CHELTENHAM FOOD & DRINK FESTIVAL

Friday 14th to Sunday 16th June 2013

If you love good food, fine wine and great entertainment, there is no better place for you to be this June than the Cheltenham Food & Drink Festival. Situated in the heart of Montpellier Gardens, the Festival is one of the UK's premier culinary events attracting over 19,000 visitors annually. With a unique relaxed atmosphere, over 200 exhibitors are show casing an exciting range of delicious, unusual produce and culinary products. Starting on Friday 14th June 2013, you will have three days to meet local, national and international food and drink producers and chefs who are passionate about their food.

Exhibitors from the Cotswold's include award winning artisan cheese-maker Simon Weaver from Upper Slaughter who uses organic milk from his farm to make a range of delicious, creamy Brie cheese. Bensons Fruit Juice, from Sherborne will be inviting us to taste traditionally made juice using 100% British apples. Young entrepreneur Fraser Bawtree from Cheltenham will be returning with his famous FrasersFudj and for the more health conscious, you will have a chance to experience the virtues of Cotswold Gold Extra Virgin Rapeseed Oil from Stanton, near Broadway.

In the Cookery Theatre, a number of renowned chefs from leading local hotels and restaurants will be joined by Celebrity Chefs to provide inspirational cookery demonstrations using the best local and national ingredients.

On Friday 14th the Cotswold Chef Rob Rees MBE will be cooking with his Wiggly Worm charity team joined by students from the National Star College at the Star Bistro. The following day, Rob will team up with ex-England Rugby Captain and BBC Celebrity Master Chef winner Phil Vickery to entertain and inspire you to the pleasures of food and their love of what the Cotswolds, Forest of Dean and City of Gloucester have to offer. Their partnership is truly unique.

Saturday 15th June also sees Celebrity Chefs Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo from the BBC's "Two Greedy Italians" taking centre stage. The two old friends will share their wisdom, humour and passion for good simple Italian food reflecting their culinary heritage. Winner of the 2010 BBC2 Great British Bake Off Edd Kimber a genius of a baker will be inspiring the rest of us to have a go with his easy-to-follow and enthusiastic recipes on Sunday 16th June.

For lovers of Indian cuisine, you can learn how to create exotic flavours from Asia with demonstrations from winner of Gordon Ramsay’s Best Local Indian Restaurant Shamsul Krori from Cheltenham's Curry Corner. Together with his daughter Monrusha, they will tantalize your taste buds with truly exotic cooking. Anisa Patel from the Green Aubergine Cookery School in Gloucester will finish the Festival off as she shares her passion for exploring authentic Indian food.

A highlight of the Festival is the International Wine Theatre where visitors have the chance to participate in interactive and educational wine courses covering a range of subjects from buying, tasting, grape varieties and styles, from old world to new world wine.

This year's International exhibitors will feature the Yealand's Estate who are at the forefront of New Zealand wine making, creating award-winning wines in harmony with the environment of the stunning Awatere Valley in Marlborough. South Africa is represented by Kleine Zalze from the Western Cape.

European wines will include Chris Brierly's talk on Podere Sant'Alberto Wine & Olive Oil from Tuscany, Judith Burns' feature on Croatian wines, the Wine Tipster Neil Phillips course on Les Dauphins wines from France's Rhône Valley. Neil will also be sharing his knowledge of Spanish, English and Welsh wines which are gaining international recognition.


At the Cotswold Style's Real Food & Drink Theatre you can enjoy a series of talks from some of the most well known and respected experts in the UK. Topics include Olive Oil, Real Ale, Nutrition and local cheeses from Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. Whiskey lovers can learn more about some of the famous brands produced by Pernod Ricard, who currently own 14 distilleries in Scotland.
Your visit can be completed by relaxing in the Champagne Garden, raising a glass to summer whilst listening to a range of live music.

Admission Prices which includes Cookery Demonstrations, entry to the Real Food & Drinks Theatre and the International Wine Theatre:
Saturday or Sunday: Adults £6.00 per day on the day
Children under 16 Free. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Friday: Adults £3.00: Only available for Friday.
Advance Purchase via the Festival Web-Site www.garden-events.com
Opening Hours
Friday: 12noon to 7pm
Saturday: 10am to 7pm
Sunday: 10am to 5pm
Last Admission to the Festival half an hour before closing.

Cheltenham MP: PM wrong to pre-empt Trident review

Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood has condemned David Cameron’s declaration today that Britain needs to replace the Trident nuclear deterrent.  Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the Prime Minister cited the ‘evolving threat’ from North Korea among other reasons to spend £20 billion on like-for-like replacement of Trident, which could ultimately cost closer to £100 billion over its whole lifetime.  Martin, who also chairs the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party’s international affairs committee, has warned that Mr Cameron’s comments pre-empt the cost-effectiveness study insisted on by Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Agreement.

The value for money study was agreed so that alternatives to Trident could be properly evaluated by government, and was initially led by former Lib Dem defence minister Nick Harvey MP.  It is being completed by Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander MP, and is expected to report within the next few months.

The Liberal Democrats opposed Tony Blair’s plan for the early renewal of Trident and forced its cancellation when the coalition took office.  The critical ‘main-gate’ decision on whether to proceed will now be taken in 2016 – after the next General Election.

Martin said: ‘David Cameron is obviously trying to pre-empt the cost-effectiveness study just before its publication.  The truth is that the Trident system was designed to deter an attack from the Soviet Union and this strategy is long overdue for a rethink.  Today’s world poses different threats such as international terrorism and regional destabilisation and makes very different demands on our military.  It is far from clear that we can afford like-for-like replacement in any case but, even if we could, we need to ask if £20 billion wouldn’t be better spent on fighter planes, frigates or other conventional military resources, or on other priorities altogether like hospitals and schools.

Linking Trident renewal to the genuine regional crisis in East Asia is topical but silly.  No one believes that Korean missiles could ever reach the UK and the idea that Trident could help to defend Japan or the United States against North Korean aggression will be received with hilarity in the Pentagon. 

Our central purpose in government is to build a stronger economy and a fairer society.  I cannot see how spending tens of billions of pounds of public money on cold war technology will help us to achieve that.  I hope the cost-effectiveness study insisted on by the Liberal Democrats will identify realistic and cheaper alternatives.  David Cameron would be wise to wait and read it before trying to undermine it.’