Top programme of events lined up for Honiton Gate to Plate on Saturday 28 September

Town to host around 50 fine food, drink and craft producers, on-street cookery demonstrations and live musical entertainment

Honiton’s High Street will be bustling on Saturday 28 September as around 50 fine food, drink and craft producers will be joined by top chefs, food experts and talented entertainers for this year’s Gate to Plate.

Events are lined up throughout the day with live music on the entertainment stage and a cooking stage featuring chefs and food experts giving live demonstrations.

The free event, organised by East Devon District Council and supported by Honiton Town Council, will see a wide variety of different food, drink and crafters who will line the high street, as they did 12 months ago, offering visitors to come see, come try and come buy. Many of the producers will be offering free samples to visitors to taste their wares.

It’s the second Gate to Plate to be held in the town following the success of last year’s show where more than 6,000 visitors – including HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall - packed the high street sampling locally made delicacies. The event has been rescheduled from August this year, when high winds forced the organisers to postpone to this month.

This year, for the first time, there will be a show kitchen with cooking demonstrations from top chefs and food experts which will be compered by Heart Drivetime DJ Ben Atkinson.

East Devon District Council Leader Cllr Ben Ingham said: “This event captures the very essence of why so many of us choose to live in East Devon: top quality produce delivered within a friendly atmosphere.

“Whatever the variety available in a superstore, there is nothing quite like a farmers market or gate to plate to make your mouth water. I will certainly be attending and hope to meet many there.”

The show kitchen line-up includes local company LittlePod which specialises in high quality vanilla products and they take the first kitchen demo slot making Persian rice pudding at 10.30am. They are followed at 11.30am by Paul Greenhead, an AA rosette winner who, with Beth Cowley, have reopened the Railway restaurant in Honiton. He’ll be demonstrating home-made gnocchi with king prawn sauce.

At 12.30pm, it’s the turn of the chefs of The Pig at Combe and on the menu is Elston Farm venison with garden plums and veg. At 1.30pm, Robin Wylde of The Pop Up Kitchen at Lyme Regis will demonstrate how to make a seasonal dish. Finally at 2.30pm, the Good Game team will be demonstrating how to make bacon.

Headlining on the entertainment stage is Scott Phillips, the lead singer of Honiton band 'Sweet Black Angels', who has supported the Pogues, the Levellers and played at the 02 in London for Noel Gallagher's aftershow party. Scott will be playing from 1.30pm to 2.15pm.

Honiton Training Band will be bringing the big band sound to the cookery demonstration stage from 12 noon to 1pm and they will be followed by Honiton Community Theatre who will be performing a set from Dracula Spectacular from 1.15pm to 1.30pm.

From 3pm to 3.45pm, singer/songwriter Daniela, a solo acoustic guitar player, will be entertaining visitors with a great repertoire of cover songs from the 60s through to the present day.

Busker Joe Taylor will be performing at a number of sites at the event throughout the day.

Producers confirmed for Gate to Plate include Authentic Thai Food; Benedicts Bar; Bulstone Springs Farm; Chloe Morter Design; Chunk of Devon; CN Drinks Ltd (Norcotts Cider); Coldharbour Farm Shop; County Cakes; Daddy D's Kitchen; Dalwood Vineyard; Devon Fishcakes and Devon Flower Faeries.

Dough Bros Woodfired Pizza; Ebb Tides Seaweeds; Flapjackery; Frandie Macaron; Good Game Charcuterie; Good Game Hot Food; Heron Ventures Ltd; Hillview Floristry Ltd; Holly Botanic and Honiton Chocolate Company
Honiton Country Market; Howling Wolf Coffee; India in a Jar; Just Gin; Otter Brewery Ltd; Otter Vale; Passion For Pie; Pizza Buona; Powderkeg Brewery; Random Cottage Foods; Riverford Organic; Stanbury Game Dealers; Surf'N'Turf and Thai Style Thai Food.

The Accidental Vegan Café; The Little Grub Hub; The Little Tavern; The Pig at Combe; Venton's Devon Cyder and Westcott Boer Goats.

There will also be charity stalls from Allhallows Museum, Honiton; Devon Freewheelers; Force Cancer; Honiton Dementia Action Alliance and the Thelma Hulbert Gallery.

The event opens from 10am to 4pm.
You can find out more about this year’s event by following a dedicated facebook page which can be found at https://www.facebook.com/HonitonGatetoPlate/