Headlined by TV chef duo The Hairy Bikers, more than 20,000 people were in the town on Saturday and Sunday (September 24-25 2011) for the food festival, named as one of the best in the country by The Guardian.

The Hairy Bikers - Dave Myers and Si King - could have filled Christ Church at least four times over for their two shows on Saturday, which were a mix of cooking and quips. As well as the market, which featured local food producers and businesses, the Memorial Gardens was the venue for traders with the centrepiece the beer and bangers marquee, featuring Cockermouth brewers Jennings, Workington outfit Michael Krause and other local breweries. See images on Facebook.

The Fest in 2010

A weekend of mouth watering menus was held at the first ever Taste Cumbria Food Festival in Cockermouth in September (25th-26th) 2010.

The festival managed to attract three big names from the world of cooking – Antony Worrall Thompson, Aldo Zilli and John Torode – who all gave demonstrations in the 200-seat celebrity cookery theatre on Saturday. Now preparations are in hand for the 2011 Fest with top chefs demonstrating at various venues across this beautiful North Lakeland market town.

The showpiece of the 2010 festival was Saturday's 'Open Dining' event, where for one day Cockermouth becomes a huge, open-air food court!


Taste Cumbria Event Website
With funding secured for three years, organisers are keen to begin planning next year’s event to make it even bigger and better.

Antony Worrell Thompson at the 2010 Fest