SOMERSET FOOD TRAIL
14th-30th July
THE FOOD FESTIVAL RETURNS IN 2025!
THE SOMERSET FOOD TRAIL FESTIVAL: 13-27 JULY 2025
We had some amazing food adventures on the Somerset Food Trail Festival last year, with over 170 venues putting on 385 events, including a series of fabulous 30-mile feasts highlighting the best of local sustainably produced veg, wines, ciders, and grass-fed meat. And we're looking forward to doing it all again – in 2025.
THE REASON FOR
POSTPONING TO 2025
As many of you may know, the Somerset Food Trail Festival is organised by a tiny group of volunteers. To our delight, in the last couple of years it has grown beyond our wildest imaginings. Last year saw more than 170 venues putting on 385 events, attracting some 4,000 visitors to feasts, farm tours and tastings the length and breadth of the county – which is fantastic news!
But it has grown so fast that now we need to take the time put it on a more sustainable footing, rather than continue to rely on volunteers. So we have reluctantly decided to postpone this year's festival to enable us to grow our funding and our team to ensure long-term sustainability.
We've also got a lot going on this year, including an exciting new merger with fellow local food champions Somerset Community Food, and a new sustainable food and farming conference, LandAlive, which we're organising in collaboration with the Bath & West Agricultural Society and Somerset Council.
Please click on our newsletter (above right) to find out more – including about the LandAlive conference. And although we won't be organising the Food Trail Festival this year, we will continue to actively promote your events on social media throughout the year. This website will also be regularly updated as part of our mission to support and celebrate local, sustainable producers. If you're listed on the website already, or wish to be, please make sure you're signed up to our mailing list, and look out for a new form to be added to the website shortly for new producers.
NATURE-FRIENDLY FOOD
LOCAL, SUSTAINABLE, DELICIOUS!
The Somerset Food Trail Festival celebrates the best, most sustainably produced local food. It's the first of its kind: a countywide event focused specifically on our more nature-friendly farmers and artisan producers – the local food heroes who are leading the transition to a new era of regenerative, agroecological farming, to cut emissions, restore wildlife and produce better, tastier, more nourishing food.
The 2023 event programme is now finished, but you can check out the fantastic producers via this website. Do sign up to our mailing list or follow us on social media to be the first to hear what's on near you.
FEASTS AND TASTINGS
LAST YEAR'S THEME
The Somerset Food Trail Festival celebrates the farms, landscapes, people and places behind Somerset’s most nature-friendly food and drink. Last year's theme was 'feasts and tastings' to get everyone trying our fantastic produce.
Nearly 40 venues took up our '30-mile Feast Challenge' – where most of the ingredients were sourced from a 30-mile radius. There was also a huge variety of other events, including open days, farm tours, family picnics and more.
Many events on the Food Trail are free, but a few special events, such as the feasts, require you to buy tickets in advance. Participating pubs and restaurants celebrate local food with a special menu or tasting event.
If in doubt, check with the venue before setting out.
Photo by Matilda Temperley
A FARM-TO-FORK SHOWCASE
Based on the 'open studios' model of arts trails, the Somerset Food Trail Festival sees farmers, growers and food producers open their doors to the public at set times in July.
From biodynamic vineyards to community-funded food forests; aquaponic market gardens to milk-based vodka distillers; fermenters, foragers, smokeries, goat herders, bakeries: you name it, it’s here. And that’s before you get started on the cider and the cheese!
This is a chance to get out and explore some of the country's most beautiful and bountiful landscapes: a feast for the senses!
NAVIGATING THE FOOD TRAIL
HOW THE FOOD TRAIL WORKS
There is not one ‘Somerset Food Trail’. You choose the route yourself based on what catches your eye or whets your appetite. A good starting point is our interactive map which will give you an overview of what's on, where. We've divided the Trail into clusters, or areas, to make it easier to navigate. You don’t, of course, have to confine yourself to one area, although each area will offer plenty to see and do.
Venues open for set times during the festival, and opening times vary, so check out the venue listing and their website before heading out. The Food Trail Festival is mostly free, although some events have a modest fee, and there will be a charge for feasts, of course.
A GUIDE TO 2023 HIGHLIGHTS
FOOD TRAIL DIGESTS
Our aim is to showcase the range and richness of Somerset’s sustainable producers, while highlighting the crucial role we can all play in creating a shift to more nature-friendly farming through our everyday food choices.
"Somerset is an amazing, beautiful county, producing food that’s recognised around the world. I’m delighted to support the Somerset Food Trail as a way of encouraging people to ‘buy local’, find out more about how food is made, and learn what farmers are doing to protect and care for the environment.”
MICHAEL EAVIS,
Dairy farmer and founder of Glastonbury Festival
