south holland food festival 2012

lots of lovely baked goods

we went to the south holland food festival in the sleepy tulip parade town of spalding today and it was surprisingly good.

I had few, if any expectations if I was honest as we have not found much by way of culinary delight in the area but reality was that visiting the food producers was fantastic.

leek and curry savoury snack loaf

we had coffee and bought beans from www.azorieblue.com as well as having a sit down and a really good gnatter with the stallholder. That was our first stop and we could have stayed there drinking their lovely coffee in the shade but onward we pressed.

we had crisps and dips and bought a handful of the flavours from the clumber chilli co

bottled fire

we bought spicy rubs from the gourmet spice company and enjoyed a very nice chat with the chap on the stand who was incredibly enthusiastic, knowledgeable and a treat to meet.

magic BBQ dust

we bought a trio of delicious and interestingly flavoured balsamic vinegars from the same producer having sampled more than what really constitutes sampling.

we bought bread to dip in the balsamic from Thierry Daugeron who I am now also following on twitter because of the festival.

a trio of deliciousness

we bought baked goods, home made lemonade and a huge tub of spiced garlic cloves.

flavoured balsamic for dipping

we bought gallons of local cider from a bloke who calls himself cider trev.  He brews his ciders from wind fall apples that he collects on his travels around the county. He has a full time job but has acquired good will from people whose garden or neglected free range orchards needed ‘tidying up’ and he has developed a lucrative hobby for himself.  He is also a thoroughly nice man who is prepared to help us with our own failed attempts at brewing cider when we next have a go!

more flavours for dipping

we bought heckington 8 sail beer, curry spices from Mrs Shah, local freshly picked raspberries, strawberries and our lunch.

round one!!!

JC had a goat meat curry from nkono which is cameroon curry in a banana leaf cone and then went back for second helpings in the form of their provincial beef curry. He liked it that much!!!

empty and off he goes for seconds!!

I had the creamiest, cheesiest, meatiest slice of freshly made quiche that was so deep filled and had such a huge overlapping edge of pastry to the top of it that it just about qualified as a pie. Suits me, I love a bit of meaty pie!!

ocean deep filled quiche

We did lots of tasting and I KNOW we had more food than is appropriate for a lunchtime but we thoroughly enjoyed it. We probably enjoyed it more than expected because we had absolutely no idea how good it was going to be and were honestly prepared for it to be a bit rubbish.

It is set in the absolutely gorgeous grounds of Ascoughee Hall which is a museum and open gardens that are both free to enter.

the ornamental pond at Ascoughee Hall gardens

We are gently working our way through cider trev’s selection of  6 different types of cider and will let you know what happens when we get to ‘head wrecker’!!

It is on again tomorrow so it’s not too late.  Go on, go along, you will find something delicious that you weren’t expecting!!!!

And it is in our diary for next year!!!