Savour Ards and North Down's Finest Food and Drink during Taste Autumn!
6th September 2022
An exciting fortnight of activity starts this Saturday 10 September with Taste Autumn in Ards and North Down, giving you the chance to savour some of Ards and North Down’s finest food and drink!
It will be a packed two-week programme of free and ticketed events with a focus on seasonal tide and turf produce. There will be foodie experiences, chef demonstrations, markets, as well as the popular Tide and Turf Food Festival in Portavogie on Saturday 24 September. The Festival opens from midday until 5pm and will feature cookery demonstrations organised by South Eastern Regional College (SERC) with celebrity chefs, Theo Randall and Suzie Lee.
Randall is a regular on national television, including BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, and is known for being one of the country’s best non-Italian Italian chefs. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland’s Suzie Lee was winner of BBC’s Best Home Cook 2020 and has gone on to present Suzie Lee Home Cook Heroes.
As well as celebrity chefs, there will be a selection of food and drink stalls that will showcase the best of local produce with a focus on seafood and beef, plus an artisan bar with the best of local drink offerings and a chance to meet the producers.
There will be plenty of children’s activities and entertainment too, including puppet shows, street entertainers, arts and craft activities, and a funfair. There will even be a Portavogie Pups Café where your four-legged friend can relax and refuel with a puppuccino or a refreshing drink of water.
Live music from Beach Boys tribute act, ‘The Surf’s Up’, and the incredible ‘String Ninjas’, will add to the atmosphere. The Surf’s Up is a nine-piece band that will play the coolest mixture of sun, sand, and classic tracks from the ‘60s and ‘70s, while the String Ninjas is a Belfast-based instrumental duo made up of a fingerstyle guitarist and electric violinist!
Ards and North Down Borough Council is committed to reducing our carbon footprint and has organised free buses that will run from Bangor, Newtownards and Portaferry. There will also be water stations on site, so bring along your refillable bottles and reusable bags to pick up goodies at the market!
For a full list of Taste Autumn events, as well as bus timetables, go to visitardsandnorthdown.com/tasteautumn.
Photo caption: Mayor of Ards and North Down, Councillor Karen Douglas is joined by SERC Hospitality and Catering Lecturer Brian Magill who is helping to organise cookery demonstrations at the Tide and Turf Food Festival with celebrity chefs Theo Randall (pictured) and Suzie Lee. (Image: Graham Baalham-Curry)
