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Posts Tagged ‘Preseli Coffee’

More Brickbats and A Bouquet For National Botanical Gardens

30 Jan

I’m not sure whether to thank or curse the only Best Of  Welsh & Borders producer who told me early last week that this event was taking place! But as I’d been told I went onto the National Botanical Gardens, NBG,  website and although I could find a few details about the event itself, I couldn’t find a list of which producers had agreed to attend – so once again, I was not impressed.

Regular readers will know that being in the media, I do like to know what is going on and press releases are generally the simplest and quickest way to communicate to the press. But for reasons best known to them, as far as their food events are concerned, NBG prefer to keep me in the dark. Needless to say to my regular readers, this makes me furious and not just on my account, but for the fact that food producers are paying to be there for the whole weekend, whilst NBG can’t be bothered to send out even a single press release. It simply isn’t fair. There will come a day, hopefully not too far ahead, when all producers will, before handing over their hard-earned cash, ask what promotion and marketing is being done for each event. Of course there is no guarantee that they will be told the truth, but at least if they ask the question we might gently persuade organisers to think and plan ahead.

But there was some good news about this event which was that entry was free both to the gardens and to the food event, but that really only emphasises the fact that NBG should have been shouting long and hard about this event.    

I arrived on the Sunday and the weather was wet and wild and I was directed to the overfill car park, despite the main car park being at least half empty. When I queried one of the attendants I was told that the main car park was for disabled only, well fair enough but why not have a large sign saying disabled only instead of just cones blocking it off and an attendant way the majority of cars to the overfill area? I must also say that the ground on the over flow park was in need of some care and attention. On leaving the event and I checked some cars on the main car park; I couldn’t see that many blue badges but quite a lot of NBG member’s badges!!!!   Disappointed not to see large signs at entrance about the food event and wonder how people knew that it was actually going on and where it was. 

I have no idea who laid out the stands this year, as I was told that David Hardy was no longer doing it, but not sure if this was accurate or not.  There were not as many stands here as last year but when I spoke to a lot of the traders, many had really had a lot of hassle to get a stand in the first place. One trader sent 10 emails before getting a stand, whilst another was told there were no stands left by one person and then was accepted by another NBG staff member. A regular tradestand holder just visited the event because they’d been told again no space available, although they’d been supporting them in the past, so how fair was that? So those stories were not good to hear and actually totally unnecessary, as one trader described it, “left and right hands just aren’t related to each other here at the NBG.”  And I couldn’t have summed it up better myself!

It was rather quiet in the dome when I got there about 11.30 and rather chilly, quite a few traders didn’t even take their coats off, but the good news and the bouquet for NBG was that Saturday was apparently very busy and quite a few traders had sold out. So for January, for an event a lot of traders were not holding out high hopes for and so had no doubt not taken huge stocks with them, Saturday did work, so well done. I was told that the localCarmarthenpaper and the local radio had promoted the event, which is great if your main market is just Carmarthenshire, but on Saturday I spoke to some enthusiastic local foodies from Pembrokeshire, but they of course knew nothing about this event. If they had they’d have gone, because they love the chance to buy local food.

Saturday also brought to light the fact that many people had come out on a beautiful day weather-wise, and used the food event as a way of taking samples for themselves and their family. But not content with sampling once, some then decided that they’d take another trip around the stands and repeat the sampling process. This is a difficult situation and a real no- winner, producers are happy for would-be buyers to taste before they buy, ask questions etc., but just taking advantage of producers when you have no intention of buying is very unfair. Like the saying – there’s no free lunch, there are no free samples either!  How we educate the Welsh public to understand that samples are not free is another quandary…… 

 I also heard rumours that NBG thought that the clientele or visitors to the event, was ‘not quite their market ‘and so intend to charge and entry fee next year. This poses two questions with all the public money that has gone into the NBG, surely any tax payer is their market. Charging though may ease the situation of hoards scavenging for samples so can I suggest a compromise. Why not charge £5.00 per car, and then give 5 x £1.00 vouchers that can be redeemed at any of the food stands? The traders can then redeem their vouchers at the end of the day. This shouldn’t discourage those wanting to visit the Food event and purchase, but may put a small hurdle in front of those looking for a cheap day out with free lunch for all the family.     

As last year, another annoyance was that NBG opened their café in the dome. I read a notice by the café’ saying that it wasn’t always open during winter season, but for this two days NBG must decided that they couldn’t lose this opportunity to make some money, so the café opened for the weekend. Well bully for you guys, I hope you made plenty. You obviously had no thought for the traders whose money you’d already taken, plus more for electric no doubt. Some of these traders were selling a wonderful selection of hot food, pasties, pies etc. not to mention Welsh Brew tea that had a stand there, as did Preseli coffee, whose coffee in my view cannot be bettered. I’ll never find that situation fair when surely the objective should be to get people buying food from the traders, eating it there, before going back for more to take home with them. But have I got that wrong? Is the objective that everyone should be there to support NBG? 

Another worrying factor as grabbed a seat to drink my Preseli coffee in comfort, was watching two unrelated families, also grab a table and chairs and then both promptly unpacked their picnics and eat them. I resisted the temptation to ask both families what they were doing here, but maybe they had just come to the visit the gardens on a wet windy Sunday with snow forecast with no idea the food event was taking place. Wonder if they came from Pembrokeshire or like me from Ceredigion…………………..  

I’d love to get your feedback if you were there this weekend.

 
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Fabulous & Friendly – St Fagans Food Festival

12 Sep

After Llandeilo it was over to St Fagans for their second food festival. I missed last year and was determined to see what they were doing. A two day festival, entrance was free but there was a charge for car parking but this event did not get any funding from Wag.

 Friendly staff and so, so busy despite a poor weather forecast. I was offered a free map showing where everything was which was a great help and I headed off to the market area where there was a good selection of hot food available. Another of my favourites Samosaco were there so that was my lunch sorted and as always it was delicious. There was some seating there too and they’d also put out straw bales which worked well.

Off then to the food halls and I guess they had probably 70 food and drink stall altogether and what a huge pleasure not only to see more of our Best Of Welsh & Borders food producers there and they were all very, very happy. Another favourite was there, Preseli Coffee which ensured that I got my caffeine fix and boy do these guys know how to make coffee!!!! It had been a busy day all round and of course, plenty of punters kept the producers smiling. I did get time to chat to a few of our guys and the feeling of this festival was not just that they had marketed it well was that all the staff and volunteers were friendly and helpful. It’s no wonder that the atmosphere was so good and I’d also say infectious too! I was introduced to Mared Maggs one of the organisers and she said that last year they didn’t get everything right but they did listen to feedback from both producers and visitors and made improvements for this year. An organiser, who not only listens to feedback, but actually encourages it. This is the sort of thing I love to hear and whilst this continues to happen, this event will go from strength to strength – without Wag funding and their success will be so well-deserved.

Fabulous and friendly St Fagans -if you missed this year do try and get there next year. 

 

Now as if my day was long enough, it was then off to Caerphilly to attend Proms in the Park, thanks to an invite from the BBC. It was an evening I was looking forward to and it was great to meet the people from BBC that generally I only speak to via email. Their hospitality was brilliant but the weather ensured we got washed out before we really got started. What a huge shame not just for the BBC but for Caerphilly Council who had put in so much hard work and was more than well attended even with such awful weather.

 
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The Bakers’ Table, Talgarth

30 Aug

I’m sure lots of you saw this mill restoration project and the creation of the Baker’s Table. Well I’ve been trying for ages to get there and hadn’t made it, so decided to visit the Talgarth Festival, which I’d heard so much about, and this was the perfect opportunity to do two jobs at once.

Well I’m so glad I did because at the festival were: Preseli Coffee, Merlin Cheese and Ralph’s Cider – prefect! I asked Ralph why they hadn’t gone to Haverfordwest and it was quite simple, they weren’t invited……………………… Communication is the key to improving our food industry and years on, it still isn’t working. Why not?

So what about the Bakers’ Table? They have been incredibly fortunate to have received a lot of money for this massive project, from the Big Lottery Fund. I know many establishments, and not just here inWales, will be green with envy at this beautiful building and how they have managed to complete a restoration project keeping the character of the mill too.  The quality of the workmanship both inside and out was brilliant.

So back to my main interest – food and service. Well it’s a long time since I queued to wait for a table, but that seems to have been a regular occurrence here since they opened. But the wait wasn’t long and did give me time to have a good look around and I can say the wait was really well worth it. It was waitress service and all food freshly prepared to order. They had installed a wood-fired bread oven producing traditionally baked bread and pizza using stoneground flour from their own watermill. The project has a commitment to producing local, seasonal quality food and working hard with local producers to achieve this. They even list some of their local producers in their menu and on their blackboards. The Baker’s Table is run as a Community Interest Company and any profits will be ploughed back into the business or into the community.

I couldn’t fail to be impressed with this ethos and counted at least ten people working there and I mean working, no chatting, playing on mobiles or reading the newspaper here. The speed they cleared the tables, how quickly the orders came out, bearing in mind food is prepared only when ordered and the friendliness of the staff made our visit there a pleasure. Ian and I shared a Miller’s Lunch which was local ham, two local cheeses, beautiful fresh bread, seasonal salad, an apple and a tasty plum chutney. There really was plenty for two and the quality was a credit to the producers – without a doubt. I did though refuse to share my cake with Ian though and devoured a moreish chocolate and ginger cake, but in the interests of research, had to taste Ian’s barabrith which was moist, fruity, hmmmm another moreish one!!!

I did have to test our young waiter man, asking him the name of one of our cheeses and was delighted and relieved that it was Perl Wen from Caws Cenarth – our near neighbour!!   

 

If you are in the area please call in and if you’re not, trust me it is worth making the effort and building it into a day out.

 
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Haverfordwest Beer & Cider Festival

30 Aug

Luckily I knew where this festival was being held when I called in on Saturday but as for signage, I didn’t see any, but this year it appears that signage is an optional extra for many festivals, not the necessity that I think it is. The festival ran over Saturday and Sunday. 

The weather was kind on Saturday and the stage was set for music which would have kept many people happy. Yes, there were people there, obviously not deterred by lack of signage. There were two stands selling food, both doing a selection of burgers, to help soak up the varied range of ciders and ales on offer at the two stalls that were, in effect the ‘Ale Tents’.

As it was a beer & cider festival I expected to see Ralph’s Cider there but they were suspicious by their absence – more investigation needed I think on this one! 

This festival was fortunate to have had funding of £4,648.64 from Wag and were also sponsored by Puffin Produce. Taking place also over the Bank Holiday weekend, but this time over the three day Bank Holiday weekend, was Brecon Beacons Summer Fayre at Libanus. Their funding from Wag was £4,480.00. When I called there quite late on Sunday, I was impressed to see so many of our Best Of Welsh & Border producers there and many had had a fairly good show, blessed again with reasonable weather. However my query to Wag – and I’m sure they’ll clarify the matter in due course – is why does a very, very small beer and cider festival get more funding than a well established summer fayre that had in excess of 30 producers? Where is the sense in this? I’ll have to check out the Miller report again to find out how the powers that be justify this price difference.  A few BOW producers told me someone from Wag had visited that morning but I do woonder what the purpose of their visit was, was it just to tick a Wag box or were they there to find out what is going wrong and right with their supported food festivals? I also wonder if our reports would agree!!!! 

My only concern with this venue is the fact that the café at Libanus, obviously remains open and they have of course seating inside and outside. This meant that traders were not supposed to do hot food, which not only meant quite a few could only do limited ranges, but to me loses a part of a food festival – talk to producers, buy food from them, sit down and eat it and finish off with a Welsh beverage. But the Libanus cafe also explained why another of my favourites, Preseli Coffee were not there. 

 

 

 
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Lampeter Food Festival

28 Jul

The setting for this festival in the University grounds is excellent. You cannot miss the history of this group of magnificent buildings and the huge expanse of lawned areas gives the organisers a good head start on other festivals. However, at the risk of sounding like a stuck record in our food festival season, I shall repeat again where were the banners, where was the signage, I only saw one sign on my drive in and two signs when I’d got to the entrance!!! Nothing in the town, no window displays – it was just the same as it has been for years. Why I continue to beat this publicity drum, I’m seriously beginning to wonder, is anyone listening?

This is yet another festival supported by Wag this year to the tune of just over £9,500, that has failed to send me a press release and you have to ask why, when I’m working in the media and Welsh Country magazine is the flagship food magazine for Wales. So, with no press release, I try the web and get onto the Lampeter town website and print off the list of food producers attending. So was that a success? No. When I got there and Ian and I tried to work off our list, it could hardly have been called accurate. So before I hear the plaintive cries, yet again, that we are all volunteers, I accept, understand and appreciate that, but what I cannot and will not accept is the volunteer excuse when our food traders are attending events like these to make their living. They’re not attending for their pocket-money, they are there to make their living – pay their mortgages and feed their kids. I never volunteered for anything unless I was prepared to put a lot of work in – that’s how it goes. If you haven’t enough volunteers – use your local paper to find more, if volunteers aren’t any good- say goodbye to them and if you still need help ask Wag.

In case you think I’m just highlighting negatives at this festival, that’s not strictly true, my sole objective is to help our Best Of Welsh & Borders producers, (BOW). There’s nothing worse for Ian and I to attend a festival or market, talk to our BOW and get nothing but constant tales of gloom because organisers are not working with them or for them. As for Lampeter, Welsh Country magazine has offered to help them for a number of years, but our offers have not been taken up. Of course that’s their choice, they might feel we can’t help, they might not even want our help, but they, like many other festivals still need guidance on how to get the basics right. Thank goodness Preseli Coffee where there to give me my mocha fixes during the day.

There were free bi-lingual catalogues on a table, but no-one giving them out, which didn’t make sense to me. Let’s face it, if they’ve been printed they might as well be given out they’re no use the following day are they? I watched a little of a cookery demo whilst tucking into a superb pasty from Little Welsh Deli washed down by delicious cider and perry from Ralph’s Cider – a great Welsh lunch. Back to beating my promotional drum again as I watched Dafydd Watkin from The Talbot Hotel Tregaron cook a super lobster dish. In the programme it stated the demo area was using the best local produce – great theme, but surely all chefs should use produce that is at the event. There wasn’t even a fish stall there. Isn’t one of the chef’s aims to stimulate interest in their dish so that visitors can then be inspired to cook it at home? So isn’t is better to use produce from the event, encourage visitors to buy the main ingredient and take it home? One of the chef’s team said I could use prawns instead of lobster, but then had to explain why I wanted the chefs to support the producers. She countered by saying that they didn’t know who was going to be in attendance, which I find hard to believe, but at the end of the day it’s down to lack of communication once again. Even I could have given her some suggestions as to which producers would be there and I’m sure the organisers could have helped there too. The fact is, it wasn’t a directive for the chef when they were booked to attend, so does the blame lie with the organisers or with Wag? I’m not sure anyone will actually accept the blame, which isn’t good enough but is fairly standard. BSE I call it – Blame Some Else. Both the organisers and Wag should be putting producers first!!!!!!!!!!!

I left about 4.00 and was impressed by the number of people there but disappointed not to see a huge amount of bags being taken home. I hope that people had eaten plenty whilst they were there as there was lots of covered seating which was brilliant, entertainment for the kids and local musicians too. The music as often happens didn’t have a volume control and it made life difficult for traders to talk to customers. Another instance of organisers not getting the message – it’s not a town fete these traders are there to sell and to do that they have to be heard, not deafened by some very good music.

 
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Update On The Royal Welsh

19 Jul

Like many of you, I had an early start on Monday to visit the RWAS. My first stop was the Press Office to get my badge etc. McDonalds was again sponsoring the Press Room and if they had read welshfoodbites last they sadly didn’t act on any of my suggestions. As far as I’m aware coffee was not supplied by a Welsh company and the tea was, as last year, PG Tips. This is despite the fact that I told their staff about Welsh Brew tea, and where they were in the Food Hall. This year that company had three stands in total around the show ground, but McDonalds could only support PG Tips. I’m seriously unimpressed when McDonalds say they support farmers, but ignore food producers. It’s an unfair situation and would not take a great deal of effort to change it. The fact that the vending machine seemed to be a on constant ‘clean cycle’, it made for a fairly ‘dry’ press room. But whilst we waited again for coffee, it did give me a chance to catch up with one of Welsh Country’s magazine friends, weatherman Derek Brockway who was broadcasting from the show all week. With still no drinks, in the end I gave up, walked across to the Food Hall and brought back two superb mocha coffees from Preseli Coffee – a sure winner against McDonalds!!!!! The Press Office was certainly not as busy as usual with the number of journalists and photographers well down, a sign of the tough times all media is experiencing and does not look to be changing. It was disappointing to find a lack of food press releases in the press office apart from a press pack form Fork2Fork. I am not at all pleased that this sector was not looked after by Wag – surely we had endless food stories that could have been out to the Welsh media………

I browsed through lots of press reports from RWAS and under ‘Projects Completed For the Show’ and under capital at the top of the list was New Food Hall – Fit Out. I have no idea what that means but considering the Food Hall was only opened 12 months ago – it didn’t make much sense to me, and still doesn’t.

Now if like me, you believe that Wag never listens, you will have been delighted to see the new layout in the Food Hall. This was proof, at least on this occasion, that Wag not only listened, but actually reacted in a positive manner. They took the time and trouble to ask for producers’ comments and suggestions, listened to what they said and then acted upon them. This is great news and a huge step forward. Sadly I have no proof that Wag read welshfoodbites’ post on last year’s Food Hall fiasco, but the important point is that Wag realised the layout was wrong and did something about it. Well done Wag.

It’s difficult and unfair to say at such an early stage how the new layout worked, but I’ll get feedback through on Friday I’m sure when the producers at last get home. I’m still not totally happy with Wag though as I wished they’d put some tables and seating in the centre area, which was empty apart from some pop-up banners. There was space also opposite the loos and some tables and chairs could have fitted in there. There were lots of visitors that were stood in groups chatting and I’m sure they would have appreciated a coffee, tea, cake and a sit-down and have a break. I find it odd that this new Food Hall was planned with no thought for a seating area, even just outside. There was such a fantastic array of Welsh produce on display, but impossible for people to be able to buy that food and eat it easily. But, having said that, I cannot believe that anyone wandering around the Food Hall would not be impressed with the wonderful array of food from the artisan producers. Well done guys.

I believe the gate was down by about 4,000 people but I do hope that doesn’t happen for the rest of the week and the food producers have a good week in the Food Hall.
I also made two visits down to the Farmers Market and congratulate Steve Shearman and Ralph’s Cider who between them got some smart tentage, this area certainly looked better and they had some great produce too. There were also some tables and benches with umbrellas which many people took advantage of.

 
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Llandysul – Food Festival Or A Town Fête?

27 Jun

It was mid afternoon when I called into to this festival and must say I hadn’t realised it was due to close at 4.00pm. Which if you’re paying for stand and only allowed to trade from 11.00 until 4.00pm, those hours are akin to a farmers’ market but with stand prices that are usually much higher. My question as to whether this is a food festival or a town fete is that there were about 23 craft and school stands and about 22 food stands. I have so many complaints and anger from food festival organisers following Wag ‘s criteria that food will be the core activity to receive funding, yet we are only part way through the festival season and there are already far too many anomalies or festivals which Wag have allowed to slip through their very own net. Wag you are aware this situation is not acceptable, but the question is still outstanding as just what you are going to do about it and when?  

Anyway back to the festival, I started my walk around at 3.00 which was not a good move, as stands had not only packed up by then, but a few had actually left. There were bare empty tables with still an hour to go. So who allowed ’traders’ to disappear before the event officially closed? One of the schools had a huge run of tentage with what appeared to be a pupil painting display, but this was also cleared and away by 3.15pm – why? 

I’m sorry guys, I just don’t get this. You have professional traders, struggling, yes struggling to make a living, and you have an abundance of amateur/charity stalls that seem to throw in the towel when the day is just too much, or too long for them – why? I went into the cookery demonstration area which was busy, whether it was the inclement weather or the draw of the chefs, I’m not sure, but busy is good. I was puzzled though to see in a corner of the marquee, a tea/coffee/cake stall which I think was run by one of the schools, was this a paid-for stand? My concern, as always was with the professionals, in this instance, Preseli Coffee, which I do confess a huge bias to, as in my view they have the best coffee on the circuit. The Coffee Box was also on site, again selling hot drinks. Popty Bach Y Wlad, Orgranics and Llandysul Country Market all had an impressive stands, with scrummy cakes and biscuits etc. and sadly they’d lots of stock left. Preseli Coffee had no idea this festival was running and were only approached by the Llandysul team at the Newcastle Emlyn festival the week before. I must ask Preseli next time I see them, were they told a stand would be set up in the demo area and that Coffee box was also attending? You simply cannot ignore the hard, cold fact that these people need to sell to exist. The producers will rightly’ blame you if you haven’t got huge numbers of people through, haven’t got a good mix of traders, haven’t planned a packed day to keep people there, and before you think that traders are never happy, remember that guys depend on sales not to holiday in the Bahamas but to keep their businesses afloat. If it’s difficult to understand what the producers need then ask a couple of them if they’ll come on your committee and give a few hours of their time and expertise to raise the standard.         

In my ideal food festival world, the focus would be on food and on the food producers. In my ideal food festival world there would be a covered area for visitors to buy produce from the producers and sit, eat, drink and chat with their friends and family. In fairness Llandysul had got chairs set out by the podium, but these were being cleared away whilst I walked around. But it does show that my idea food festival world is a long way off ……………………….

This festival did put the spotlight on the cookery demonstrations, but I was sad to chat to a couple who had left the demo because it was only being conducted in Welsh. Wag has decreed that all printed matter and websites must be bi-lingual, but have they made a ruling on cookery demos?

I’m not sure what happened at Llandysul, but another of my soap-box issues is that all cookery demos should use produce from the producers at the event. This suggestion is not only logical, it’s also fair. Food festivals, especially those that are being funded by Wag, as this one was to the tune of £9k, has to support Welsh producers, but generally some organisers are losing the food focus and this cannot continue.

My view is that this event was successful as a fete, but not really working as a food festival. The majority of traders didn’t have a good day; although I do appreciate the weather was not on your side as it would have been on Sunday. I am aware that you had tried hard to get in a good mix of producers, but as your date clashes with Hay On Wye, which is another Wag funded festival but not receiving anywhere near as much as Llandysul, it was not going to be an easy task. Producers do talk about the number of visitors through each event and you are just not getting enough onto the field. I have no idea about how you arrange you marketing and advertising perhaps you focus is too local, but I have said that I haven’t received a press release from Llandysul festival. But Llandysul is far from alone in ignoring press releases as a form of communication. Of the 31 festivals Wag is supporting this year, I will be surprised if I get a Press Release from 10 of them, and if any are advertising with us, my team will have pushed for Press Releases so we can give them more publicity.

I got complaints from producers who didn’t know that they had been judged for the ‘Best Stand’ and also didn’t know who had won it! I have no idea who took on the judging, but if they didn’t make themselves known to each stall, is there any point doing it? Surely the traders of all people should know what’s going on. shouldn’t they? Traders also complained to me that they couldn’t even find their way to the festival because there were very few signs out. I only saw two, which is just not good enough the whole area around the town should have been blitzed with banners.

I was told a Wag official visited in the morning, but it would be interesteing to know whether this was just a box-ticking excercise  or whether our notes actually agreed on anything!!!

 
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Newcastle Emlyn Food Festival

20 Jun

Newcastle Emlyn bravely took the plunge and organised their first food festival on Saturday 18th June, which was held on the King George V Playing Fields. I drove through the town around 9.00 on my way into Pembrokeshire for a meeting and I was disappointed to see only one sign. I guessed the Park & Ride was running from the rugby club, but there was no signage there either and I was very concerned – this is my local festival after all!!!!

I guess it must have been about 1.00ish when I retunred to Emlyn and I was delighted and relieved to see lots of people about. It was quite blustery, but thankfully the rain stayed away which did encourage more families to check out what the festival was all about.  The traders I spoke to, which numbered quite a few I must say, were all fairly pleased with how busy they were. There was even one stall, which shall remain nameless, that had sold out in under a couple of hours!!!!!!  Oh dear, that’s not what I want to hear and not what I want to see either. After running tradestands for years I do appreciate it’s difficult, if not nigh impossible to get your stock levels right, and more so with food as it’s such a gamble, but this stand did disappoint a lot of visitors and potential customers. 

It was great to see Lorna Mattocks there, an former Welsh Country staff member. She was taking lot and lots of shots of the event which will be a great addition to their website, which when I tried today was not there……. They will also be a great help with future marketing. Not many festivals get the photography side sorted out, so the event was lucky to have on board Lorna, who is such a talented photographer.  

Taking on any event is a huge task, it’s a huge commitment in time and energy, and that must be doubled or trebled when running an event of this size for the first time. There are bound to be teething problems, with so many jobs to sort out and lots of help needed, which of course means that lots of volunteers are required. Some locals that came to have a chat later on said that they’d offered help, but for some reason had been told they were not needed. Well I’d certainly never decline offers of help. I go with more hands make lighter work – not the too many cooks spoil the broth adage, especially if there’s someone there to direct them and keep them focused on ‘their’ jobs. Hopefully that’s a matter the committee will be able to address if they get similar feedback to mine. So with happy traders, reasonable weather, I’m sure that the organising committee will be relieved to have got their first event over with and look forward to planning next year.  

I’d like to suggest some areas that I think can be improved:

Signage, I’ve mentioned signage and do think that if signs/banners can be out days, if not weeks before, it does jog people’s memories, especially when they are simply driving through the town.

Litter – there was lots of it blowing about the field – bins, there were simply not enough and they were not being emptied throughout the day. They were so over-filled that the wind did damage and made the field look rather a mess.  Perhaps a local school or scout group might be persuaded to do that job in return for a small donation……? 

Re-cycling, I’m not sure what happened to re-cycling. I couldn’t see any on the field, only in the car park, which is fine for locals, if they remember, but how do visitors know it’s there?  Re-cycling is something that we can’t and shouldn’t ignore.

Local traders was my other main concern, because there were so many of them there. I think from about 36 stands, 16 were local traders. The wonderful shopping complex around the Clocktower was virtually closed as those shop owners took stands at the event. Although it was great to see them all there, I really didn’t like seeing that area in the town closed for the whole of Saturday. I accept that those locals wanted to be there, desperate to grab any trade that they could and of course they hadn’t the staff to cover both areas. But if I’d been a first-time visitor to the town I’d have assumed that the Clocktower was always closed on Saturdays – which is not a message this town needs to give out, as we are being attacked on all sides with more and more supermarkets wanting planning permission.  I’d love to know how many people attending were locals and how many visitors. I’d have loved that the shops in the town had embraced the event much more, maybe a shop-window competition could have been run over the preceding week to generate enthusiasm, perhaps with the Mayor doing the judging? I think my confusion arises, that is this a Welsh food festival or a fabulous town fete with food?  

There was some great produce on sale though and of course that had to mean some of our Best Of Welsh & Borders producers including: Caws Cenarth, Teifi Cheese, Cowpots ice-cream, Preseli Coffee, Celtic Crab products, Trioni milk products , Popty Bach Y Wlad cakes, Pommes, advertising their catering with some very different Welsh Cakes and the Emlyn Arms Hotel. But unless I missed them, I couldn’t see any breweries there, no cider, no perry, no wine, no fruit juices, no chocolate or fudge and not much jam and chutney or bread,. I feel it’s so important that all food festivals really push our wide and wonderful selection of local food that is available on our very doorstep. I am aware that it’s not easy to get them and yes I know I’m giving the organisers yet another headache, but even within Ceredigion, Carmathenshire and Pembrokshire, there’s some of the best local produce to be found in Wales and a festival has a responsibility to showcase our food to help our producers and help locals and visitors understand how good a selection of artisan producers Wales has.  

I was told that a Wag official did visit the event in the morning and hope that Wag’s feedback was as thorough as mine and not simply a box-ticking exercise. Other visitors that I was told also attended were ‘spies’ from Llandysul Food Festival that runs shortly who were trying to persuade traders to attend their event too!

 
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Well Done Narbeth

27 Sep

Narbeth Food Festival 25th – 26th September

Size doesn’t always matter – well not when it’s related to food festivals! I attended Narbeth on Saturday and although Narbeth cannot compare to Abergavenny in size, the friendly atmosphere that generated around this festival, really does make it a must-visit festival. Narbeth is a regular festival for us and yet again this year, they managed to tick my must-have boxes: plenty of signage going in, shops in the town supporting with window displays, a tented outside space area for sitting, eating & chatting, entertainment for children and a wonderful selection of Welsh producers. I managed to have a chat with chefs Dudley Newbery and Angela Gray who were there to do cookery demos to capacity audiences, which was so good to see.

I was pleased to see one of my favourite coffee companies there – Preseli Coffee and they were a regular stop as Ian and I got through our workload, their mocha coffee is  a particular favourite. Mind you we were there so long that lunch became a must , which meant we had to visit Samosaco, who have the only samosa factory in Wales. They have authentic and homemade flavours that are combined with their secret family recipe and they are so good. Eventually we decided on a veggie biriani and chicken biriani and they were delicious!!!! It’s silly really that I’m always amazed by the high quality of products this company produces, I have always loved the variety they produce and as for the quality, well you need to try for yourself, they never disappoint. We even took some home too!!   

But whether I am at a food event, craft fair, equestrian event, well any event really, I hate to see tradestanders sitting down, especially when there are plenty of customers about, and this is only enhanced when they sit behind their tables reading!!!!!!!  Hmm ……..reading…….  well I noted only one culprit at Narbeth, so stand up, yes stand up Miller Research. One of their guys was so bored or exhausted with the Narbeth festival by 12.00, that he sat  behind his table reading his newspaper. I’m sorry, but in my book, or on my payroll, this behaviour is unacceptable. He should have been engaging with the visitors and explaining why Miller Research were there. He wasn’t a food producer having to sell his wares to make a living, as the Welsh Assembly Government Food Division, (which is us the tax payer), are paying for their services, but that is still not a valid excuse to sit and read the paper. If you are meant to be taking a break, and your ‘break’ was a long one  – then take it off the stand, especially when Narbeth have thoughtfully provided a seating area. I bet he wasn’t even aware that a photographer took a picture of him reading …………………………

 
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