1 day Ago
Ramsbottom Chocolate and Cheese Festival provided a sweet and savoury treat for the tastebuds today. Despite forecasts that April’s sunshine was due to end, the blue skies and warm rays held out, much to the relief of organisers and the delight of visitors. Focussed at three sites in the town – The Urn, Church Gardens and Ramsbottom Civic Hal l – it attracted customers from near and far.
In addition to the tasty goods, there was live music, cookery demonstrations, and sampling sessions. At the Wilde Bakery stall, flapjacks were the order of the day, especially the salted caramel variety. (Image: Danny Crompton) “It’s great,” said Jack Williams.
“The sunshine’s out, there’s a good crowd and people are really engaged and enjoying it.” Like many businesses involved, the Wilde Bakery is a family firm, and all its produce is home made. A particular pleasure of the festival is the opportunity to sample unusual flavour combinations.
Such an adventure for the taste buds is a refreshing change from the homogeneity of many a supermarket’s offering. Jack’s favourite flapjack, for instance, is the apple crumble, but the range also includes chocolate orange. (Image: Danny Crompton) Cheesemonger John Jacobs said: “ The festival used to be massive when they used to close Bridge Street for it, but we still had a fabulous year last year and today is looking pretty good.
“They’re building the event up again, which is wonderful.” He was doing a roaring trade with his speciality cheeses, which included a red wine and caramelised onion cheese called Drunken Monk, and the unusual, but highly delicious Irn Bru Cheese. “That does particularly well when we go up to the Scottish food festivals,” said his colleague, Mike Mulhall.
“I’m here for the chocolate, not the cheese!” laughed Linda Davidson. She and her granddaughter, Brooke, were visiting from Leeds for a family event. “I think its brilliant.
There’s a lovely atmosphere and I’m so glad we came.” Despite originally coming from Manchester, Linda has never visited Ramsbottom before, and she was as taken with the town as she was with the festival. Another visitor from Yorkshire was Archer Sercombe, who had come from Sheffield especially for the festival with his mum, Jenna.
“We’ve only just arrived and we’re going to make a day of it,” she said. As well as being a source of pleasure for visitors, the festival has an important role in promoting the town and boosting business for local shops. (Image: Danny Crompton) “It’s a good day out, and I think it’s important to support all the traders,” said Gemma Clarke.
She is lucky enough to live just ten minutes away from the town centre, so she, husband, Stewart, and daughters Bella and Betsy, left the car at home and enjoyed walking in the spring sunshine. Sarah Green, who has an artisan pies stall, declared business was doing brilliantly, and vowed to return next year. But Victoria Walker, owner of Cocoa Tree artisan chocolatier and coffee shop on Bolton Street, had a mixed reaction to the day.
“The coffee shop is doing good business, but we are not as busy with chocolate sales as we were last year.” She attributed this to the global economy. “The price of cocoa has gone up and people are going for cheaper, non-Belgian chocolate.
It doesn’t surprise me.” The crowd-pulling event began in 2009 with a chocolate festival . It then evolved to incorporate other food before its current focus on chocolate and cheese.
The pandemic saw it being put on hold for a couple of years before a very welcome return in 2023. PIC 1: Cheesemongers Mike Mulhall and John Jacob, whose Cheese is Grate business even sells Irn Bru and Drunken Monk flavours PIC 2: “Fancy a flapjack?” Jack Williams had no problem persuading sweet-toothed customers PIC 3: Flapjack frenzy PIC 4: The Urn was one of the three festival sites PIC 5: Chocolate, cheese..
.and churros PIC 6: For Linda Davidson and her granddaughter, Brooke, the trip from Leeds was definitely worth it PIC 7: Bella and Betsy Clarke prepare to tuck in PIC 8: Easter came early for Archer Sercombe PIC 9: Another masterpiece by artisan chocolatier Victoria Walker PIC 10: “Forget burgers, where can I lay my paws on a bone?” PIC 11 and 12: Ramsbottom Chocolate and Cheese Festival PIC 13: Sarah Green will be back again next year with her artisan pies..
