Narberth Food Festival served up the goodies in the sunshine at the weekend to the delight of its thousands of visitors.

With over 50 stalls offering tempting treats to sample and buy, demonstrations and talks and live music and entertainment adding to the feel-good factor, the event attracted people from near and far.

Said festival patron Angela Gray: “There’s a great vibe here and people are loving it.

“What’s wonderful about the event is that it always has such good support and visitors travel from all over. It really has become a destination festival.”

There were full houses at the event’s Food Theatre as some of Wales’ leading chefs put on a fine show of demonstrations.

In addition to Angela, Indian maestro Anand George of The Purple Poppadom, Cardiff; Professional Masterchef semi-finalist Ludovic Dieumegard of The Harbourmaster, Aberaeron; Great British Bake-Off 2014 semi-finalist Beca Lyne-Pirkis and Vicky North of Vic North’s Cookery School all kept audiences enthralled, amused and fed with their creations.

Angela also took on the task of keeping order in Copycat Masterchef, where four well-known Pembrokeshire gentlemen were challenged to replicate the chicken curry she had created.

Pembrokeshire Tourism membership officer, Dennis O’Connor emerged the victor following an audience taste-test, with Pembrokeshire County Council chairman, Clr. Wynne Evans the runner-up. Also joining in the fun were County Councillor David Simpson JP and the general manager of Valero Pembroke Refinery, Ed Tomp.

Commented Clr. Evans “The small team behind the festival do a wonderful job and I am proud to have been a founder member of its committee The festival is now ranked by the county council as one of its top five event attractions, and rightly so.”

The not-for-profit event is run entirely by volunteers, with Valero staff and Narberth Guides amongst those providing extra voluntary help during the weekend.

Said Narberth Food Festival chairman Huw Jones: “It’s been a wonderful weekend for everybody, and part of the success is down to our many volunteers who help the event to run smoothly.

“The festival attracts so many people to Narberth, so it’s great for the town as well and we were pleased to see some of the shops had opened specially on Sunday.”

Mr. Tomp and his wife Laura judged the 15 entries in the Narberth Town Traders Window Display competition, and the winner was Fay Phillips Vintage, with Giddy Aunt and The Golden Sheaf being commended.

Festival chef Beca Lyne Pirkis judged the Best Trade Stand, which was won by PlumVanilla Café.

The festival’s curtain-raiser Education Day on the theme of Grow, Cook, Eat was enjoyed by over 70 youngsters from Narberth and Brynconin Schools, and the weekend ended triumphantly with a pop-up restaurant serving a Byzantine feast with profits to event funds.