This weekend’s (May 16th & 17th) Royal Welsh Spring Festival will provide the perfect showcase for a range of food producers looking to reach a wider audience.
A number small and up and coming food producers will be featured in the Food Hall during the event under the auspices of Cywain – a project created to bring added value to primary produce within the agriculture sector.
Spread over the two days there will be something for everyone from meat lovers to those with more of a sweet tooth.
Located in the Vale of Glamorgan, Llantrithyd Deer Park will have a variety of organic venison cuts and products at the stand on Saturday.
Its herds of red and fallow deer graze the historic 17th century deer park near Bonvilston, and the venison is certified organic.
Visitors will be able to try some sizzling venison sausages as well as buy prime venison steaks, burgers, mince, and shanks.
Customers will also be able to leave their purchases in the stand’s freezer to collect at the end of the show.
Sheep farmers Fern Bowen from Cilfynydd and Nicola Drew from Talgarth first met at the 2013 Farming Connect Agri-Academy, and now work together to produce a range of lamb products.
Devoted to their flocks and passionate about farming and the countryside their aim is to reunite people with the origins of food.
On Saturday at the Spring Festival The Lamb ladies will be offering tasters of their amazing hogget nuggets, and visitors will also have the opportunity to buy packs of their delicious hogget sausages.
Sunday (May 17th) the Cywain stand will become a magnet for the sweet-toothed with bakers and confectioners in the limelight.
Handmade gourmet marshmallow producer, Sinamon Mallows, has created sweet, natural treat in a range of unusual flavours.
Husband and wife team Ffion and Alwyn Griffith from Llithfaen near Pwllheli, make their marshmallows using locally sourced eggs and real fruit purees to create a natural treat free from artificial colours.
The scrumptious list includes Raspberry and Prosecco, Vanilla and Lemon, Tangerine and Pistachio, Toasted Coconut, Blackberry, and Gooseberry. A bespoke service is also available.
Llanwrtyd Wells baker Penny Lowe will bring her cake-making and sugar craft skills to the stand.
Her company, Top Tier Cakes by Penny, makes wedding cakes, speciality celebration cakes and cupcakes as well as a selection of other bakes.
Winner of the Powys & Ceredigion Region in the 2013 National Wedding Awards for her sugar craft and decorative work, Penny also has a number of Royal Welsh Show sugar craft awards to her name.
While Montgomery artisan biscuit maker, Doodle Bakes, produces high quality, hand crafted, bespoke Royal Iced biscuits and cakes using local, Welsh and responsibly sourced ingredients.
The company, which was started in 2011 by housewife turned “kitchen table entrepreneur”, Nicky Markham, has expanded to include a filled biscuits as well as a gluten and dairy free range.
Doodle Bakes will be launching three new products at the show: Chocolate and Marshmallow Biscuits, Gluten and Dairy Free Chocolate and Marshmallow Biscuits and a Date, Lemon and Cardamom flavour.
Pwllheli based organic preserves producer Treddafydd Farm will be launching its range of organic jams and chutneys at the Spring Festival.
Under its brand Treddafydd Organic the family-run business will be bringing a range of jams, preserves and salads to the event on Sunday.
Made using fruit and vegetables grown on the Mears family’s organic smallholding, and eggs from their own organic hens, the range includes numerous jams, among them: Raspberry, Gooseberry, Strawberry and Blackcurrant.
Available at the stand too will be the company’s chutneys including Tomato, and Runner Bean. While their eggs are used to make a delicious Lemon Curd.
The drive to boost honey production in Wales will also be highlighted during the Spring Festival by Cywain Bee, a project that encourages farmers and landowners to place beehives on their land and increase the production of honey.
As part of the initiative, members of the East Carmarthenshire Beekeepers Association will be selling honey and bee products at the Cywain stand.
Five different types of honey will be available along with beeswax, candles and polish, while Cywain Bee will be distributing general purpose wild flower seeds for gardens.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Cywain
Cywain was set up by Menter a Busnes to bring added value to primary produce within the agriculture sector. The project has received funding through the Rural Development Plan for Wales 2007-2013, which is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
For more information about companies exhibiting on the Cywain stand at the Spring Festival please contact:
Myrddin Davies
Cywain Manager
01745 770273 / 07964 354674
myrddin.davies@menterabusnes.co.uk
For more information about Cywain Bee please contact:
Haf Wyn Hughes
Cywain Bee Development Manager
Menter a Busnes
01745 770278 / 01248 660075
haf.hughes@menterabusnes.co.uk