MORE than 4,000 visitors sampled a diverse range of produce and gained cooking and growing tips at the biggest Northallerton Homegrown Food Festival yet.

The cookery theatre had capacity audiences for four of the five demonstrations, with only the last show of the day having a few spare seats as visitors moved to the stage area for the live music, which included the Rhodes brothers from Northallerton and the Swale Valley Stompers.

Co-ordinator Emma Casson said: "The festival attracted a strong turnout as people in the Northallerton area know about the festival and are putting it in their diary.

"The fact that it is free to enter means people from further afield can afford to come and spend their money at the stalls.

"It is about promoting locally produced food and we want to keep our feet rooted in that."

Visitors said watching Yorkshire-born celebrity chef Brian Turner cooking a charlotte of roast chicken and a brill steak and North East fish expert Kirsty Cruickshank were among their favourite attractions.

Other top chefs at the event included Paul Jackson, of the Hare Inn, at Scawton, near Thirsk, fish James Cooper, of the Cleveland Tontine, near Osmotherley and Jason Moore, of North Yorkshire pub chain Provenance Inns.

Sell-out workshops in the Kid's Kitchen included biscuit-making session led by Bettys.

Many stallholders on the 98 pitches at the event, reported strong sales.

Steve Hewitt, of Olivia's artisan bakery, which led a baking workshop, said: "We had a very successful day and had to restock twice and sold out of our black pudding bread very quickly.

"It is great to meet like-minded people at an event which has grown so much."