Welcome back to Wandering Wednesdays on Bewildered Bug! Every few Wednesdays, as I explore my surroundings, Iām going to post something about the area that I find awesome, inspiring, funny ā¦. something to help me appreciate my surroundings more and something to show you what beauty there is all around you and to introduce you to the beauty in other parts of the world wherever you may be!
On my last Wandering Wednesday I took you with me on holiday to the historic City of York! This week, I’m doing something a bit different and showing you the great time I had at the BBC Good Food Festival at Hampton Court Palace over the August long weekend.
Off to the palace we go. How regal! As usual I forgot that a long weekend was coming up. Actually, this time I didn’t – I remembered a month before and was trying to plan a trip, but the Luv Luv had to be in Vancouver for work so the trip was postponed till later. Instead, I went out with some girlfriends, including my sister’s sister in law, Aarti. We went down to Hampton Court Palace (which is closer to where I am than I thought!) and enjoyed our day out at the BBC Good Food Festival.
A perfect day to visit the palace – lawn chairs, live music, massive amounts of food all make for a great day out
Now I’ve been to many shows and food festivals, both here in London and in Toronto, so I was pretty sure what to expect, but Aarti has not been to that many and was a bit excited. I walked in expecting normal huge crowds cramming themselves against the booths for a crumb of whatever was being given away free as samples. To my surprise, that’s not what I found. The festival was spread out all along the formal gardens of Hampton Court Palace and in the centre, where the bandstand is, there was live entertainment and lawn chairs for you to sit and relax during the show. There were picnic tables set up with umbrellas to shade you from the hot sun (there was some in the morning – then it shaded you from the torrential rain in the afternoon) while you were eating the goodies you purchased from the nearby tents. There was a good crowd, but because the space was so vast, and the tents were spread out along the pathway, it was a joy to approach each tent, check out their wares, sometimes sample a bit and then possibly purchase something unique and yummy. Not THAT is what I think a food show should be like.
There was a huge variety of wares on display including King’s Ginger, various wineries and wine delivery services, artisan cheesemongers, vegan cake bakers, homemade candy makers, produce delivery companies, tea connoisseurs, coffee brewers, martini shakers and makers, herbal specialists, antipasti purveyors, a pair of very lively coconut aficionados and even a gentleman who made the most intriguing bread knives (hellloooooo Christmas present!). I wanted to see them all but got rained on halfway through.
The Coolest Coconut dudes I ever did meet.
The sweet kids from Oppo. Definitely try the matcha mint chocolate ice cream if you get a chance – trust me you’ll thank me!
These lovely ladies looked so perfect in this pretty little stand that I had to take a photo. Love the Easter bunny ears and caramel chips!
The lovely June (just like the month) at Magic Knife. I have four of these Magic Knives and they are spectacular. Lifetime guarantee (that they actually honour) too!
A rainbow of tiny cheeses (that’s Aarti in the background btw)! I bought three of these for the Luv Luv – the caramelized onion, the chilli and the bordeaux flavours. The black one is charcoal flavoured (weird sounding) and actually tastes good!
Lovely selection of vegetarian antipasti!
Trying my hand at the cool handmade knives! Check out how thin (AND STRAIGHT) that bread slice is!
Orgasmic chutneys and sauces from Olde Goa.
Exciting sweeties from Laura’s Confectionery – from chocolate truffles to huge liquorice strings (or ropes) and even giant coke candies!
I loved the Tipsy Tart, their logo, their gifts, their tipsy bottles (yes this photo is straight) and even the billboard across from the stand!
ThudBox – a fresh produce delivery company – except they deliver amazing produce once week through your letterbox. Everything you need for 2 meals for 2 people per week complete with recipes! Definitely signing up for this!
I just adored the Pinkster display. If I was in retail design this would have made me swoon. #prettyinpink
See?! How could you not find this adorable?!
Luckily, we had gone a bit later in the afternoon, so when it started raining we sat on one of the covered picnic benches and had a delicious tagine lunch.
yummy tagines! Aarti’s had cous cous, mine had extra salad – but was just as amazing, perhaps even more amazing!
Then we went to the demonstration kitchen and saw Mich Turner (baker to the stars!!) teach three people how to make a simple, everyday vanilla cake into a raspberry buttercream rose ombre tower of deliciousness worthy of oohs and aahs from even the most accomplished cake decorator.
Mich Turner showing us how to slice, torte and ice a cake properly (sponsored by…you guessed it, ao.com).
Final result from Mich Turner, a lovely little raspberry and rose flavoured ombre buttercream rose cake.
This show is definitely one I will go to again – and perhaps next year I will actually take a look and buy tickets to see a few other demonstrations. I loved that it was at Hampton Court, and felt almost regal walking through it and spending the day happily on the lawn. Overall, a great day out – and although it was not a warm beach holiday, and although we got soaked through, the weekend took a remarkably positive tilt from that moment on – especially when, despite the chill in the air and the rain, a lovely lady who decided to grace us with her amazing voice in an impromptu concert at the Prosecco tent (which was our first stop and our last stop for the day)……unfortunately I seem to have erased the video of her (I am annoyed with myself) but I can at least upload a video of the steelpan band for you. Warning – it’s not Nottinghill, it’s Hampton Court, so they were low key and relaxing……
So, cheers to the BBC Good Food show at Hampton Court Palace – it was a great day out with food, fun, amazing company and excellent music. I have to say I enjoy going to these (thanks BBC Good Food!), but in future, because I had such a wonderful time, I will be attending the one at Hampton Court rather than the one at Olympia! Will you join me?
What a lovely day you had! I like the look of everything especially the cheeses and that gin!
Cheers.
I know, right?! There were some really awesome stuff there. Only let down was the weather and the fact that I had chosen that day to forget that I was not living in a tropical country #sigh. Froze my arse off in the evening!!
It’s nice to see you on the blog again – was missing your comments š