Cool Place of the Day: Ludlow Food Festival, Shropshire

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Ludlow hosts the grandaddy of the UK's food festivals, which this year begins on 9 September (James Watkins)

Ludlow lays a fair claim to being the UK's most foodie town. It was the first UK member of the Slow Food movement and its annual Food Festival, which takes place over three days every September (this year on the 9th), is arguably the granddaddy of the multiple food festivals that spring up every year all over the UK.

Made up of about 180 small local food and drink producers, and mostly hosted in the venerable keeps and baileys of Ludlow Castle, it is a vibrant event – always well-attended and increasing in size each year, of which this is its 21st. You can have a fine time just browsing the various stalls and partaking of the free samples, but there are lots of specific events too, from regular cookery demonstrations on two stages to hands-on masterclasses in everything from seasonal foraging to gluten-free baking, fish cookery and home butchery.

There are also various food and drink trails – including a sausage trail taking in Ludlow’s many independent butchers, tasting and grading as you go – and a real ale trail (OK, a pub crawl) taking in the best of the town's pubs and bars.

But perhaps the greatest thing about Ludlow is that it doesn't feel at all contrived: food is so central to what makes the town tick that this sort of food celebration feels perfectly normal. Events spread far beyond the castle, and it sometimes seems as if everyone is joining in: shop windows are gussied up for the window-dressing competition, the Ludlow Assembly Rooms put on lots of foodie events and there are loads of activities for kids, both in the castle itself and in the town and countryside beyond.

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