Thousands flock to Melton's regional food festival

The Dickinson and Morris stand (left) and the Cidentro stall selling its English ciders at this weekend's East Midlands Food Festival at Melton

Nearly 8,000 people enjoyed this year’s East Midlands Food Festival in Melton at the weekend.

Visitors were able to taste test and buy products from 165 traders at the event, at the Stockyard on the livestock market site.

Organiser Matthew O’Callaghan said it was the largest food festival since before the Covid pandemic.

He said: “It was so good to see so many people enjoying the event.

"We had a lot of happy traders who were grateful for the opportunity to make some decent returns after the hard months they’ve had.

"There were a fair few new ones amongst them as well as old favourites.”

Audiences also packed out the Food Theatre to watch a programme of cooking demonstrations and talks from TV chef Rachel Green and Melton pork pie expert Stephen Hallam.

The last foodie event of the year in Melton is ChocFest, which is at the same venue on the weekend of November 19 and 20.