Milford on Sea Food Week a Success!
April 14, 2010 by admin
Filed under Charitable Events
Milford on Sea Food Week drew to a close on Sunday with over 5000 people visiting the Sunday Food Market on the village green & in the High Street. Many stalls sold out of their local produce, and the local restaurants, cafes and pubs happily fed the visitors not only in their premises, but also at the food stalls they had set up in the market. Milford on Sea certainly took full advantage of its opportunity to show off what a great place it is to visit for great food & dining.
The Food Week was packed with over 100 events with a party atmosphere throughout the village all week. The week started on the seafront on Monday with revellers enjoying the hog roast and the girl saxophone band ‘Saxuality’ in The Marine, just along the seafront a Recipe Book Swap and BBQ, with burgers & sausages from the village butchers, were in full swing outside of the Needles Eye Cafe. At the same time The Smugglers Inn enjoyed a calypso with their own steel band in the afternoon sun.
During the week Indian Elvis had everyone rocking over their curry, the fine diners were entertained by Spanish Guitarists at Westover Hall, Italian Opera was the order of the night at Piccolo Mondo & Thai dancers enthralled diners in the Britannia Thai. The Church Hall saw adult cookery demonstrations & educational food talks, alongside a Food Day featuring local food producers, and the girls from the WI with their cakes. The children were kept entertained all week with an egg painting competition, children’s cookery courses, treasure hunt, fun days & pottery making. Other venues put on a variety of events including vegetable carving demonstrations, fish cookery courses, wine tastings, pudding afternoons, vegetable garden open days, best breakfast competitions, and special offer lunches, to name but a few. In fact, there was something happening in the village for everyone.
The village bed & breakfast guest houses also had some unexpected bookings from people that visited Milford on Sea for the first time because of Food Week, some of which have already booked to return later this year.
This charming little seaside village certainly eats well & knows how to throw a party, perhaps Rick Stein and Padstow should keep one eye on this vibrant community, they are certainly looking to become the holiday destination for fine food!
Background:
Milford on Sea Food Week is a community event celebrating all that is great about food. The village will be alive with a wide variety of activities for everyone in the family. The website contains a full programme of daily events with a main family attraction being the Sunday Food Market. The Milford on Sea Food Market is an exciting event which spans the length of the High Street, & also covers the village green. The event runs from 10am to 3pm on Sunday 11th April 2010, and is the finale to the 100+ events & activities that will be taking place on a daily basis throughout Milford on Sea Food Week. The Food Market has around thirty five different stalls, & is a great celebration of all that is great about local food. The stalls feature a tremendous variety of local produce, including chutneys & cooking sauces made in the village, jams, English cheeses, New Forest goats cheese, venison, smoked fish, pies, pasties, savoury treats, olives, and English wine. For the sweet toothed there are handmade chocolates from New Milton, double baked biscuits from Lymington, bags of sweets, candy floss, handmade fudge, exotic desserts & delicious cakes from Yum of Milford on Sea. No one visiting will go hungry, as the market offers hot snacks like chicken tikka, paella, hog roast, and sweet or savoury hot crepes. The market even has a Children’s Pottery Experience, food related ceramic pottery, & contemporary local paintings.
For the ‘green visitors’, The New Forest Transition Group have a seedling exchange, and the New Forest Park Authority will have a stand discussing Food Miles & the New Forest Marque. There will also be presentations for the local schools ‘Kids Egg Painting Competition’, the village ‘Best Breakfast Competition’ & the prize winner’s draw for the ‘Scrummy Food Raffle’. To keep everyone entertained there is also a Recipe Book Swap for everyone to join in with, and The Plonkers Agricultural Orchestra will be providing live music in their unique ‘agricultural’ style.
We will also have lots of our village shops opening especially for the day, providing fresh fruit & vegetables, fresh flowers, delicatessen counter, a Food in Art Exhibition, gifts for the home, local art and beauty treatments, you can even go back to your childhood in the Milford Models Shop! Plus of course, the village’s tea shops & pubs offer full English breakfasts, Sunday roast dinners, snacks, Danish pastries, cakes, afternoon teas and continental coffee’s. With so much happening this really is a day not to miss!
Milford on Sea Food Week itself runs from the Bank Holiday Monday 5th April until Sunday 11th April 2010 and has daily dining offers & themed events in all restaurants & cafes, cookery experiences & demonstrations, educational events & talks, children’s fun cooking competitions, & the chance to buy local produce at our very own Food Market on the closing Sunday. Over 100 individual events are already planned throughout the week which runs every day from Easter Bank Holiday Monday through to the following Sunday every year.
David Long one of the organising team said “Milford on Sea is a great place for eating & a fun place to visit, so we wanted to celebrate this with a series of varied food related events around the village for all locals & visitors to enjoy & learn. Why not come & join in the fun!”
Milford on Sea Food Week is organised by the Milford on Sea Community Tourism Group and all profits will be donated to Milford on Sea Community Centre.
Please visit the Milford on Sea Food Week website to find out more: www.milfordonseafoodweek.org
