• Sat. Nov 9th, 2024

Balloon rides, dancing diggers and Richard E Grant at Daylesford’s milestone Harvest Festival

Byoxfordnewspaper

Sep 7, 2022

Daylesford Organic is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a special two-day Harvest Festival.

An annual Daylesford tradition, this year's event is spread over two days to mark the milestone.

Daylesford’s Market Garden will be transformed with activities from hot air balloon rides to dancing diggers and classic fairground rides.

The much-loved dog shows will return, hosted by actors Richard E Grant and Christopher Biggins, with categories including Dog Most Like Its Owner, Best Dressed Dog, Scruffiest Dog and Dog With The Waggiest Tail.

Oxford Mail:

Visitors can taste organic food from the farm and its producers while the Cookery School demo tent will host guest speakers best-selling cookbook author Melissa Hemsley, Masterchef finalist Giovanna Ryan, Instagram star Lucy Lord and accomplished young British chef Tait Miller.

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Alongside inspirational speakers taking part in panels and talks across the weekend, there will be back-to-back live music and entertainment in the festival barn including such artists as The Cash Cows, SOL Collective, Lexi Berg, Paul Cowley and Minna.

Guests can relax on long banquet tables, feast on delicious food from the Daylesford Fire Pits and barbecues with refreshments at the Harvest Festival Bar including Daylesford’s own festival cider, craft beers and organic wines from Chateau Léoube.

Animal lovers can meet and learn more about the farm's rare and heritage breeds, guests can get hands-on with expert-hosted floristry and craft workshops and at the Bamford Wellness Spa and Heritage Orchard there will be holistic activities, relaxing workshops and wellbeing talks.

Oxford Mail:

The competition tent will be accepting entries until 11am each day. Saturday categories include best harvest chutney, best carrot cake and best homegrown heritage apple as well as for children best hedgehog habitat.

Carole Bamford started Daylesford Organic is 2002 with just a handful of people and today employs over 500 across the Cotswolds business and four London sites.

Lady Bamford said: "When I started out, I never imagined that Daylesford would grow in the way that it has, or that the urgency I felt to switch our conventional farm to organic would spread to become part of a much greater groundswell of change.

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"We have grown from a small farmshop and a few tables where you could sit and have soup and sandwiches, to a site that now includes our cookery school, our Old Spot cafe and The Trough restaurant which won a Green Michelin Star in 2021, our homeware and garden spaces as well as our four farmshops in London.

"Yet, our ethos hasn’t changed – working in harmony with nature remains at the heart of everything we do.

"Thank you to each and everyone of you that has visited or supported us over the past 20 years. We’re looking forward to celebrating with lots of you in two weeks' time."

Daylesford Harvest Festival is on Saturday 17 – Sunday 18 September, 10am – 5pm, both days. To book tickets, go to https://www.daylesford.com/events/harvest-festival

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