A series of events to promote North Somerset food and
crafts has been hailed as a success.
Hundreds of visitors flocked to Tyntesfield, Clevedon, on Sunday
2 October for the first 'Made in north somerset food and
crafts showcase' organised by us. By 10am the courtyard was full as
visitors were greeted by the mouth-watering smells of bacon and
sausages cooking on The Story Group’s barbeque and the 30 colourful
stalls selling an amazing range of quality local food and crafts
including soft drinks, real ale, bread and cakes, fruit and
vegetables, organic meats, jewellery, glass, pottery, photography,
scarves and quilts, ceramics and plants.
Visitor Mary Jones from Clevedon commented that "It's such a
surprise to find out that North Somerset has so many quality local
arts, crafts and food producers and to have them all together in
one place for an event like this is just great."
She added: "We really need more shops to stock local products
like this." As the sun continued to shine many stallholders such as
Lovely Drinks, Winnies, CJs Bakery, RCH Brewery sold out and other
stallholders commented that they were absolutely delighted with the
amount of products they sold, commissions they had taken and the
amount of trade and personal enquiries.
Amy Underwood Thompson, events officer at Tyntesfield said that
they officially recorded 2,100 through the gates and it is
estimated that there were hundreds more who just came for the
showcase. She added: "It was a huge success and should be repeated
next year."
The 'Made in north somerset showcase' was the final event of a
fortnight of activities and events taking place across North
Somerset as craft workshops, breweries, farms, and studios opened
their doors so people could see behind the scenes and understand
how products are made.
Saturday saw some 500 beer enthusiasts enjoy an open day at
Butcombe Brewery in Wrington, entertained by morris men dancing in
the high temperatures. The brewery organised
behind-the-scenes tours for 400 people during the day and were very
happy with the event.
Executive member whose portfolio includes leisure and tourism,
Cllr Felicity Baker, said: "This has been a really successful event
with our local food and craft industry throwing open their doors to
demonstrate how they come up with and make their wonderful
products. While there is no doubt the fantastic weather helped the
success of the showcase at Tyntesfield our producers' wares will
now have a much higher profile.
"Our economic development team has been using this event to help
raise the prominence of the area, support local businesses and the
local economy. We hope that the success of this year’s event will
help to ensure it happens annually."
For more information about the producers involved and the events
that took place visit
www.innorthsomerset.co.uk/madein
(this was the most popular page on the website in the run up to the
event) or register your interest for future activities by emailing
business@n-somerset.gov.uk
