Stone Staffordshire

Stone Food & Drink Festival 2007

The Festival this year is between October 5th - 7th.

(Pre Festival Dates October 1st - 4th)

Programme Dates

**Click on a date above for full details**

Preparations for the third Stone Food and Drink Festival are well and truly underway.

This year will see the return of the old favourites The Real Ale Trail, The Manger a Trois and of course the 3 day farmers market.

Once again Stone Afford-Rent-A-Car will generously sponsor The Real Ale Trail. If you fancy a pint of Staffordshire real ale, then this is an ideal opportunity for you to travel in style by mini-bus and visit the out-lying pubs.

Fourteen pubs are taking part in the real ale trail in and around Stone.

The Manger a Trois was a big attraction last year. This year there are more restaurants taking part offering a choice of food as you enjoy each course in a different restaurant.

Stone must be one of the most diverse towns in the Midlands for eating out and our guides will be on hand to take you to each venue to be entertained. Places will be limited, so it's advisable to book early.

The Farmers Market in Stone is held on the first Saturday in every month and October's Festival market will be even bigger than usual offering a wealth of local produce.

Take a walk along the canal and you will be able to see a splash of colour from over a hundred narrow boats moored along the towpath that will come along the Trent and Mersey Canal to Stone for a boat gathering in time for the 3-day Festival.

Pumpkin plants have been delivered to nursery schools for the children to enter their pumpkins for the pumpkin competition. Prizes will be given for the funniest shape, the biggest and the best decorated pumpkin.

Rebecca Cooper from Springfield First School in Yarnfield was the winner of last year's competition. Will she repeat her success? This year the Stone Food and Drink Festival is proud to announce a new and exciting event - The Gourmet Food Marquee. The marquee will be on Westbridge Park and will play host to over sixty exhibitors who will be giving samples and selling their produce.

Trentham Estates have once again made it possible for us to invite three celebrity chefs to appear in The Crown Hotel by sponsoring the Trentham Estates Kitchen. Mary Berry is back by popular demand and will be cooking in the morning on October 5th. Paul Rankin will be cooking on October 6th and James Tanner on October 7th.

To help ease the car parking situation in Stone, The Festival Working Group intend to run a park and ride service into Stone from Trentham Estates. The Historic Crown Hotel is a landmark in the centre of Stone and once again, the management have donated the use of the ballroom for the Festival. HEFF (Heart of England Fine Foods) will stage their new exhibition kitchen in the Crown Hotel. This means there will be events staged all day throughout the three days and in case of bad weather, demonstrations will still take place.

Last years Festival was a huge success and already we know that this year the Festival is going to be even bigger and better. Stone Food and Drink Festival were given a grant from The Stone Market Town Initiative to employ a part-time administrator but we couldn't run the festival without the help of volunteers. If you would like to help in any way or if there is an event that you would like to take part in, our Festival Office is open for more details.

Office hours are 10am to 1pm (Monday - Friday). Phone 01785 816955.

Article reproduced with the kind permission of:
The Stone & Eccleshall Gazette.