Review of 'Foodies Festival: Tatton Park'

https://foodiesfestival.com/events/cheshire/

We have attended Foodies Festivals previously in Syon Park in 2015, Old Truman Brewery (London) in Christmas 2016 and Alexandra Palace…all in London…so now that we live outside the city we wanted to try it when it was on tour, this time in Tatton Park, just south of Manchester. The show was open until 9 pm on Friday and Saturday, 8 pm on Sunday and started at noon on Friday and 11 am on the weekend.

Having booked earlier in the year we were pleased that the weather on the Saturday when we visited (the show ran from Friday to Sunday). The site was located close to Tatton Hall itself and the farm, with parking in a large field next door.

As is normal for this festival the site had an array of food and food-related vendors, several tent theatres and an entertainment stage. In advance of the show we were emailed a PDF of the showguide which was useful in doing ab it of planning for the day to make sure we didn't miss anything we really wanted to see, particularly in the theatres.

On the left as you entered were the three tent theatres with various talks and demonstrations throughout the day. Though we were told to get (free) tickets in advance in reality these were not required and we were never asked for them (though presumably if it is busy we could have been asked to give up our seats for someone with tickets). The four tents were “Chef's Theatre”, “Cake & Bake Theatre”, “Drinks Theatre” (tickets for this must have been high in demand – hello, free drink sampling??), and “Kids Cookery Theatre”. We spent a good amount of time in the Chef's Theatre seeing various MasterChef finalists and champions cooking throughout the day. In the neighbouring tent, we did notice Jemma Melvin “Platinum Jubilee Pudding Winner” gave a demonstration preparation of her winning trifle.

It was good to see a number of the vendors on site were local with the typical massive representation of those selling condiments, alcohol, cheese, and all others…in that order. There were also a number of charities in attendance, as you might expect, including Guide Dogs, RSPB, WWF

On the far left of the festival site was a small fun fair geared towards the very young with the live stage nearby which was surrounded by a number of street food vendors. The entertainment during the day on Saturday was OK but not amazing with the bigger acts hitting the stage after 6pm.

For our lunch we settled on some Brazilian food which all featured chips…though quite delicious…with some amazing grilled meats on top. My pork belly was definitely the best of the two as my companion's beef was a bit chewy.

We ended up spending more money than we thought. Most vendors accepted card payment and many offered to hold purchased for pick up later in the day. We also paid for a “goodie bag” (£4) which we picked up on our way out that had a few samples and coupons — A very good value and had some things we would not normally buy so nice to try them out.

All in all, a good day out but slightly disappointing with vendors we have seen time and time again. Nice to see some local companies though and hear from the chefs. A beautiful location if a bit hot in the direct sun…

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2022-07-08

Location: Cheshire (England)

Address: Tatton Park Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 6SG ENGLAND

Telephone: +44 (0) 1625 374400

URL: https://www.tattonpark.org.uk/

In addition to the estate houses of Tatton Park there is a lot of park here to enjoy with a large lake, farm, and parkland to visit. Your parking ticket (currently £8 peak) includes admission to one attraction: The garden, mansion house or farm but the grounds are free to enjoy.

The main house has a small nearby courtyard with a restaurant, toilets and access to the gardens.

The site is a short distance south of Manchester and the M56 near to the small town of Knutsford (easily dwarfed by the estate itself).