Get set for food event of the year

Apr 24 2008 by Jane Hall, The Journal

What is it?

THE buy local, use local, eat local gastronomic event of the year – The Journal Taste North East England Food and Drink Festival in association with the National Trust

Where is it?

Gibside, Rowlands Gill. Time: 10.30am-3.30pm

Why should I go?

More than 60 food and drink stalls piled high with the freshest local produce, staffed by the farmers who reared the animals, the bakers who made the bread, the growers who picked the vegetables and the brewers who bottled the beer.

What’s there?

The North East’s best food and drink producers; Hairy Biker Simon King; celebrity chefs David Hall, Tony Binks, Bill Oldfield, Gareth Marks and Richard Sim doing cooking demos using local, seasonal produce; children’s crafts; face painting, and live music courtesy of North Tyneside Steel Band.

How much?

Normal National Trust admission prices apply. But keep buying your Journal as between now and Saturday we will be printing a two-for-one entrance voucher for Gibside for use on April 26 only.

Oh, by the way...

You can also enjoy Gibside’s spectacular vistas, winding footpaths and grassy open spaces spanning 400-acres.

Getting there:

By road: Gibside is three miles west of the MetroCentre in Gateshead. From the A1, join the A694 from the junction next to the MetroCentre and follow the brown signs for Gibside.

But how about...

Going by public transport. Take the Go North East Red Kite bus to Rowlands Gill (route 45, 46 or 46a) from stand C at Eldon Square or Clayton Street, both Newcastle. They run every 15-20 minutes and the journey takes around 30 minutes. Your stop is Lockhaugh Road/Derwent Park in Rowlands Gill and Gibside is a ½-mile walk from there.

THANK YOU

THE Journal is indebted to the following firms and organisations for their help: Waitrose, Hexham, for sponsoring the food demonstration marquee and the loan of the supermarket chain’s event tent; regional food group Northumbria Larder for donating their mobile kitchen and City Centre Partnership, which runs the Newcastle Quayside Sunday Market, which has stepped in to supply stalls.