Nantwich Food Festival - Great News:The Cookalong and Walking Tour Plans + The NFF Cake Competition!

The Cookalong Theatre is back again at The Nantwich Food Festival! This is such a popular feature that it just had to be included for Festival 2026.

During the Festival weekend of September 4th- 6th, it gives visitors an unrivalled opportunity to work alongside talented celebrity and local chefs and other experts and to learn from them.

Nanna Pedley, Festival Director and Sponsorship Manager is pleased to announce the experts who will be on hand to provide master-classes on how to prepare delicious recipes and drinks. These will include two Cookalong sessions for kids: American style pancake making with Victoria Jones of Reaseheath College on Festival Saturday and Kids' Chicken Fajitas with Sara Randle, Jamie's Food Educator of the Year, on Festival Sunday.

Nanna is particularly delighted that Sara has agreed to work in the Cookalong Theatre, telling us:

“Jamie Oliver was very impressed with the energy and passion that she gives to educating children; he said ‘Sara’s the kind of teacher who changes lives. She’s shown that good food education isn’t just about cooking; it can also spark confidence, curiosity and connection. She’s a total star, and I’m so pleased we can celebrate her’’”.

Nantwich’s Edwards Deli and Wine’s Cocktail master-class was so popular last year that it is being offered again by popular request. Also returning by popular request are Nick of Nantwich Cheese Shop and Mark Jeffries, a local sommelier and wine educator, who will share their expertise at the ‘Whose Cheese and Wine is it?’ session on Festival Sunday.

Nanna goes on to say:

“Celebrity Chef Nigel Brown’s Cookalong sessions are always first to book up, as he has honed an easy to follow teaching style in his own Cookery Academy. Nigel will offer two master-classes to teach participants how to create his tasty Malaysian Beef Rendang; we just know that places for these will be snapped up quickly.

He said:

“We are also really pleased to welcome Babna of Babna’s Patisserie to the Cookalong Theatre for a 2nd year; she will share her secrets of how to produce her scrumptious and delectable looking Golden Pina Colada Mignardises. No, we didn’t know what Mignardises were either, but thanks to Babna, can reveal that they are bite-sized desserts.”

Nanna is thrilled to announce that multi-award-winning Melton Mowbray cheese-maker Clawson Farms will be hosting three exclusive Cookalong sessions – one on each day of the Festival.

Nanna says:

“We are absolutely delighted to welcome Clawson Farms to Nantwich. As a farmer-owned cooperative established in 1912, Clawson has been crafting exceptional British cheeses for well over a century, using milk supplied by 30 local farmers across Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, with complete traceability from farm to fork.”

Cookalong participants will have the opportunity to discover 1912 Artisan Stilton® – Clawson’s signature 'best-of-the-best' Blue Stilton. Every wheel is triple graded, making it a true celebration of British cheese-making. The dairy's Blue Stilton was crowned Supreme Champion at the 2024 International Cheese & Dairy Awards, whilst the amazing 1912 range has also earned multiple Great Taste Awards since 2023.

There are currently only four dairies in the entire world licensed to produce authentic Blue Stilton®, and Clawson Farms is proudly one of them. Their Cookalong sessions will include amongst other recipes:  1912 Artisan Stilton – Peach & Parma Ham Pizzetta Making.

Keen Cookalong followers will want to book their places as early as possible.

Tickets go on sale from 1st August via EventBrite

Don’t delay booking your place – some of these sessions will sell out quickly:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/nantwich-food-festival-67450872993

Moving to another popular feature in the Festival plans, we can announce that the Festival walking tours are back this year, taking visitors on a breakfast or lunch time walking tour of the town’s food heritage and giving tasters of what some of our rich selection of independent local eateries have to offer.

Jackie Stringer tells us:

“Breakfast tours will start at Nantwich Museum at 9am with a short talk by a museum expert who will give a potted history of Nantwich’s ancient links to the cheese and salt-making industries and its importance as a market town. We then set off at 9.30 to check out the town heritage and our local cafes and eating establishments.

“First is a visit to Edwards Deli & Wine, sister establishment to St Martha’s. It’s a great destination all day with delicious plates for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We’ll be checking out their smoothies and granola.   We then move on to Nantwich Bookshop and Coffee Lounge for a savoury treat in their historic building. 

“Finally we’ll visit a couple of our newer cafes for a sweet delicacy and a coffee or tea at Dolce Vita Pasticceria (Friday and Saturday) run by Manuela who has been a regular on Nantwich Market for a number of years and has recently set up her permanent home in the Church Lane patisserie. On Sunday our cake tasters and coffee will be at Bear and Boost (upstairs at Running Bear) who pride themselves on their independently sourced teas, coffees, cakes and snacks.”

Jackie tells us that lunch time tours are a not to be missed real treat this year starting with a talk at the museum at 11am, leaving at 11.30 to head down Welsh Row, a gem of the Nantwich scene with its old cottages, eateries and shops

Firstly comes a visit to the Black Lion, the oldest pub in Nantwich; it’s a beautiful black and white building with a great food reputation, where landlord Darren Snell has supported our walking tours for the last 3 years. He will serve up some Weetwood ale and savoury snacks and tell some stories about the history of the pub.

The walking tour will then visit Nantwich Cheese Shop, where Nick the owner, who has worked with independent cheese producers for more than 20 years, will tell us about some local specialities along with a tasting. Nick will choose cheeses to complement an exciting new addition to the walking tours – a taster of Goldford sparkling and still wines; Goldford wines are a 2 acre boutique vineyard on the slopes of Larkton Hill, run by the Smith family.

All walking tour participants will also get a 10% discount for the Rolling Pin Bakery and Moss Café, both on Welsh Row.

The Food Festival walking tours are incredibly popular with a maximum of 12 people per session so do make sure you book your slots from the Event Page of the Nantwich Food Festival Website.

Bookings open on 1st August.

Who, what, where, and when – The full list of events at the Nantwich food festival

Find out more about what else is happening over the Festival weekend by collecting your own festival brochure from the Festival stall at either Societies Spectacular on 1st August or the Farmers’ Market on 25th July or 29th August – just near the town square. You can also find out how to volunteer for this year’s Festival.

Voting for the Nantwich Food Awards is now open until September 6th, enabling you to cast your vote for your favourite restaurant, bar, food producer and other lovely local food and drink stars, so do check the Festival website for this and very much more:

Finally, Karen Young tells us that the much awaited NFF cake competition is back again by popular demand: This year the focus is on Coffee and Walnut Cake and the judging takes place on Sunday 6th September at 1.45pm.

You can enter via email: 

cakecompnantwichfoodfestival@gmail.com 

Entries open August 1st, but Karen says:

"Don’t delay as the cake comp is limited to just 12 entries!"

Cheerbrook Farm Shop are again kindly sponsoring this popular competition; Karen is really pleased as Cheerbrook offer such legendary prizes that are eagerly contested; Cheerbrook will also supply a judge to join Sam Copeland of Reaseheah College and cookery demonstrator, Jill Weatherburn; so entries will be judged to very high standards.

https://www.nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk/