Food Festival in Pennine Lancashire

Fancy a spot of gravy wrestling in Bacup?

The fourth annual Pennine Lancashire Festival of Food and Culture takes place from 17 August to 17 September 2009.

Ale trails, mushroom hunts and culinary canal cruises are some of the highlights as Lancashire's larder is celebrated.

The World Gravy Wrestling Championship will also be back with a squelch in Bacup.

The festival starts with an exhibition at Blackburn Museum, 'All Made Here.'

Taking a fresh look at some of our non-textile industries, 'All Made Here' brings together original artefacts and newly recorded oral histories to find out just what it was like to work for such big names as Mullards, Northrop, Walpamur and Shaws.

Ale trails and mushroom hunts are some of the highlights

Festival staff will be on hand to provide information and tickets for events and distribute free festival brochures.

Other highlights include...

Thwaites' Brewery tour and buffet supper. An insight into the fascinating world of one of the country's oldest family owned breweries.

Relishing Salads workshops at Stubbylee Community Greenhouses. The salad sowing and growing workshop provides an opportunity to sow some salad to take home and a chance to plant up a salad basket.

A chutney making demonstration by Derek from Heritage Kitchen will show how produce grown at the site can be made into tasty treats with samples to try.

Enjoy a Heritage Opera performance of Puccini's Tosca with strawberries and champagne during the interval, at Towneley Hall.

Clitheroe Castle is the setting for stalls from an array of local food producers and their fayre. Experience days gone by with medieval entertainers, explore the Castle Museum and taste the special Medieval menu.

Fungi expert and BTCV ranger Nick Martin will lead the way along the pathways and through the shady glades of the Sunnyhurst Nature Trail in Darwen. The expedition is followed by a traditional Lancashire brunch at the Olde England Kiosk.

Full details of these events, and the festival brochure are all available on the Pennine Lancashire Festival of Food & Culture 2009 website.