Seaham Food Festival hailed a success as 30,000 people flock to the site
Tens of thousands of foodies headed to Seaham at the weekend to enjoy good food and entertainment.
Seaham Food Festival returned for another year on Saturday, August 1, and Sunday, August 2, with good food, fun and entertainment.
Delivered by Durham County Council, this popular festival gives people the opportunity to buy fresh local produce and enjoy cooking and baking demonstrations from some of the nation’s top celebrity chefs, including Bake Off: The Professionals Cherich Finden and BBC One Saturday Kitchen’s Matt Tebbutt.
Dr Sarah Glynn, Durham County Council’s strategic manager for culture, said: “The turnout this weekend has been amazing.
"We do two food festivals every year but I just love the beach setting for this one.
"We’ve had around 140 traders selling local produce – from the county itself and the North East more widely.
"It helps bring people into the town and drives footfall for local shops and traders that in turn helps the local economy.
"We spend a year planning it to make sure there’s something for everyone.
"Whether you want barbecue food, churros, coffee, sausage rolls or bread – anything you want you can find here.
"The traders are really passionate about what they do and are really happy to talk to people and tell them how their products are made and where.”
Speaking ahead of her live cooking performance at the festival, Cherish, an internationally-acclaimed pastry chef and judge on Channel 4’s Bake Off: The Professionals, said: “This is my second time at the food festival. My first time here was four years ago.
"I see that there have been a lot of changes. There’s more stalls and I can see that the stage is so much bigger now."
Cherish joined a number of TV personalities on stage across the weekend to deliver a range of cooking demonstrations.
Speaking about how it felt to take to the stage, Cherish said: “It’s the people, it’s the warmness, it’s the food – it’s everything.
"I can see that when I do my first demonstration, everybody was just so lovely. Everybody was so warm and so engaging – and I even made them dance as well.”