The Cramlington Proper Food and Drink Festival is making a welcome return to the town.
The event, which is free, attracted thousands of people for its first visit to Cramlington last year.
It returns on 29 and 30 July to the Seven Oaks Park – opposite Manor Walks – and will again feature around 60 of the best local food and drink producers, entertainment, bars and a range of street food to suit every taste.
“It’s great to see the Proper Food and Drink Festival come back to the town,” said Gerry Sothcott, chair of the Cramlington Development Trust. “It was such a big success last year. It was enjoyed by people who live here as well as attracting lots of visitors, which has to be good news. I hope it becomes an annual event.”
There are six Proper Food and Drink Festivals taking place across the North East throughout the summer. Three – in North Shields, South Shields and Whitley Bay – have already taken place. Two new festivals – in Gateshead on 5 and 6 August and Blyth the following weekend – will follow Cramlington.
“We’re so pleased that the festivals have been so well-received and grown in number in the five years since we started out,” said Mark Deakin, who organises the events with his wife Shelley.
“A lot of people who came to Cramlington last year didn’t know what to expect – and they were very pleasantly surprised. While the festivals centre around the food and drink and the music, they are also an opportunity for the community to come together. That’s certainly what happened in Cramlington.”
As well as the Proper Food and Drink Festivals, the Deakins were also the team behind this month’s North East Chilli Fest which attracted thousands of people to its new home at Gloucester Lodge Farm in Seaton Sluice. They are also putting together the final details of a new event – the Great North Feast – which takes place in South Shields over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
“It will certainly be our busiest summer, but we have a fantastic team working with us and we’ve got a formula which seems to work,” said Shelley.
The Cramlington Proper Food and Drink Festival is open from 10am to 5pm on Saturday 29 July and Sunday 30 July. Further details are available from the festival website www.properfoodanddrinkfestivals.co.uk/