City Harvest Festival

UK’s only City Harvest Festival makes it a dozen years of success

A unique UK festival, which blends all the fun and atmosphere of a traditional rural county show with animals and farm produce from inner city London, is expected to be the biggest on record in its 12th year.

The City Harvest Festival is the one time in the year when the hard work and dedication of talented farmers and gardeners from across London are celebrated. This year, animals and produce from a wide range of London’s 16 city farms and more than 100 community gardens will be making their way to the event. Visitors to the festival can see Golden Guernsey goats all the way from Newham, honey from Dagenham, pumpkins from Kentish Town, Indian runner ducks from Vauxhall, Bengali kerala from Shoreditch, and blackcurrants from White City.

The festival takes place in 30 acres of gorgeous grounds at Capel Manor in Enfield on Saturday 18th September 2010, and has a growing reputation as a great family day out. Ducks, geese, rabbits, ponies - all creatures great and small - make their way to Enfield to compete for the Best in Show. As well as a dazzling array of exotic fruit and vegetables the show will see examples of all the great British staples, all sourced from farms on your doorstep.

Event organiser Catherine Miller said: “Visitors will be amazed at the variety of produce grown at London's community projects and at all the different animals kept. This popular family show truly is where the city meets the country.”

More than 2,000 people are expected to flock to the festival. The day includes a fiercely competitive tug of war, a contest for the biggest pumpkin, the most unusual looking fruit or vegetable and even a competition for the animal that looks most like its handler - last year won by a rabbit called Fay.

Talented blacksmiths, potters and woodworkers will all demonstrate their crafts and the community garden displays always boast beautiful flowers that reflect the truly cosmopolitan nature of London.

Food will be a strong theme at this year’s event. The event is a celebration of food produced in London in some of the most built-up urban areas in the UK and there will be advice for visitors on growing and cooking food as part of a project funded by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food programme.

This year’s event will also be part of 30th anniversary celebrations for the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens, a UK charity which helps support the City Harvest Festival. For more information on city farms and community gardens open to visitors around London visit: www.farmgarden.org.uk