Four weeks of foodie festival fun

It will be staged from Saturday September 3 to Sunday October 2. As before it is being run under the umbrella of the Horsham Food & Drink Festival, which has been successfully organised by HDC for many years.

The festival has received awesome support from the local businesses who have come forward with a range of outstanding special offers, together with some fantastic events. We do not have room within this article to list all of the fun events on offer, but to give you a taster they include:

Our wonderful Farmers’ Market—Sussex Food & Drink Awards 2014/2015 Best Sussex Farmers’ Market winners — will open the Festival on September 3, with live music, cooking demonstrations and of course, a superb selection of local food and drink stalls.

On October 2 we will see the return of the market, this time with the addition of the annual Pumpkin Weigh Competition & Sloe Gin Tasting.

Our 2016 festival charity is Know Dementia and during the four weeks, different venues in the area will be holding a series of breakfast/lunch events to raise money for this worthwhile cause.

There will be a beer festival, sponsored by the Sussex Produce Company, running for three days, organised by Adur Brewery & held at the Steyning Cricket Club.

Also on the agenda - farm walks, cream teas, wine tasting and nibbles evening, cookery workshops, Ashurst Tasty Walk, SDNP walk with National Park Ranger, celebrity author dinner and – another chance to support Know Dementia - Moving Magical Moments Dinner – a meal on the move held in four of our local eateries.

These events are just the tip of the iceberg - take a peep at www.steyningdistrictfooddrinkfest

ival.co.uk to catch up on more of the exciting dates you should be adding to your diary—there are around 50 from which to choose. Prior booking is essential for most of the ‘eating out’ events.

Turning to our festival offers, they include: free bottles of wine/discount on wines/free desserts - all when taken with a meal; discounts on cookery courses; discounts within shops; free cups of coffee; free sweeties; special offer lunch and dinner and buy one, get another product free – there is just so much to take on board.

To find out full details of both the offers and events, you need to look out for a copy of the official Horsham Food & Drink Festival Guide, which is widely distributed within the Horsham area, plus of course, being available in the businesses taking part in Steyning, Bramber, Upper Beeding, Small Dole, Edburton, Ashurst and Wiston.

You can also visit www.steyningdistrictfooddrinkfest

ival.co.uk where you will find loads of details to help you and point you in the direction of all the Steyning & District outlets involved.

As most participants will request sight of the official programme before you can take up their offer, it is quite important to get hold of one of those programmes.

During the final week of the festival (week commencing September 26), there will be a Best Food Theme Shop Window competition – prizes being sponsored by the Steyning & District Business Chamber.All shops are encouraged to participate – not just ‘foodie’ establishments – so for sure there will be some interesting ‘creations’ to come and view and make your decisions, before the official judging, which will take place at 11am October 1.

Under our Harvest Festival banner,: At the Ashurst Country Fair & Dog Show, local chefs from The Artisan Bakehouse and Kate’s Cookhouse will be giving foodie demonstrations. For the second year, the Best Allotment Competition will take place, , covering allotments in Steyning and Upper Beeding.Derek Crush from Daylands Farm – and expert in all things rural - will judge.

Apart from thanking all the local businesses for taking part, overwhelming and sincere thanks must go to the sponsors, as without their financial support none of this could have happened. They are: Steyning & District Business Chamber, Steyning & District Community Partnership and the Steyning Parish Council.

Steyning & District very much look forward to welcoming you ALL to their fantastic Food & Drink Festival. It’s a real fun four weeks — we enjoy it, and we hope you will too !