The Somerset Food Trail Festival – a countywide celebration of the best sustainably produced food and drink – returns this summer.
Running from 18-27 July, it’s the perfect opportunity to explore the region’s most exciting ‘adventures in food’, from electric bike cheese safaris to pop-up feasts and foraging walks.
Now in its fourth year, the festival is an open-farm and farm-to-fork showcase that puts the spotlight on Somerset’s leading nature-friendly farmers and producers, and the chefs and retailers who support them, with a huge variety of food-focused events for every age, budget and diet.
Live performance and art will complement talks, tastings and farm tours in multiple destinations across the county, many of which are free to join.
The Trail offers access to parts of the countryside that are normally off-limits – lifting the lid on the farms, people and places behind Somerset’s tastiest, most sustainable food.
Susie Weldon, a trustee of local charity Sustainable Food Somerset which is behind the festival, said, “Increasing interest in food provenance, a growing appreciation of the need to reduce food miles and food waste, and desire to experience local culture are all feeding into the growing popularity of this one-of-a-kind event.”
The festival celebrates sustainable producers of all sizes, including allotments, home growing and community supported agriculture – even foraging and gleaning – offering good value days out for all the family and plenty of ideas for eating well on a budget.
Sustainable Food Somerset’s Chair, Kate Hughes, a regenerative farmerm, journalist and author, said, “The Somerset Food Trail Festival is a crucial opportunity for farmers and local food and drink businesses to showcase the fantastic work they are doing to deliver sustainable, quality produce to the people they care most about – the consumers on their doorstep.
“So many producers and retailers across the county are working hard every day, making nutritious and delicious real food. The way they produce that food is helping battle everything from human health and affordability crises to climate change and biodiversity loss. We just don’t always know about them.
“The Somerset Food Trail Festival is here to change all that – to remind us how delicious, nutritious and valuable the food in this county is and to empower us all in the battle for real food, carefully produced. This is the chance to get back into the local countryside we love, to learn more about our food and, above all, to feel part of it.
“At a time when consumers often feel powerless in the face of global brands, cut off from the countryside and fears over ultra processed food, biodiversity loss, climate change and food security are weighing heavily on all our minds, I’m incredibly proud to be involved in this one-of-a-kind event.”