Classic VW campervan (image from tch.net)
Earlier this week a flock of food bloggers decided to go on an adventure.
Lest you think we’re on a mission to eat the most pies in a day or planning a gourmet gallop around London (fun though both activities would be), come September we’re heading to Abergavenny Food Festival.
In campervans.
It may sound bonkers but travelling to a food festival and staying in a campervan actually makes good sense. Last year Linda of With Knife And Fork and I drove from London down to Abergavenny and were both immediately taken with the charm of it all. It’s a food festival that feels like a village fete. People are friendly and courteous, a welcome change from the grumps of hardened Londoners.
There were brilliant rants at the Rude Health stand:
Ranting with gusto
And I sampled the best cheese toastie ever, courtesy of Trethowan’s Dairy:
Trethowan's Sourdough and Montgomery's cheddar toastie with leek and red onion
There were plenty of local and national food producers exhibiting throughout Abergavenny and great talks by chefs and food writers, including my favourite one by Bread King Richard Bertinet who managed to co-opt celeb chef Valentine Warner into demonstrating how to make bread (and in the process anoint Valentine’s nose with dough, look closely at the pic below)
Richard Bertinet teaching Valentine Warner a trick or two
Linda and I parked ourselves in a quaint hotel 10 miles or so outside town for the weekend. It wasn’t hideously expensive, I got to swim in a pool and we met some great people staying at the hotel including the lovely Sat Bains. But both of us felt we should reprise this food festival in 2010 staying closer to the centre of all the action. In other words, close to the cheese stands.
So thanks to Linda and Danny FoodUrchin’s suggestion of forming a convoy of campervans to Abergavenny we’ve now assembled a few intrepid travellers for our epicurean adventure including Catalan Cooking Goddess Rachel McCormack, Alex English who like me, loves the colour pink, Ailbhe the Irish campervan enthusiast, Niamh of Eat Like A Girl, her Wine Sleuthness Denise and the good people of Tea Odyssey. Campervan enthusiasts Rude Health will be setting up camp in a retro van and they’ve been helping us hire vans for this journey of gluttonous good fun. If you fancy joining us and you’re not a total reprobate leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you with more details.
Abergavenny Food festival runs September 18-19th, 2011. If you’re already a campervan enthusiast have a look at my previous post on the chance to win The Campervan Cookbook, summer’s quintessential guide to living it up outdoors.
I think you’ve just made it real :0
No backing out now!
That sandwich looks amazing – i’ve been thinking about getting some sort of sarnie toaster.
Seriously, that Trethowans toastie remains the best I’ve sampled. Worth going to Abergavenny for that alone. Or visiting them in Bristol :0
uh-oh, what have I gotten myself into!
When I was a kid, we used to go camping every summer so this should be fun, but now, I actually get to drink instead of just watching the adults have all the fun! Thanks for dreaming this idea up, Sig!
Sleuthie our little road trip in September is going to rock! Can’t wait
We’ll join you in Penelope our pink campervan as we take real tea to the people of Abergavennny as part of our Tea Tour!
http://www.thteatour.com / http://www.twitter.com/teaodyssey
Brilliant! I hadn’t twigged you were behind the Tea Odyssey, looking forward to seeing Penelope in all her pink glory!
Absolutely delighted to be supporting Lahloo Tea on the Great Tea Tour.
Penelope is looking forward to meeting you all in Abergavenny
Fantastic, Penelope sounds great
Oooh, I want in!
Yay! So pleased you’re joining us. Will email details soon
Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!
Excellent Carla! Details soon…
How much will it cost to get a campervan?
Looking into it but hopefully not too prohibitive. There is talk of setting up a yurt too….
This sounds like extreme fun and I’d like to join in. Do send me the deets when you have them x
Will do Rosie, should be a laugh
What a great idea – can’t wait to hear all about it – and your campervan breakfasts
Sounds great, I don’t have a camper van but can cook a mean breakfast
the comment by pauk was actually by me
I am SO excited about this. x
Me too
will be a great foodie adventure!
You know, you really should make it a worthwhile trip and take in Ludlow Food Festival the weekend before, as well.
I’d love to visit Ludlow Food Festival but September’s already filling up far too quickly. Next year