Chester set for Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival in April

Dec 31 2009 by Barry Ellams, Chester Chronicle

CHESTER Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival will be launched on April 5.

Formally the Chester Food and Drink Festival, the new festival, which still features all the food and drink stalls, is to appeal to an even wider audience by introducing a lifestyle show and camper van event to its line-up.

Chester Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival will be kick started by the cheese rolling competition and pancake race day on February 16.

Included in the festival are the celebrity chef demonstrations.

Chefs confirmed for the festival are Simon Rimmer, Michael Caines, Andrew Nutter and Thomasina Miers.

Taste Chester will showcase more than 120 food and drink stalls offering festival goers the chance to see, taste and buy the produce from across the region.

There will be a champagne tent and a beer tasting marquee.

The 2010 Chester Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival welcomes a homes and garden exhibition, which makes the festival the largest lifestyle event the county has seen.

More than 50 stalls are expected to be at the exhibition including home interiors, art galleries and furniture stores.

More than 300 campervans will join in the fun too, in what will be the only camper van get-together in the UK during the spring.

Campers can look forward to a beer festival, which includes music and a marquee of tasty local beer and ale. Š

Camper vans are to park within the racecourse.

From sport, literature, fashion, arts and historical events, Chester is set to take centre stage on the UK’s events calendar.

Events and dates are to be announced in the coming weeks.

Chester city co-ordinator Stephen Wundke said: “Visitors and residents in Chester are going to be completely amazed by the number and quality of events within the city in 2010.

“Our aim is to put on events that span most of the year, drawing in crowds from far and wide.”