It's a bit overdue but finally here's my post all about the first ever Wells Food Festival and the Vintage Tea Party myself and friends M and C ate too much cake at.
Wells isn't too far from where I live but it's one of those places that's too close so therefore you never actually take the time to wander round. We parked up near the cathedral and walked through Cathedral Green to get to the food festival and for once I spent a bit of time appreciating the outside of the cathedral (we were all far too skinflint to pay to look round inside though!). Interestingly the clock (which you can just see in the picture below) dates back to the late 1300's although lots of parts have been replaced numerous times over the years.
After gazing at the cathedral we moved on to the stalls in the Market Place with the aim of sniffing out the free samples. It was really packed with people; everyone had to squeeze around each other to see what each stall was selling and taste different things. Between the three of us we tried a lot of samples: jam, chocolate, bread, fish, cheese (lots of cheese!), honey, pie, cake and probably a lot more. By the time we headed to the Vintage Tea Party my handbag contained hedgerow jam, apple crumble chocolate, two festive pies and lots of leaflets.
But by far the most delicious thing we tasted was this foccacia oozing with hot cheese - from a stall which was making them right before our eyes. My friend C calls this sort of food 'dirty' which I think is a completely appropriate phrase.
The Vintage Tea Party was hosted by rock-star-wife-turned-vintage-darling Pearl Lowe who lives locally and attended with husband Danny Goffey, from Britpop band Supergrass. Everything was laid out beautifully on gorgeous crockery with a huge selection of cakes to choose from. We ended up with a large table all to ourselves, so much so that we weren't sure if anyone was joining us and whether we should start or not!
When we did start eating though, it was really good! First we had a really creamy lemon posset complete with a raspberry and a square of shortcake, then we moved onto the cheesecake. We weren't really sure what flavour the cheesecake was; it seemed to be a bit like toffee, a bit like banana, a bit like caramel and a bit like cinnamon and ginger. Whatever it was, it was very nice although we did all have to keep drinking copious cups of tea to wash down the huge amounts of sugar we must have been digesting.
The most sugary treat though was the meringue, which was so good, but also so so sweet. The base was chocolate chip and was topped with meringue pieces, cream and red fruits (which of course, make it healthy...).
I had to eat my slice in two goes, stopping for some more gulps of tea halfway through.
There was also ginger cake, which I'm not a huge fan of, so we ended up with doggy bags filled with cake to take home. My ginger cake and another slice of meringue went to Andrew to make up for the day he spent decorating at home alone.
Hopefully Wells will run another Food Festival next year, I think it was a success all round from what I've read.
It was definitely a fab day but with far too much food eaten!
Hey ho though, it's only one day after all :-)
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