THOUSANDS of food lovers descended on Llangollen for the town's
spectacular annual food and drink festival.
Hamper Llangollen 2011 is in its 14th year and over the weekend
more than 8,000 visitors from across the UK and beyond savoured the
delicious fayre on offer from more than 110 exhibitors.
Especially popular were the demonstrations by star chefs Graham
Tinsley, star of ITV's Taste the Nation and executive chef of The
Castle Hotel in Conwy, and S4C's Dudley Newbery who ran recipe
masterclasses on both days.
Other fascinating presentations came from Pablo Moreno of Sabor
del Sol about olives and the health benefits of olive oil, Brian
Horwich from Pant Glas Bach Preserves on jam making, and Glyn
Smith, head gardener from Erddig, talking about the many different
variety of apples.
The Real Ale trail, new this year, also helped link the town to
the main event at Llangollen Pavilion. Pubs and hostelries were
busy on both days. Wales Air Ambulance did a fly-by and Llangollen
Silver Band played at the Pavilion entrance.
Good weather helped bring people in their thousands and several
traders in the town reported brisk business throughout the
weekend.
Colin Loughlin, chairman of the festival's organising committee,
said Hamper Llangollen 2011 had been a terrific success. An
exhibitor from Megan's Kitchen himself, he believed the closer
involvement of exhibitors had been a positive factor.
"The support from exhibitors, visitors and everyone involved has
been fantastic throughout and the event has gone really well. We're
really pleased with the numbers.
Tim Roberts and Emma
Hughes of Oswestry-based Su Casa
Tim Roberts, owner of Su Casa from Oswestry, said they would be
back again next year. "It's really good to see that despite the
result of the rugby yesterday, people are out in their droves.
"I've really enjoyed it and the way they rejigged the layout
this year has worked really well. I think everyone involved has
done a really good job."
Hamper
Llangollen 2011 is the focus of this week's S4C programme
Digwyddiadau '11, to be screened on Friday October 21 at 9pm.