A culinary adventure at Arley Hall

Cheshire’s premier food and drink festival returns in September.

Discover new food producers from across the region such as Bowland Pork and Tikka Tango at the Artisan Market – where you will also find vegan and gluten-free treats amongst the many stalls.

Chef demonstrations will include The Alberti Twins, Italian twin brothers, John and Tony are based in Manchester and appeared on the first season of Love Island. They are now cooking up a storm in kitchens across the world. Also, on the roster is COOK! the Vegetarian Society’s new cookery school, they will be bringing their love of plants to the table. 

Marni Xuto grew up in the heart of Bangkok and her beautifully balanced recipes celebrate Thai flavour. Marni is a recipe developer for many brands and runs cookery courses as well as setting up her own Thai food website. Marni will be hosting the chefs on the Cobra stage where she will be interviewing them, making sure there are lots of delicious samples for people to try and keeping everything fun. 

Marni, who is now based in Cheshire, says: “I have worked in partnership with brands and developed recipes for BBC Food and BBC Good Food.

“This is my third year at the Great British Food Festival and I’m excited to host Cobra stage. Arley Hall is such as fantastic setting. Visitors get to experience high quality food and drink in one of the most beautiful country house estates in England.

“I am hoping to demonstrate two dishes. Weeping Tiger is a prime fillet steak carefully cooked and served with a unique Thai dressing called Jim Jeaw. And Prawn Kra Prow which is fresh prawns stir fried with Thai holy basil and chillies. Delicious!

“I want people to understand that Thai food is easy, and you just need a few store cupboard essentials, such as Thai fish sauce, good quality coconut milk and oyster sauce.”

The food and drink event established over ten years ago by the Altrincham based Maycock family, has gone from strength to strength, with more and more chefs and producers coming on board.

Love Island’s Alberti twins were unlucky in love on the first season of the tv show. However, they have gone on to have huge success cooking Italian meals and sharing their passion for Italian food to audiences globally.

John Alberti, from the Alberti Twins, says: “We love doing the festival. It’s great to get the feedback from a live audience. We specialise in traditional Italian dishes. Our family is from Tuscany and our Nonna was a chef and we’ve grown up with great food and big family meals.

“We cook all over the world, in Canada, USA and Italy of course, but we are based in Manchester, so this is a hometown show really. We are going to be cooking Spaghetti alla Puttanesca – a dish from Naples and Pasta alla Norcina which has sausage and cream.

“Sharing our recipes at the festival means that people go home and try them and then DM you to show you that they’ve made it. That’s a great feeling.”

The Cheese Collective will be sharing their knowledge of artisan cheeses. Set up by Sam and Shivali Elsdon during the pandemic, in response to cheesemakers forced to pour hundreds of litres of milk down the drain and even give cheese away for free after losing huge proportions of their business overnight when the hospitality sector closed. This, alongside the huge decline in donations to food banks at this time, when people needed support the most, spurred them to do something.

They set up the Cheese Collective finding the best cheeses and delivering them freshly cut and chilled to your door the next day. For every cheese box bought, they donate a meal to a food bank through the charity The Trussell Trust.

The festival is a great way to spend a relaxing day out with friends and family. Take your taste buds on a culinary adventure trying new global cuisine from the incredible array of street food stalls. There’s plenty of space to digest with eight acres of formal gardens, one of the finest in Europe. Arley Hall in Cheshire is known for its unique avenue of pleached lime trees leading to a clock tower, its double herbaceous border and of course its kitchen garden.

Janine Maycock, one of the co-founders of the Great British Food Festival, said: “The festival aims to bring people together through a shared love of food and offers a range of activities including the Chilli Challenge, Sausage & Cider Challenge, Kids’ Cookery, Cake-Off, Foraging Walks, and more. With plenty of bars, a local crafts and gift marquee and a vast artisan market of over 40 stalls showcasing the best local produce, visitors are in for a treat.”

Live music will be performed throughout the day from a diverse range of artists including local band Groovy Revolution, a brilliant five piece performing the best party tunes. There is a play area making it a winning day out for families and the event is dog friendly so there’s no need to rush back home.