Discover our pick of great events for food lovers across the country this August. Enjoy a meal in a hot air balloon, head to a food festival or try out one of our favourite farmers’ markets.
See what’s coming up and use the links to tap through, find out more and book your place.
Discover our pick of great events for food lovers across the country this August. Enjoy a meal in a hot air balloon, head to a food festival or try out one of our favourite farmers’ markets.
See what’s coming up and use the links to tap through, find out more and book your place.
Dinner in a hot air balloon
Last chance to feast on Cloud 9 in Hertfordshire! Dine in a grounded hot air balloon and enjoy a whimsical nine-course tasting menu. Highlights include chicken liver parfait lollies, playful canapés, a divine lobster en croute and possibly the best candy floss we’ve ever tasted. The pop-up ends at the Grove later this month.
Paella by the sea
This summer, The Old Point House, a 16th-century beachfront pub in Pembrokeshire, Wales, is hosting a seafood festival throughout August. From 3rd August, there’ll be live shanty bands, BBQs, and a Lobster Paella Day finale. Stay the weekend and enjoy breakfast for £125 a night.
Did you know? Old Point House is the only pub in the country with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status for its Welsh Laverbread.
In Tobacco Dock, London, Meatopia returns for its 11th year
The best live-fire chefs are cooking over three days (on sustainable wood and charcoal). A smoky introduction to some of the most fascinating methods of fire cooking. Craft beers and brass bands also on site. From £32, 29 Aug to 1 Sep.
Get grilling in Hampshire at CarFest, Laverstoke Park Farm
As well as fast cars, Angela Hartnett, Cyrus Todiwala and others are signed up for BBQ masterclasses and there’s music from Richard Ashcroft, Olly Murs and Johnny Marr. The festival has been supporting charities such as Children in Need and Teenage Cancer Trust since 2012. From £87, 23-25 Aug
Summer Camp in a Welsh castle
Billed as a ‘series of luxury micro festivals’ split over three weekends at the Hawarden Estate in north Wales, the final weekender sees a campfire cooking demo with king of butchery Steven Lamb, along with talks, guided open-water swimming sessions and a camp dinner in the evening. From £129, 2-5 Aug,
Kelso, Scotland
This market on the Scottish Borders champions everything fresh, local, sustainable and artisan. Editorial assistant Mia Rodriguez recalls its vibrant selection, which includes local beef, fish and honey; see the final line-up of stallholders on Facebook each month. Fourth Saturday of the month (except Jul and Dec),
A favourite with Phoebe Stone from the delicious. digital team, who loves the diversity of its stalls and the atmosphere (there’s often live music). Alongside rustic bakes, local mead and cured meats are plants, books and jewellery. Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Thea Everett from the digital team loves to visit this Cotswolds institution for the fresh, seasonal produce that’s a celebration of Gloucestershire’s agricultural heritage. Her favourites: Za’Za Falafels street-food stall and traditionally made double gloucester cheese from Godsell’s. Saturdays
Our food team’s Pollyanna Coupland recommends Stepney City Farm with its weekly market selling local produce, including from the farm itself. Head to the café, The Allotment Kitchen, afterwards for a creative seasonal lunch.
Looking for ideas for cooking with August produce? We have all the seasonal recipe inspiration you need.
Harcourt Arms, Stanton Harcourt
This 17th century inn 12 miles west of Oxford was taken over by brothers Will and Olly a year ago. Their newly renovated dining room is light, breezy and a pleasing contrast to the equally attractive olde worlde pub it’s attached to. Beers on tap include gluten-free options from Little Ox brewing co (there’s a tasty IPA called Yabba Dabba Doo). Try rabbit chops, sweet from a buttermilk marinade, served with a herby butter sauce – or, for a snack, an inventive Scotch egg with curry sauce and coriander oil. The top-quality steaks are served with herbed butter and triple-cooked pink fir potatoes (crisper than you’d ever imagine). There are 10 rooms, all in keeping with the building’s 17th century origins, many with beams and all with large, comfortable beds.
The newly revamped version of Dom Fernando’s restaurant (Paradise 2.0 they’re calling it) was fitted out earlier this spring with a more homey interior, and furnished with a new set menu of exquisite courses inspired by a recent staff research trip to Sri Lanka. The impressive new hit dishes include a rasam, which Dom described as “a broth that your Mum would give you when you were feeling under the weather or, simply, hungry” – rich with cumin, acidity from lacto-fermented strawberries and wild garlic oil. There’s a watalappam (Sri Lankan dessert) given the savoury treatment and filled with brown crab brightened by sea buckthorn, and Sri Lanka’s famous yellow gravy (Kiri-Hodi) is served with a piece of the tenderest Cornish pollock, coconut and cox apple sambol and rice. The main course of a lamb saddle main is is accompanied by a curly puck of buttermilk roti along with aubergine moju, dal and a delightful rhubarb chilli chutney. Paradise is right.
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