Record crowds at Chester food fest

Chocolate egg fixes, meaningful family get togethers and dull weather did not stop record numbers from leaving the house and showing up to the Chester Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival over the long weekend.

Almost 24,000 people couldn't move for a cheesy bit of this and a frothy bit of that over the four days as food and drink producers put their wares on display - and quickly sold out of them - with a combined food and BeerFest.

Cooks from leading restaurants around the region demonstrated in packed out tents what could be achieved with something beyond microwave know-how, while a whole convoy of VW campervans kept the engines stoked at the far end of the field with the event's first CamperFest. Over 800 happy campers came along to the festival with the furthest family coming all the way from Brighton.

Festival organiser Stephen Wundke, said: “Chester Food, Drink & Lifestyle Festival is now one of the most popular festivals the region produces and the visitor numbers increasing year on year proves this.

“This year, we wanted to give our visitors even more of an experience down here at the racecourse and the figures of both BeerFest and CamperFest prove that they have been a big success. We want to personally thank everyone who came to the festival and showed their support.”

This year’s festival had a strong family focus and the Academy of Culinary Arts supported by Cheshire West and Chester Children’s Services put nearly 1,000 children in chef hats to learn how to appreciate foods in ways they may not have done before by smelling and tasting food blind-folded.

Jane Holden, Academy of Culinary Arts, added: “Such has been the popularity of the workshops, I will be asking organisers if we can have more space in 2011 and more chefs - it just proves how much children love to cook!”

And how adults love to drink. BeerFest saw over 1,600 beer lovers knock back nearly 9,000 pints of guest ales from Chester and North Wales. The “facilities” coped admirably.