buy British – The Extra Mile

Posted on 16/10/202516/10/2025 by The Extra Mile

Pumpkin Fest at Strawberry Fields, Devon

Pumpkin Fest at Strawberry Fields Lifton: a magical autumn day out

As the air turns crisp and the hedgerows glow gold, there’s no better way to celebrate the season than by visiting Pumpkin Fest at Strawberry Fields, Lifton. This is more than just pumpkin picking! It’s a full-on autumn festival, perfect for families and lovers of countryside escapes. Strawberry Fields may be the name, but in autumn the fields in question are alive with thousands upon thousands of orange pumpkins, just waiting to be picked.

For those who love supporting British farms, seeking out local experiences and discovering destination farm shops, Pumpkin Fest at Strawberry Fields is exactly the kind of farm day out to remember: it’s one of the myriad reasons we’ve included Strawberry Fields in The Farm Shop Guide (and in our other guidebook too: The Extra Mile: Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services).

Visit Pumpkin Fest in 2025: Strawberry Fields Farm Shop’s biggest ever celebration of pumpkins, Halloween, and seasonal British food and fun!

How to get to Strawberry Fields' Pumpkin Fest

Address: Strawberry Fields Farm Shop, Cookworthy Road, Lifton, Devon, PL16 0JL
Travel by car: The farm is accessed via local country roads; look for signage as you approach Lifton from the A30.
Public transport: Depending on where you are, you might take a train or bus to nearby towns and then it’s a short bike ride or taxi ride. (Check local bus routes in late October.)
Parking: On-site parking is usually available, often included in the ticket or for a small fee. Check ahead.

What's on at Pumpkin Fest: highlights and top experiences

At Pumpkin Fest, there’s a lively mix of harvest fun, autumn atmosphere and festive treats. Expect:

huge pumpkin patch: thousands of homegrown pumpkins ready to pick!
Creepy Carnival maize maze for spooky wanderings
barrel train rides through the grounds
photo spots and displays with giant pumpkins, autumnal backdrops and seasonal scenes
magic shows, circus acts, live music and entertainment for children
food stalls, autumn treats (pumpkin spiced items, hot drinks, pies etc.)
Pumpkin Nights evenings with illuminated pumpkins, music and family entertainment (after-dark events)

In short: Pumpkin Fest blends pick-your-own fun, festival atmosphere and seasonal charm.

Pumpkin Fest costs and tickets

General admission tickets are £4.95 for Pumpkin Fest sessions.
The Creepy Carnival Maize Maze is priced separately at around £3.95.
Parking may be included or charged (check the farm’s event pages for current details as it can vary from event to event).
Carers tickets may be available (often free or discounted), check online or call ahead for details if this would be useful for you.
Tickets tend to sell out for popular times: booking in advance is wise and always check ahead for any updates to pricing, opening hours, availability or parking costs.

About Strawberry Fields Farm Shop

Strawberry Fields is not just about pumpkin festivals; it’s one of the region’s celebrated farm shops with a reputation for quality produce, artisan food, a bakery, pantry goods, local meats, and seasonal fruit and veg.

The farm shop often acts as the anchor to the event: visitors can arrive early or linger later to browse, enjoy a meal or a coffee, or to shop locally. The farm shop’s ethos aligns beautifully with what The Farm Shop Guide stands for: showcasing independent, authentic, regionally rooted farm destinations.

By including places like Strawberry Fields in The Farm Shop Guide, we help readers discover not just where to pick pumpkins, but where to shop local, meet producers, enjoy good food, and support sustainable farms.

A taste of the season...and a reason to explore

The Farm Shop Guide celebrates farm-to-fork food all year round, but autumn is when Britain’s farm shops truly shine. From freshly pressed apple juice to hearty soups, home-baked cakes, and steaming cups of hot chocolate, you’ll find every reason to embrace the season in farm shops, farm shop cafés, and farms’ PYO fields across Britain.

Each entry in the book features an independent, hand-picked farm shop. Many have their own cafés, support local producers and stage seasonal and family-friendly events. Many are places that can turn food shopping into a day out for the whole family. Whether you’re in Cardiff, Cumbria or John o’Groats, there’s a pumpkin patch, apple orchard or farm shop or café waiting to welcome you.

Final thoughts

Pumpkin Fest at Strawberry Fields, Lifton, is a seasonal highlight worth planning for. It combines pick-your-own pumpkins, festival charm, live entertainment, and the chance to shop in a thriving farm shop. Whether you’re driving from a nearby county or exploring your backyard, Strawberry Fields is a destination that delivers feel-good fun, autumn colours, and a real connection to a local farm.

For any reader who values knowing where their food comes from, who loves the idea of farms as community hubs, and who wants to support local growers, The Farm Shop Guide is your road map to many more experiences like this. Use the book to find your next pumpkin patch, apple orchard or harvest festival, to visit farm shops that care deeply about quality, sustainability and place.

See you in the patch this October! 🎃

Image below (c) Matt Austin

Posted on 15/10/202515/10/2025 by The Extra Mile

Find your perfect pumpkin patch this halloween

Pumpkins at the pumpkin patch at Drewton's Farm

Find your perfect pumpkin patch this Halloween

As the leaves turn gold and the nights draw in, there’s no better way to celebrate autumn than with a trip to a local farm shop or pumpkin patch. Across Britain, fields are glowing orange with pumpkins ready to be picked, carved and cooked, with many farm shops turning the season into a full-blown celebration, with Halloween trails, harvest festivals, and family-friendly days out.

If you love discovering local food, seasonal produce, and countryside adventures, The Farm Shop Guide is your ultimate companion. It’s packed with over 160 brilliant farm shops, pick-your-own farms, farm shop cafés, and growers across the UK, with some of the best pumpkin patches and autumn events happening right now.

So order your copy of The Farm Shop Guide before you search “pumpkin patch near me” or “Halloween events near me”, for the book might just do all the hard work for you. You’ll simply need to grab your wellies then head out to explore the kind of places that make autumn in Britain so special.

Below we list some top spots from The Farm Shop Guide known for their pumpkin activities. After, we’ll show you how to carve your pumpkin, and even how to use it up once Halloween is all done and dusted for another year.

Why visit a farm shop pumpkin patch?

Fresh from the field: pumpkins that have ripened naturally and that haven’t been shipped halfway around the world.
Family fun: some farms offer hay-bale mazes, tractor rides, Halloween events and spooky-themed cafés.
Support local farmers: every pumpkin sold helps keep small British farms thriving.
Sustainable celebrations: farm shops often use minimal packaging and grow with the environment in mind. When you work with the soil directly, you know exactly what it loves, and what it doesn’t…

By visiting your local farm shop, you’re not just picking or buying a local pumpkin. You’re supporting British farming, reducing food miles, and helping build a sustainable, community-driven food culture.

Get a pumpkin from Upper Dysart Larder, Montrose

A farm shop: but not as you know it, and pumpkins are available in season. Here’s what The Farm Shop Guide has to say about Upper Dysart Larder.

Four generations of Stirlings have tended the land here which focuses on potato crops. Having supplied schools, hospitals, and supermarkets for years, the family was keen to show that no-one makes mash quite like a potato farmer, and began to cook up different flavours on the farm: chorizo, haggis, and cauliflower cheese to name a few. Their meals are sold via a touch-screen farm-to-table vending machine, next to fresh meat and pies, Scottish-made drinks, cheese, and sweet treats. That leaves the family’s hands free to greet farm visitors, where daughter and former teacher Jessica has set up a community hub offering farm experiences. Meet the pigs, alpacas, highland cows, and goats, and play in the park before taking a coffee out to enjoy in a bubble pod as you watch the workings of the farm and beautiful views over Lunan Bay. A memorable stop along the Angus Coastal Route. (Mud alert: wellies advised.)

Pumpkins at Thorpe Farm Centre, Barnard Castle

There are plenty of family-friendly activities here: call ahead or check online to see what they have on the pumpkin front this year. Here’s what The Farm Shop Guide has to say about Thorpe Farm Centre.

Handsome Thorpe Farm has been in the Barkes family since 1936. They transformed the courtyard buildings into a lively rural destination a few years ago. The farm shop is regularly raided by guests at the campsite alongside, who come for sumptuous fry-up ingredients, sun-downers, and groceries (plus the famed Sunday carvery). Local meat and fish bejewel the fridges, oven-ready meals await in the freezer for easy dinners, and alluring gifts fill the shelves. The café is abuzz with friendly chatter as people catch up over slices of oven-fresh cake, and crisp jacket potatoes. Explore the family’s wonderful legacy through their community woodland and wetland nature reserve; kids will love the animal paddocks too. Be sure to browse the treasure trove of a reclamation shop before departing.

Pumpkins at Yolk Farm, Boroughbridge

No prizes for guessing that this place is known nationally for its eggs, but they also have pumpkins! Here’s what their feature in The Farm Shop Guide say about this fabulous, family-friendly, award-winning farm shop and restaurant.

As you’d expect with a name like Yolk, eggs are the order of the day here at Minskip Farm. Happy hens roam freely over a six-acre green paddock – alongside alpacas, pigs, and pygmy goats. This makes for delicious, perfectly poachable eggs, which you can try for yourself in the on-site café. Convinced? Buy a box to take home in the farm shop alongside market- garden vegetables, and meat from other happily reared animals. Most of the shop’s products come from within 30 miles. For a taste of the local terroir, you are in the right place: try the chicken pancakes with smoked bacon and maple syrup. Kids love the Yard@Yolk play barn (which has an admission charge) with its giant sand pit, and veggie growing and egg collecting stations. Check online for pumpkin and Halloween-related fun and games this year!

Pumpkins at Drewton's Farm Shop, South Cave

Pumpkins ahoy! The Yorkshire Wolds Way carves through chalk hills from the Humber estuary to the headland of Filey Brigg. Drewton’s Farm Shop is on the route, with sweeping views over this tranquil land. From this countryside springs a delicious crop of produce, which you can taste and take away in Drewton’s shop and café. The team supports the neighbouring farm community to keep food miles low. The meat in the butcher’s is Yorkshire bred, while the pheasant, partridge, and duck are from the Drewton Estate.

In the deli are sandwiches, nourishing salads, smooth pâtés, smoked fish, and mouth-watering ‘best of British’ cooked meats (the roast beef is a favourite). The café breakfasts and afternoon teas are legendary. If here in autumn, pick a plump favourite from the huge pumpkin patch. You’re on!

Pumpkins at Kenyon Hall Farm, Warrington

This place has its own entire Pumpkin Festival: now you’re talking. Owners Tod and Barbara took over Kenyon Hall Farm in 1978, and still get their hands dirty today. They are supported by their two sons and a friendly team who welcome visitors to the farm shop and café year-round, as well as to seasonal activities including an Easter Egg Hunt, PYO fruit, and a Pumpkin Festival. Open daily, the shop is always worth a stop, with much farm-grown produce. Some is turned into gins, jams, and preserves, and the honey comes from their hives. Provenance and limited food miles matter so the shop supports many North West producers. Stop in the newly extended café to enjoy smooth coffee, loaded brownies, and delicious home- cooked dishes overlooking the colourful blooms in the plant centre. Check online for Pumpkin Festival timings and all other information.

Pumpkins at Darts Farm, nr Exeter

Darts is an award-winning food, drink, farming, and lifestyle destination created by Michael and James Dart. Their brother, Paul, runs the farm that has been at the heart of the business since the PYO began over 50 years ago. Their Ruby Red Devon cattle graze alongside, and crops rise in the fields beyond. The food hall brims with homegrown, seasonal, and artisan produce. Their own small-batch cider and sparkling and still wines from the vineyard are well worth sampling. The café and restaurants use the fields and food hall as their larder to create delicious dishes. Visit Darts’ chocolatier and gelateria or head to the flagship restaurant, The Farm Table, for a seasonal feast cooked over fire. If time, complete your day with a treatment at the Wellness Spa, hike the farm’s paths on foot, or cycle the Exe Estuary Trail.

In autumn, check ahead for the Halloween, pumpkin, and other tasty (or indeed spooky!) happening down at Darts Farm, Devon.

Pumpkin carving ideas — and what to do with the leftovers

When carving your pumpkin this Halloween, make the most of every part of it. Here are some simple, waste-free ideas:

🎃 Roast the seeds: toss them in olive oil, salt and paprika, and roast for a crunchy snack.
🍲 Make soup: pumpkin flesh is perfect for creamy autumn soups with nutmeg and thyme.
🥧 Bake a pie: or muffins, scones, or pumpkin bread: a great way to use up what’s left.
🌱 Compost the shell: once your lantern has had its moment, add it to your compost heap.
🐔 Feed wildlife: chopped pumpkin is a nutritious treat for birds, squirrels or chickens.

A taste of the season...and a reason to explore

Each entry in the book features independent, hand-picked farm shops, many with their own cafés, local producers and events. Many are places that can turn food shopping into a day out for the whole family. Whether you’re in Cardiff, Cumbria or John o’Groats, there’s a pumpkin patch, apple orchard or farm café waiting to welcome you.

Make Halloween meaningful this year

Instead of buying imported pumpkins or plastic decorations, try celebrating Halloween the farm shop way this year.

Pick your own pumpkin from a British farm.
Stay for a local meal or for a coffee and cake.
Meet the farmers who are growing your food.
Take home something delicious and home-grown.
Share your day out using the farm’s hashtags (and #extramilebooks if you’re feeling generous!) and support local, whatever the season.

Thanks for reading, happy Halloween and if you find any farm shops or Halloween or pumpkin-related events near you that we should know about, spill the tea and let us know!

Posted on 26/06/202526/06/2025 by The Extra Mile

English Wineries to Visit in English Wine Week

Self-guided wine tour image from Langham Wine Estate

A high-quality quartet of wineries across England

Celebrate English Wine Week with a visit to your closest winery (easier if you live in the southern half of the island but not impossible if you live towards the north!). Whether you’re a seasoned wine lover or simply looking for unique day-out ideas, English Wine Week is the perfect time to discover the vineyards, cellar doors, and farm shops championing English wine.

Featuring many award-winning locations, The Extra Mile Guide is your trusted companion for finding independent food and drink stops just off your beaten track. If you’re searching for English Wine Week inspiration, our guidebook has a few local numbers and artisan vineyards up its sleeve, alongside family-run delis, and off-motorway pit-stops where you can sip and savour your way through the week.

It’s going to be another long hot weekend: pen in your visits, tours and tastings now and stay cool in the sunshine.

1. Heron Farm Vineyard, Honiton, Devon

There’s so much to say about Heron Farm Vineyard that we almost need to drop the little joining words altogether and just line all the award-winning nouns and wines up, end-to-end.

Magic happens in this Grand Designs building encircled by acres of working farm. It’s not all about the accolade-soaked wines, either, though the Solaris and Pinot Noir grapes thrive in their Devon soil. The farm and gift shop is lovely and the vineyard café excels with fresh kitchen-garden-to-table dishes, from curried pollock to cauliflower steak, often garnished with bright flowers. Sheep wander, the walled gardens delight and a Vineyard Walk weaves through the orchard, Fairy Gardens and some of the 3,000 vines.

First-time visitors (drawn by the added bonus of several EV chargers) often return with time on their hands and room in their boots for local gin and rum as well as vino. Plan your own first trip, tour or tasting and explore the pretty market town of Honiton afterwards.

Website for Heron Farm here.

2. Darts Farm, Topsham, nr Exeter

Darts Farm, on the Exe estuary, is a vibrant farming, shopping and eating hub. Links to the soil are strong with the family’s Ruby Red Devon cattle grazing on the river banks nearby. Reconnect with nature by visiting the animals, following the farm walk or spotting wildlife from the wetlands bird hide.

A highlight of a visit to Darts Farm is their Pebblebed Vineyards; head online to learn about their tours and tasting which run throughout summer until September (generally Thursdays and Saturdays, check and book ahead).

Darts’ food hall brims with locally reared, caught or made goodies: seasonal produce from the farm and vineyard, deli goods like British farmhouse cheese and West Country essentials from the region’s food and drink artisans. The butchery is the quiet star of this show (though the bean-to-bar chocolate and homemade gelato of in-house chocolatier, Cow & Cacao, is catching up).

Follow the fresh-ground coffee aroma to the eateries, whose indoor and outdoor tables maximise the views. Expect Devon cream teas and delicious meals, from pan-fried sea bass to charcuterie platters. The Farm Table works its magic over the flames, The Fish Shed does great fish and chips and The Shack makes a mean steak sandwich.

Visit Darts Farm online here.

3. Langham Wine Estate

The Langham Wine Estate is a wall-to-wall, grape to glass delight. Not content with being an international sparkling wine producer of the year award winner – take a bottle of the Pinot Meunier Extra Brut home – the winery also has a rustic café and outdoor pizza kitchen.

Walk-ins are welcome, though book online in summer to secure a spot in the café or hay-stacked barn, or at a bench amongst the vines and pretty hedgerows. Sharing and seafood platters are piled high with bright delicacies, and local ales and ciders join the homegrown wines on the menu. The Portland crab open focaccia is fab, the soft cheese soaked in Kalamata olive brine a salty speciality, and the Dorset posh ploughman’s a window into local fruits and flavours.

Feast your eyes on the grape-filled greenery with a guided tour, opt for the self-guided walking tour with a wine tasting flight, or enjoy your pre-ordered picnic within the satisfying symmetry of the vineyard.

Visit Langham Wine Estate online.

4. Squerrys Estate, Westerham, Kent

Squerryes’ family motto means ‘it’s permitted to be joyful’. Joy isn’t merely permitted at this 2,500-acre North Downs estate – gateway to the Garden of England – it’s inescapable. Squerryes has been creating magic for nearly 300 years and bottling it (in the form of sparkling wine) for a good while, too.

Take a table at the estate’s seasonal and sustainable Winery Restaurant next to veritable walls of wine; relax beneath broad parasols in the Garden Café overlooking the rosé vineyard; or plunder the deli’s bountiful larder whose cheese counter is curated by Neal’s Yard, London. Scoop into a creamy Kent blue for a peppery taste of the region.

After a vineyard walk, refill that energy gap with a coffee and light Portuguese tart, as the wine aficionados survey the Cellar Door’s pyramids of home-grown wine. In Westerham, next door, you can learn about the region’s brewing heritage or head south to Winston Churchill’s former home, Chartwell (National Trust), to appreciate its art collection and formal rose garden.

Visit Squerry’s Estate online.

Love a winery-based detour? You'll love our guide

To help you find memorable places to stop just off motorway junctions or while on the road exploring Britain, try The Extra Mile Guide (or our sibling titles, The Farm Shop Guide and The Coastal Café Guide). Packed with hundreds of memorable places to stop, eat and enjoy British food and drink (and wine), the guides will help you plan far more interesting journeys. Browse our books here.

Posted on 20/11/202424/02/2025 by The Extra Mile

BEST FOOD FESTIVALS FOR 2025

(c) eat:Festivals. People browsing local food stall at an eat:festival

THE BEST FOOD FESTIVALS FOR 2025

This blog brings together some of our favourite national and regional food festivals, so that you don’t miss a culinary trick in 2025 when looking for something to do with your foodie friends. Thank you to the organisers of the South West’s multi-award-winning food and drink festival series, eat:Festivals, for the use of their evocative, appetite-whetting imagery, above.

Our guidebooks (The Extra Mile: Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services; The Farm Shop Guide; and The Coastal Café Guide) have one thing in common with these festivals. Our books encourage people to eat local, buy local, avoid boring big-brand food and the monotony of motorway eats, and instead to support smaller, independent producers. You’ll find many of these festivals featured in our newest book (already a #1 Amazon bestseller), The Farm Shop Guide.

Have we missed any festivals? Let us know, we’ll slip them in.

FOOD FESTIVALS IN/ FROM APRIL 2025

eat:Festivals…Year-round events in 2025 (from 5 April until 13 Dec)

eat:Festivals need a whole website of their own, there is so much going on. With local, regional events plus festive and themed markets (think vegan, Christmas, gate-to-plate), their impressive series of day-long markets begin with eat:Bideford on Sat 5 April 2025. They then continue (through Minehead, Weston-super-Mare, Castle Cary, Nailsea, Exmouth, Tavistock, Taunton, Bedminster, Burnham, Portishead, Axminster, Yeovil, Chipping Sodbury Shaftesbury, Honiton, Totnes, Wellington, Tiverton, and Clevedon) until Sat 13 December 2025, drawing a year of South West food festivals to a close with eat:Dawlish. Come along for everything from cider, organic veggies and smoked fish to chocolate, gelato and local spirits. Street performers and sustainability are high on the list of must-haves for every eat:Festival.

Book or attend your next eat:Festival here.

FOOD FESTIVALS IN MAY 2025

Porthleven Food Festival, Cornwall, 2-4 May 2025

Designed as a toast to Cornish food (while raising awareness of the key issues relating to food and the environment), this event takes over the whole town in a weekend of pasties, chef demos, Bloody Marys, ska bands, and comedy skits. It’s a riot.

Visit the Porthleven Food Festival in Cornwall.

Ludlow Food Festival, Shropshire, 9-11 May 2025

The spring chapter of this famed foodie event (set against the Marches’ iconic castle) has bands, beer, music, and motors. Although more beer-focused than the autumn edition, you’ll find a wealth of artisan food producers ready to show off the region’s best street food. A fab food festival in Shropshire.

Follow Ludlow’s Spring Food Festival, Shropshire

Follow Ludlow’s main Food Festival (12-14 Sep 2025)

North Leeds Food Festival, West Yorkshire, May 10-11 2025

A popular menu of tribute bands, street entertainers, artisan traders, indy bars, and delicious street food make this a popular addition to any self-respecting foodie’s calendar. Kids love the fun fair and inflatables, leaving grown-ups free to enjoy innovative chef demos and samples of local tipples.

Visit the North Leeds Food Festival site

Blenheim Palace Food Festival, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, 24-26 May 2025

In this rather dramatic setting, discover new flavours and be inspired by passionate chefs, food makers and bakers, and esteemed culinary guests. For street food, live music, curated food stalls, kitchen and homeware gifts, Blenheim is the place to be. If you happen to have an Annual or Palace and Play Pass, it’s also completely free (else find tickets online).

Head to the Blenheim Palace Food Festival in 2025.

FOOD FESTIVAL IN JUNE 2025

Taste of London, Regent’s Park, 12-16 June 2025

This five-day ‘food-fuelled garden party’, as the organisers call it, happens in the heart of the capital’s vast Regent’s Park. It features an impressive number of London’s hottest chefs and restaurants, and introduces movers and shakers new to the food scene. Cocktails, desserts, cook schools, and street food await.

Visit Taste of London for festival map, tickets, and info.

Shrewsbury Food Festival 28-29 June 2025

On the last weekend of June, Shrewsbury Food Festival transforms the town’s park with 200 independent food and drink stalls, street food trucks, and bars. Top chefs offer free talks and demonstrations, while a Chef School inspires budding cooks. A dedicated kids’ zone features free activities like circus skills, have-a-go activities, and inflatables. Enjoy live performances on the Music Stage and Family Entertainment Stage or learn about food and sustainability in the Field to Fork area. Winner of ‘Festival of the Year’ at West Midlands Tourism Awards 2024, it’s more than just a food festival.

Visit Shrewsbury Food Festival.

FOOD FESTIVALS IN JULY 2025

Great Yorkshire Show, North Yorkshire, July 8-11 2025

A 140,000-strong crowd descends on Harrogate each summer to celebrate British food, countryside, and farming at the Great Yorkshire Show. Staged since 1837, this is one of the UK’s oldest, largest agricultural shows. Marvel at the prize animals in the judging ring, sample fine Yorkshire produce, and enjoy the live music.

For FAQ and tickets, visit the Great Yorkshire Show online.

National Geographic Traveller Food Festival, Business Design Centre, London, 19-20 July 2025,

With a food hall, wine and spirits theatre, workshops, master food photography sessions and more, Nat Geo’s fabulous food fest gives you the chance to ‘taste the world’ in the heart of London. Head to the main stage to see decorated chefs, TV personalities, and cookbook writers, and be inspired by their words, wit, and culinary wisdom.

Global gourmets: get your 2025 tickets to the National Geographic Traveller Food Festival here.

Rock Oyster, Dinham House, North Cornwall, 24-27 July 2025

Alongside an artisanal food extravaganza, Rock Oyster has a stellar lineup of musical treats in 2025, from the Ministry of Sound Classical to Rag’n’Bone Man, UB40 and more. Sea, sand, surf, foodie workshops and sessions, salivating over delicious gourmet goods: Rock Oyster 2025 has it all.

Check out the Rock Oyster 2025 schedule and tickets here.

Feast On, Bristol, 24-27 July 2025

Hosted on Bristol’s iconic Durdham Downs parkland, Feast On offers signature dishes from the city’s top chefs as well as a produce market, open fire cooking demos, live music, and tasting opportunities. Bristol is also home to most of this publisher’s staff (it’s where Printslinger is based) so this Bristol Food Festival is of course a huge favourite. See you there!

Get stuck in to Feast On Bristol in 2025

FOOD FESTIVALS IN AUGUST 2025

PieFest, Melton Mowbray, 3-4 August 2025

Does this food festival speak for itself? To eat all the pies – or to see who makes some of the country’s very finest examples thereof – come to pie-central, Melton Mowbray, in early August. Check the suspension on your car before setting off, boot laden with golden-pastry’d goodness…

Visit PieFest in August 2025.

Glasgow Foodies Festival, 8-10 August 2025

Glasgow’s is one in a cracking series of 14 ‘Foodie’ festivals taking place right across the UK, each celebrating the food of its region. Expect fire-pit cooking, an artisan market, street food, award-winning chefs, and great music. If you’re looking for a food festival in Scotland, look no further.

Visit Glasgow Foodies Festival online for more.

The Big Feastival, the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, 22-24 August 2025

Cross a music festival with a food fest and you have: the Feastival. Hosted at a farm in the Cotswolds, it’s a weekend extravaganza of music, dancing, top-class chefs, finger-licking street food, and family fun.

Get your tickets to Oxfordshire’s Big Feastival here.

FOOD FESTIVALS IN SEPTEMBER 2025

Narberth Food Festival, Pembrokeshire 2025 (date TBC)

West Wales has a burgeoning food scene, and the pretty market town of Narberth celebrates the best of it. Entry is free and the 50-plus stalls are full of creative flavours: perhaps local ferments, whisky, preserved fish, or vegan meals. There’s also a rich menu of music and activities for children. Check online before making any plans, we’re just waiting with everything crossed for the 2025 dates.

Visit Narberth Food Festival in 2025

Abergavenny Food Festival, 20-21 September 2025

The picturesque market town of Abergavenny is the perfect backdrop for one of Britain’s finest food festivals. From inspiring food education to parties in the Dome, meet-the-author events, and every street food and gourmet treat you can imagine, Abergavenny Food Festival really is a treat for all the senses. Full of food? Walk it off with a stroll around the nearby castle or canal.

Visit one of Wales’s best food festivals: Abergavenny 2025.

Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival, Suffolk, 27-28 September 2025

2025 is the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival’s 20th anniversary: what a year to experience this brilliant event for the first time. it features cooking classes for kids, tractor rides, and over 100 local food and drink producers from across Suffolk. As a not-for-profit outfit, its raison d’être is to reconnect people with the food provided by the nearby landscape, and to champion emerging and established producers. (Exactly what Printslinger guidebooks like to do, too.)

Get your tickets to Aldeburgh’s food festival 2025 here.

FOOD FESTIVALS IN OCTOBER 2025

East Midlands Food Festival, Melton Mowbray, 5-6 October 2025

Rural foodie capital, Melton Mowbray, celebrates its fêted pork pies alongside plentiful artisanal treats every autumn, at this covered food festival. Stalls spill over with farm-fresh produce, while the area’s multicultural flavours wait to be sampled: the Iranian offering is strong. For Pie Fest, you’ll need to be here in August.

Plan your trip to the East Midlands Food Festival 2025 here.

LOVE FOOD? DISCOVER OUR FOODIE TRAVEL GUIDES

If you love local food, and supporting smaller, independent and often family-run food and drinks businesses (and farmers and farm shops), have a look at our three guidebooks on the button below. They’d each make a great gift for your foodie friend, or treat yourself to the trio. Banish forgettable food, and eat better (while buying local) with The Extra Mile, The Coastal Café Guide, or The Farm Shop Guide.

Posted on 06/11/202406/11/2024 by The Extra Mile

THE FARM SHOP GUIDE: SUPPORT BRITISH FOOD AND FARMING

The Farm Shop Guide shown over The Times coverage

Support British Food with The Farm Shop Guide (as seen in The Times, Waitrose Weekend, and The Telegraph)

England, Scotland and Wales (and Ireland of course, but that’s a whole other book) have some incredible farm shops, artisan food producers, and farm shop cafés and restaurants. Printslinger’s new book, The Farm Shop Guide, will help you find them near you or when on your travels. To find local farm shops near you, plus farmers’ markets and foodie festivals, dip into our fresh new farm shop directory today. As Guy Singh-Watson, Riverford Organic Farm veg box pioneer, said, “Proper farm shops – ones that actually grow, rear, or make most of their own produce with love, attention to detail, and a genuine connection to the land – are a beautiful thing. This book will help you find them.”

To make it easier for you to find and support local farms, farmers, food producers, and farm shops, The Farm Shop Guide features over 160 of them. It has organic farm shops, family-friendly farm events, seasonal farm experiences, and dog-friendly cafés on farms around the country. For farm-fresh produce from some of the country’s very best farm shops, get or gift a copy of The Farm Shop Guide today. It’s the ultimate book gift for the foodie in your life.

Highlights of The Farm Shop Guide

165 farm shops and farm shop cafés and restaurants
Seasonal farm events including Easter, Halloween, Christmas, and seasonal activities
Info on pick-your-own (PYO) fruit, PYO vegetable and crops, PYO flowers, food festivals, and farmers markets
Icons to help trip-planners, i.e. dog friendly, family friendly, EV charging, parking, good vegetarian selection
Eight geographic sections, with striking maps and chapters on Scotland and Wales
264 full-colour pages with beautiful photography and maps throughout
15 farming and food-related charities featured: RSPB Fair to Nature, Nature Friendly Farming Network, Community Supported Agriculture, Pasture for Life, Buglife, Permaculture Association, the Biodynamic Association, Better Food Traders, OF&G Organic, the Soil Association, the Sustainable Food Trust, the Royal Countryside Fund, LEAF – Linking Environment and Farming, the Wildlife Trusts, and the Farm Retail Association.
A donation will be made to the Sustainable Food Trust for every book sold.

Support British farming and independent, local food businesses

At Printslinger books, we’re all about seeking out and celebrating smaller food businesses. The ones that go the extra mile for their staff, the owners who genuinely care about you as their customer, and the places that are there for you when the chips are down. Our three current guidebooks are The Extra Mile: Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services, The Coastal Café Guide, and The Farm Shop Guide. All have been Amazon #1 Bestsellers in 2024 (even The Extra Mile Edition 4, which came out in 2023).

It just goes to show that people love to support the local people, local businesses, and the local cafés and farm shops that our books bring to your attention. For farm-fresh produce, artisanal local food producers, and the best farm shops near you, support British food and farmers and get The Farm Shop Guide today.

To buy all three books at the special bundled price of just £42 (currently better value than you’ll find them for on Amazon), visit our online bookshop today.