FOOD-lovers took full advantage of a festival to celebrate the quality of local produce at Great Chalfield Manor over the weekend.

Over 800 people turned up to Food Fest at the 15th Century moated house near Melksham which featured nearly 30 stalls from local traders as well as cooking demonstrations.

Robert Floyd, who lives at Chalfield Manor with his wife Patsy, said he absolutely loved the weekend which raised £3,000 to be put towards the upkeep of the historic gardens.

“It was a great success and we enjoy putting it on very much,” he added.

“We always love putting on the event and we did it with the encouragement from the Fox pub in Broughton Gifford and it is just a great opportunity for local people to come and enjoy the place and get to taste a sample of local produce at the same time.”

Across the weekend fundraiser, which is now in its second year, people were able to wander around the National Trust gardens which have previously featured in BBC series Wolf Hall.

There were also performances from local bands.

Mr Floyd added: “I think the chef demonstrations were a highlight for me and they were just absolutely excellent and very interesting. They were able to relate the cooking to farming and animal welfare management which I think was very insightful.”

Among the local food suppliers were Buttle Farm from Compton Bassett near Calne which is currently home to six different native rare breed pigs.

Mr Floyd said: “They produce wonderful pigs and they enjoy coming to community events because it raises the profile of the farm but also the quality of their rare pigs.”