 Arrangements for the 2011 Cheese Festival are well underway and this year promises to be even bigger and better than ever.
All the usual favourite food and craft stalls will be there with a few new additions and lots of great music on both days – final details to follow.
The mousetrap this year will include cookery demonstrations by Jan Lane, Mark Hartstone (La Fosse, Cranborne) & hopefully Margot Eavis & Steven Oxford. There will also be Cheese talks by some old favourites & tasting & talk by the Somerset Cider Brandy Company.
We have improved the parking and transport arrangements so that there will be an alternative car park at the north end of town with a shuttle bus into town and back again. See travel and parking link for more details.
We are also repeating the very popular Dorset’s Best Cheeseboard competition on Sunday 11th from 12 noon
click here for further information
If you haven’t attended this event before, have a look at the review of last year’s show to get some idea of the great things that go on over the weekend.
And all this for the very reasonable entrance fee of £4 per adult, with accompanied children under 15 free, so gather your foodie friends together, and come and sample some of the finest food and drink in the South West.
Every year the Cheese Festival Committee say the event can't get any better and every year we're proved wrong! Cheese Festival 2010 was a record breaker in terms of visitors and despite a slightly damp start to the Festival on Saturday morning the numbers through the gates were steady and remained so all weekend. By Sunday evening exhausted but happy traders and committee members were relieved to pack up and rest tired feet!
The Cheese & Food Marquee buzzed with people keen to taste and buy cheese from the 17 producers, including Leagram Organics from Lancashire and Leicestershire Handmade Cheese, as well as the more local Dorset Blue Vinney. Many producers had to cut more cheese on Saturday night, having sold most of their stock. The majority of 50 odd food producers also had trouble keeping up with demand, Oxfords Bakery were kept busy topping up their supplies for their stall from their Bakery at Alweston, others sold out. |
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Purbeck & Styles Ice Cream made the most of the improved sunny & warm weather - or rather their customers did! The Real Ale Tent & Cider tent also had a steady stream of punters keen to sample one or two of the 36 ales on offer.
 In the Craft Marquee an equally constant flow of people progressed through the marquee, stopping to admire the various crafts on display and to purchase items that caught the eye. Outside children (and adults) enjoyed Punch & Judy shows, making willow snails, having their face painted, occasionally stopping to appreciate the music from one of the bands playing, watch the Morris men or admire the birds of prey.
In the Mousetrap the girls from Dikes of Stalbridge were busy supporting the chefs and cheese demonstrators, handing out samples & tasters. An appreciative audience learnt how cheese is made - from start to finish, how a cheese producer judges when a cheese is ready, or how different cheeses gets their particular & unique tastes. Outside the Mousetrap the resplendent purple and white Dikes cow was 'milked' by enthusiastic children, whilst the Company Morris Minor Van provoked memories for many of the adults.
Across in the Scout Hall the Urban Beach Hotel ran a very successful Best Dorset Cheeseboard competition which gave the judges much food, or should that be cheese, for thought. La Fosse from Cranborne were the winners of this first competition with a local runner up of The Bull, Sturminster Newton.
 With a record number of visitors to the Festival it did mean an increase in the number of vehicles and we do appreciate that there were some issues with traffic and car parking. Please rest assured that in the coming months the Committee will be looking into these matters, with a view to make any improvements we can to ease the problems.
But all in all it was rather a fabulous weekend. And we'll do it all again in 2011 - 10th & 11th September to be precise, see you there! |
