Steyning & District Food and Drink Festival: Just round the corner!

Plans to stage the annual and ever popular Steyning & District Food and Drink Festival are forging ahead for the usual month of September, albeit with the organising committee having to grapple with some rather unusual restrictions.
They have had to be realistic and take into account that some form of social distancing will most likely still be in existence putting the normal larger indoor gatherings off limits, so they are staging more outdoor and on line events, plus a few number restricted indoor occasions, strictly adhering to all Government directives.

Alongside this year’s innovative events calendar there will be, as ever, a mass of fantastic special offers from Steyning & District businesses, running for the whole month of September – so lots to anticipate. Come eat, drink, bake & shop! As this Festival will probably be one of a very few local events for 2020, the Committee are resolute to make sure it strikes a happy, positive note, encouraging people to forget all that has gone before and enjoy life again. The www.steyningdistrictfooddrinkfestival.co.uk site is a wee bit behind right now, only showing last year’s details. Planning the Festival started later than usual this year because of the circumstances, however, do keep looking as 2020 events & offers will be loaded as soon as possible – everything is taking longer this year, but then we all used to that by now!

So get ready to enjoy a raft of special offers including such things as free coffee/digestive with meal. free tea/coffee when ordering cake; free wine when ordering a meal (minimum number at table); cream teas at special reduced price; 10% discount on beer & meat; 10% discount when purchasing over £20 of products; spend £10 and received free sweeties; discounted fishing rod fees; 15% discount on cookery books; spend over a minimum and receive free product. At the September 5th & October 3rd Farmers Market the stallholders will also be offering some more wonderful discounts and special pack offers, so make sure these dates are in your diary. The Festival Charity this year is St Barnabas House Hospice and during the month some eateries will run a special menu item, which if chosen will attract a donation to the charity. There are also special charity take-away pizzas and a charity scone. Please do look out for these and try your best to choose these offerings so we can raise a great donation for our well known and much loved charity.

To tempt you even more, a small selection from our events listing – too little space to name them all: The Great Steyning Bake Off; Wiston Vineyard Open Day with tour & tutored tasting; St Barnabas Coffee & Cake morning at Springwells; Daylands Farm Walk & Cream Tea; Ashurst Tasty Walk; Rupert Toovey Valuation Evening with refreshments; The Artisan Bakehouse Pizza Supper, Jazz Lunch/Tea and Bakery Workshops; Star Gazing & Mulled Wine; Apple Juicing with Steyning Orchard; Curry at Sakala. And, on line, a couple of fun, food related, word search/crosswords which will run for specific days with winners drawn at the end of the allotted time; plus - via Zoom - Dr. Janet Pennington will give some wonderful and amusing stories of the pubs & breweries of bygone Steyning. The on line venture is new for us this year – so do give them some support and encourage us to get more involved in this method of presentation for future Festivals !

So, all in all, things are moving on a pace, and the Festival is just around the corner. In this very abnormal year, let’s go for gold and support our local economy by taking up all the wonderful offers and getting along to as many of the wonderful events. We are so lucky to live in a small, safe, community caring area but the Steyning & District shops & eateries have endured a very hard time over the last months and this is our chance to give them a bit of a boost.

Enjoy a bite to eat, a cup of coffee, a glass of wine, a pint of beer, a bread baking course – whatever to revive your soul - plus, of course, indulging in some splendid retail therapy within the wonderful selection of shops. Nothing lifts the spirits more, and Steyning and the surrounding villages of Ashurst, Bramber, Edburton, Small Dole, Upper Beeding and Wiston are ace at providing that very special atmosphere – and a very special Food & Drink Festival !