YOU can't turn a working farm over to a festival crowd without booking a band called Stealing Sheep.
But this time the Old Bill can look away.
We are talking about Liverpool's very own girl vocal combo who will be supporting Peter Hook, he of Joy Division and New Order, at Farm Feast, Wirral's newly supercharged food and drink festival.
That was the big announcement at the event's launch, which organisers chose to stage on the Liverpool side of the water, in Leaf, last night.
Farm Feast takes place on the rolling strawberry fields of Claremont Farm this Spring Bank Holiday, May 25 and 26 and, for the occasion, the Bold Street venue was filled with bales of straw, free cider and strawberry plants with names like Peter and Mary being given away in goodie bags to attendees.
Stealing SheepBut whether its grub or groups that float your Mersey boat, the event is perhaps one to jump a ferry or a train for.
Farm Feast sees the ubiquitous format of food and drink festivals given a twist of cool with the addition of a Sunday night music event, called “Livestock”, on the farm's lower meadow. Hook's band, The Light, are headlining with other supports to be announced. There are two other daytime stages which will see shedloads of music acts from Liverpool and Wirral performing in the space among the sheds.
However, “elements of the old festival that visitors know and love, such as the farmers’ market, a wide variety of stalls from the region’s top food and drink producers and exhibitors, and the ever popular ‘Sheep Show’ will also be making their way back to the site.,” says the blurb.
Nisha KatonaThe site will indeed include food traders in an International Street Food Court, a cocktail bar from Berry and Rye and a Beer & Cider Festival tent with over 40 brews from around and about.
Also planned is a chilli festival with competitive chilli eating and a Vintage Village of campervan thrift shops. One can also learn to swing dance to gypsy jazz music, make sausages, brew beer and keep bees.
The Chef’s Demo Stage will feature Great British Bake off finalist Brendan Lynch, curry queen Nisha Katona and TV’s Stefan Gates “who will show visitors the science behind cookery in an explosive fashion”, it says here.
They will be joined by Adam Franklin, chef at Liverpool Yacht Club and Dave Critchley of the London Carriageworks.
Tickets are currently available at a £10 early bird price. Livestock, like Farm Feast, is open to all ages but under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. See the website for more
