it was the Festival’s 21st birthday, so we wanted to do something a little special, so we invited a few friends who supported the event from the beginning including Shaun Hill and on the Graeme Kidd’s Stage, we asked his son Warwick to demo which was a special moment. We think it’s important to support local, so the majority of chefs are from Ludlow and the Welsh Marches and as we travel the country working with various events, if we see someone who we think would work well at Ludlow, we invite them over. TEAM IN GREEN We have been compering events for nearly 20 years, but always working for other people and in the beginning with our BBC hats on. We love what we do, so in 2011 Wot’s Cooking was born, taking the name from one of Glyn’s competitions on his radio show! We have really grown since then, at our first Christmas ‘staff meal’ there were 2 of us, last December there were 17. ANY FESTIVAL STORIES? The castle cat fell asleep on the Graeme Kidd stage last year, right at the front during a demo and if you happen to see one of our wooden chopping boards sporting a burn ring, that was made by James Martin! www.wotscooking.co.uk

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BMW i3 - INNOVATIVE AND SUSTAINABLE Efficiency begins even before your first drive in the BMW i3. During production BMW will use 50% less energy, 50% less water and 100% renewable energy. Using strong, renewable raw materials and recycled plastics that make up 25% of the interior cabin it’s a radically different approach to car manufacture. With the new improved all electric range of 125 miles, enough to travel from Wolverhampton to Glastonbury and at a cost of approximately 2p per mile we believe that this vehicle is one of the most sustainable on the market. Let’s take a look in more detail at the materials that go in to BMW i3. Naturally tanned leather. The leather used in the interior is tanned with a natural tanning agent derived from olive trees. The extract from the leaves of the olive tree protects the leather in a natural way – giving it both authentic, unaltered look and an unmistakeable character. Wood from responsible sources. The wood used for the sculptured lines of the dashboard is sourced entirely from timber grown in Europe and certified

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as 100% responsibly sourced. Using natural materials makes every BMW i3 unique. Carbon Fibre. The vehicle structure or “Life Module” has been built from carbon fibre reinforced plastic. Carbon is around 50% lighter than steel and around 30% lighter than aluminium, allowing BMWi to set new standards in lightweight construction. Additionally the carbon fibre used in the BMW i3 is manufactured at a plant that only uses hydro-generated electricity. Kenaf. Natural resources have been used within the interior trim with materials such as Kenaf fibres in the door panels. This member of the cotton family is particularly sustainable and its characteristic fibre structure remains visible after processing, further underscoring a premium look and feel. The final piece in the sustainability jigsaw is that the BMW i3 Assembly Plant in Leipzig is powered entirely by onsite wind turbines. We’re delighted to be supporting the Ludlow Food Festival 2016 and their ambitions to make this year’s festival as eco-friendly and sustainable as possible.

LOYALY CARD LAUNCHED Ludlow Independent shops now have their very own Loyalty Card. Launched in July, the card is accepted in over 45 shops and cafes in Ludlow Town Centre. Support the local independent shops and have a chance of winning a unique ‘Only in Ludlow’ gift hamper. Pick up a free loyalty card, fill in your personal details and present it every time you spend over £1 in a participating shop. Once you have obtained 20 stamps hand it in at your nearest participating shop to go into the hamper draw. There will be a gift prize draw every quarter for a unique ‘Only in Ludlow’ hamper, the first draw will be after the Food Festival in September. For a full list of participating shops and cafes go to: www.onlyinludlow.org.uk For information of where to go and shop and eat in Ludlow go to www. theludlowguide.co.uk

This year’s Festival will be broadcast live for the first time over the internet by Ludlow based technology company Audux, using their POBIT system. Carl Walker, the company’s MD said ‘We worked with the Ludlow Spring Festival earlier this year, broadcasting a weekend of live music. This proved so successful that we were delighted to again be the broadcast partner for the Festival, working with the on-site film production company, Wild Edric Media’ The POBIT is an innovative system enabling any live event to be easily self-broadcasted, without requiring any specialist knowledge or expensive equipment. With excellent sound & video quality, the POBIT could be used to self-broadcast sports events, theatre and music concerts, conferences, training sessions, even weddings! As well as streaming to the world, the system enables self-broadcasters to select their audience, and even charge tickets to view. For more information about how you might use a POBIT or to arrange a live broadcast demonstration, visit www. pobit.com or call Audux on 01584 517474.

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CHARITY SUPPORT AND MAMMOTH BISCUITS!! Who is Grow Cook Learn? Grow Cook Learn is a registered charity running Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre. Our aim is to provide a training centre for food related employment connecting people to the food, the history and the landscape of the Shropshire Hills, providing opportunities to local people and visitors to learn and discover. Our vision To create a training centre for food-related employment, a leisure resource for local people and a vibrant visitor attraction demonstrating the link between food production and the landscape of the Shropshire Hills. This vision builds on four years’ experience of the Grow Cook Share project providing training in growing and cooking to local communities.

Cookery demonstrations at Ludlow

Our future

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South Shropshire Housing Association, our new landlords, see the Discovery Centre as an opportunity to support a valued community asset and to develop education and training facilities benefitting local residents and growing employees for local businesses. At Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre we will develop employment opportunities in food-related industries and at the same time develop and enhance the visitor experience. Huge thanks to Ludlow Food Festival We are thrilled to have the support of Ludlow Food Festival who kindly gave us £11,000 to purchase a ‘pop-up’ kitchen. This has been used for numerous cookery sessions and an accredited ASDAN course at the centre and for an extremely successful community project this year; ‘Ready Steady Cook’. This saw the pop-up kitchen being used to take cookery out into the community to children’s clubs, village halls, residential homes and for groups such as the Ludlow Sight Loss Opportunity Group and the Dementia Group.

Pictures show community cooking classes and the legendary mammoth!

At the Ludlow Food Festival This year we are looking forward to offering cookery demonstrations for an adult audience on Friday 9th September which will give a ‘taste’ of the courses we offer back at the centre. Our cookery tutor, Milly Rees, will be focusing on a ‘Sunshine Harvest’, celebrating the sun-soaked vegetables and fruits which are in abundance at this time of year. Greenhouses and allotments are full of late summer harvest and she shall demonstrate some delicious new ideas for how to enjoy your produce and ways to store it for the future. Then savour the rich flavours and mouth watering aromas of the Caribbean, right here in rural Shropshire with Kitchen Thyme’s creator, foodie and entrepreneur, Sabrina Zeif. Gain an understanding of blending and infusing spices and herbs in true Cajun & Caribbean style to create dishes using local ingredients. Over the weekend on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th September, cookery demos make way for hands-on family fun activities. Join us to celebrate 30 years since the Condover mammoth bones, replicas of which are housed at the Discovery Centre in Craven Arms, were first uncovered. Drop-in to decorate your own mammoth biscuit or have a go at making edible mammoth droppings! Get your discount voucher to visit the mammoth skeleton and marvel at his awesome size. www.shropshirehillsdiscoverycentre.co.uk/grow-cook-learn

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WHAT MAKES LUDLOW DIFFERENT? still more to be confirmed. This is a fantastic opportunity for which we will encourage other Ludlow food and drink businesses to engage with on Friday 9th September. As you will have previously read, we are working with Credibly Green who will be compiling an environmental report on the festival and they are offering a 10% discount for the same business evaluation for all of our exhibitors. We will also be taking a renewed emphasis on sustainability in our rural environment and we will be seeking to bring producers and consumers together to develop new understandings of what those roles mean and how they can become ‘co-producers’. In keeping with the sustainability focus, we have invited Pentabus Theatre Company along to share with us the stories of farmers discussing rural issues facing their industry. There will also be the opportunity to record your own ideas about farming and the countryside.

This year is the 22nd Ludlow Food Festival. Looking back on the last 21 years, feeling proud of being the ‘first’ Food Festival and enjoying all we have achieved, we also take a look at “what makes Ludlow Food Festival different?”. Some will say ‘if it aint broke, don’t fix it’, but as times change and we must evolve with it. It certainly has got the Board of Directors thinking, ‘what makes us special’? There are some great food festivals and events across the UK now, many of which are run by professional events companies but we like to celebrate the fact we operate differently. As an independent, not for profit company, we function with the amazing work of our wonderful volunteers. Our Food and Drink Festivals are run in our beautiful town of Ludlow, celebrating and supporting exhibitors from within the Ludlow and Welsh Marches area. We are to misquote Lincoln, ‘of the community, for the community and by the community’. A main aim for this coming Festival has been to extend our offering to both exhibitors and visitors as well as building relations with establishments in town. So, with this in mind, we have the UK Trade Investment team and their overseas buyers visiting the Festival to meet our exhibitors to discuss and learn about exporting. The overseas buyers will be travelling from Cyprus, Chile, India, Croatia and Japan with Ludlow Food Festival | 2016

Our new partnership with Ludlow Assembly Rooms means visitors can enjoy a full schedule of activities there throughout the weekend. A highlight will be the Literary event which will feature writers on food and drink along with book signings on Sunday 11th September. We are also very excited to be working with not only the Ludlow Assembly Rooms but also Ludlow Library and Zotter Chocolate, in this Roald Dahl Centenary year, on an exciting completion based around his famous chocolate themed book with a magnificent prize of a visit to the Zotter Chocolate Factory in Austria, which will run in the weeks leading up to the Festival Weekend. The Festival will continue to champion the best of local food and drink, but we also want to showcase examples of the best from elsewhere, to inspire and inform us locally. So this year we will expand the input from Slow Food, who have for many years run the very successful Taste Workshops at the Festival, with guest producers from the Ark of Taste products as currently being featured in the Radio 4 Food Programme, and available up to now on London’s Borough Market. The follow up to this being that Ludlow Food Festival exhibitors will have the opportunity in the new year to feature in a mini Ludlow Food Festival that we are planning to take to Borough market in London. So yes, we remain a great day out in the special setting of a Castle in a wonderful town, but we are also a Festival with a heart and a head, concerned about the challenges to food and farming and encouraging all of us to think about responses to those challenges – that is why our Festival is special, as only a Festival rooted in its community can be. David Chantler, OBE David is the Vice Chair of the Festival Board, with responsibilty for developing partnerships. 34

A TASTE OF BRITAIN Major Opportunity to Get Exporting ...

think the products would suit their market and the next steps – who knows, you could end up selling cheese to the French! Want to know more?

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) in partnership with Buy-From Shropshire are attending this year’s Ludlow Food Festival to support local food and drink companies grow overseas. According to the Food & Drink Exporters Association (FDEA) the total food and drink export sales in 2015 equalled £12.3bn with Ireland, France, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, USA, Belgium, Italy, China and Denmark in the top ten export markets. In terms of product category Chocolate was the UK’s main export at £580m followed by Salmon, Cheese, Beef, Biscuits, Soft Drinks, Cereals, Vegetables, Chicken and Condiments as the top ten.

On the day you’ll be able to pop by the UKTI stand between 10am-5pm where you can connect with a local adviser who’ll be based close to your business and also explore thousands of live export opportunities on the Exporting is GREAT website. Get inspired from 12noon and take part in an Interactive Workshop which will connect you to opportunities around the world while hearing top export tips from the experts. From 5pm along with Buy-From Shropshire we will be hosting an exclusive invitation only Meet the Buyer reception where you can showcase your products and discuss your business with the buyers in a relaxed setting in the castle. A full line-up of buyers will be confirmed very soon. In the meantime if you’d like to be added to the invitation list, please drop us an email on enquries@uktiwm.co.uk, we’d love to hear from you and learn more about how we can help your business expand …

This year UKTI have teamed up with Lud-

low Food Festival to give companies a chance to build their business by meeting with overseas buyers and British advisers from foreign embassies. Businesses will have the opportunity to showcase their products to buyers from a range of countries around the world. Buyers will engage with stall holders and local businesses to give informed advice on whether they

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Ludlow Marches Food and Drink Festival Unit 12, The Business Quarter Eco Park Road Ludlow Shropshire SY8 1FD United Kingdom www.foodfestival.co.uk Tel: 01584 873957 Email: info@foodfestival.co.uk