Food and Drink Festival, and a walk in the park

 My diary had seemingly a hundred and one things penciled in for this past weekend. Well, a dozen maybe. I'd thought I might dash here and there and try to catch an hour or so of several, but settled in the end for picking just two nearby events.

First up, on Saturday, was The Big Derbyshire Food and Drink Festival held at Shipley Country Park.

I'm not really a foodie as such, but of late, inspired by my younger daughter's more adventurous attitude to food, I'm experimenting more  - not weird ingredients for the sake of them, but something additional that makes an everyday food special. We'd already had lunch, perhaps a mistake as there were lots of options for eating there - from burgers and specialty sausages to Columbian, Jamaican and Greek food.

As it was we contented ourselves with sampling some of the other products to take home. I was pleasantly surprised at the wide selection - brownies, gin, curry mixes, fruit liqueurs, cheeses, pork pies, and marmalade, plus some delicious carrot and courgette cake at a Love Food, Hate Waste initiative run by Derbyshire County Council ... I could probably have just spent the afternoon 'grazing' :)








And, of course, we didn't come home empty-handed but with a selection of cheeses from The Black Farmer, the Kitcham Brothers, and Glastonbury Cheese, blueberry and liquorice jam from Peckish Kitchen, an unusual Swahili curry mix from Kiran's, and lavender and lemongrass gin from Springmount Gin.







A bit of exercise seemed in order, and we were in a country park so wandered away from the music and bustle of the Food Fair. Not far, but a lovely peaceful contrast, and, for once, the sun shone.

I could get used to this as a way to spend a weekend afternoon (though I'll have to stop buying cheese!)