Simon Rimmer wows crowds at Bishop Auckland Food Festival

Rimmer, best known for fronting Sunday Brunch with Tim Lovejoy, was one of the star guests at this year's food festival and took to the stage to show a packed-out audience how to cook jerk chicken kebabs and strawberry choux buns.

The former This Morning regular said that the festival was 'massively' important in drawing people to the region and showcasing the best of what County Durham had to offer the culinary world.

"Food festivals really highlight businesses that people in day-to-day don't know who they are," Rimmer told The Northern Echo.

"You'll come here and you'll see someone who is a small artisan baker, or they've got a little pop-up stall where they make amazing street food.

"I think for people to say 'you know what, I didn't know that was in our locality' - it's a celebration.

(Image: Sarah Caldecott) "Bishop Auckland has got some great producers and some great artisan producers - and it's really important [to have that celebration] wherever you are in the country."

Rimmer demoed jerk chicken kebabs with homemade flatbreads and strawberry choux buns on the stage and said it was because he wanted to show people how to make something they would 'like to have for tea'.

"I think when you do demos you have to make a decision - do you want to show a skill that maybe people don't have or do you do something that 'I'd like for my tea'," Rimmer said.

"I tend to fall into that camp of 'I'd like that for my tea'."

(Image: Sarah Caldecott) After his demonstration, he met members of the crowd, stopping to take pictures with people and sharing conversations with fans of long-running TV show Sunday Brunch.

Bishop Auckland Food Festival's first day of trading on Saturday saw thousands hit the streets, with the council expecting as large a crowd as last year.

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Dr Sarah Glynn, Durham County Council's strategic manager for culture, said: "We know that people don't just come and look around the food festival, they go on the high street, they have a look up Auckland tower.

"They make the most of it as a day out.

"Last year there were around 29,000 people that visited over the two days and we are expecting - particularly with the weather being as beautiful as it is - that we'll get around 30,000 again."