Dorset Food Week continues into the weekend and there are a number of events that should keep your stomach full or give you some mouth watering inspiration. For a full list of events visit their website or download the event listing.

Friday 31 October

As part of the Screen Bites series, Winfrith Village Hall hosts local food tastings followed by the Hungarian film The Lumnitzer Sisters which takes a leftfield look at relationships, cooking, the politics of food and the battle between the authentic and the commercial. Starts at 7pm, adults £7, children £5. Booking essential.

Wareham Food Festival is on at the Quay from 12.30-4pm

‘Flavours of Dorset’ Food Fair at Studland Village Hall from 10am to 5pm.

Sat 1 November

Dorchester Food Festival takes place from 12.30-4pm with a wide variety of locally produced goods on sale in South Street.

Goldy’s Farm Shop in Lytchett Matravers will also be conducting guided tours of it’s award winning and eco-friendly farm shop at 10.30am or 2.30pm.

Sun 2 November

Sunday is Great Dorset Sunday Lunch day and is the perfect opportunity to enjoy a relaxing Sunday meal at one of Dorset’s many fine eateries - or if the credit crunch is biting why not purchase the produce from a local supplier and rustle up a sumptuous home-cooked Sunday lunch.

The Square and Compass pub in Worth Matravers is holding a Cider Festival on Saturday 1st November.

The Cider Festival is a celebration for recently being crowned National Cider Pub of the year by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra). One CAMRA judge found it to be:

a characterful pub with beautiful vistas over the channel and an excellent array of cider and perry.

As well as their own award winning cider there will be a selection of ciders from all over the country, a pig roast, an apple pressing, stalls and live music.

Square & Compass: Sat 1st November

Dorset Food Week starts on Saturday (25th October) and runs until Sunday 2nd November.

There are hundreds of mouth-watering events all over Dorset so check out their website to search for events near you or download the event listing.

Purbeck highlights include the Flavours of Dorset Food Fair at Studland Village Hall, Purbeck Farmers’ Market at Putlake Adventure Farm, Langton Matravers and the Wareham Food Festival at Wareham Quay, which all take place on Friday 31 October.

The final day (2nd November) has been designated Great Dorset Sunday Lunch day and is the perfect opportunity to enjoy a relaxing Sunday meal at one of Dorset’s many fine eateries - or why not purchase the produce from a local supplier and rustle up a sumptuous home-cooked Sunday lunch.

Screen Bites, a celebration of food and film at 19 venues across Dorset started on Saturday (4th October) and runs until Saturday 8 November.

Screen Bites teams up with the Purbeck Film Festival to show Milou en Mai at the Rex in Wareham on Saturday 11 October.

Milou en Mai is set on a French rural estate during the student uprising in Paris in 1968 and one of the film’s stars, Harriet Walter, will be at the Rex to reminisce about it. 

Tastings start at 7:00pm followed by the short film at 7:30pm, a break for tea, coffee and ice-cream and then the feature film at 8:10pm.

The Rex: Saturday 11 October 7pm

Dorset Food Week, the county-wide celebration of local produce, runs from 25 October to 2nd November this year.

As part of the food fest, “Flavours of Dorset” Food Fair will take place at Studland Village Hall on Friday 31 October, 10am-5pm.

With over 13 local producers and shops this is your chance to enjoy some local, seasonal, fresh and delicious delights.

Dorset Food Week: Studland Village Hall, 31 Oct, 10am-5pm, FREE

Jenny Goldsack, the founder of Goldy’s Farm Shops (in West Holme & Bere Farm, Lytchett Matravers) has been pronounced as a Local Food Hero in September’s issue of the BBC’s Countryfile magazine.

Jenny was nominated by Simon Hart, president of Countryside Alliance, for her environmental credentials, which include the shops’ fridges being powered by wind turbines and water heated by solar panels.

Goldy’s was also made Environmental Farm Retailer of the Year 2008 by Farma and was Best Rural Retailer for the Wessex region in 2006 and 2007.

The Weld Arms in East Lulworth is holding a beer festival from Friday 15 to Sunday 17 August.

There will be real ale, live bands, a hog roast or BBQ and FREE buses home!

A free bus service will be running on Friday and Saturday up to midnight each day. The bus will be following a couple of routes around the area, and if you live a little further afield, why not catch the train and be picked up from Wool Station for free. Click on the flyer image for more details of the buses.

All the proceeds from the beer festival go to charity in support of the Careline Appeal. The Careline Appeal is a small registered charity, and is supported entirely by volunteers. The Appeal aims to help support local people in maintaining their independence within the community, by sponsoring the rental and monitoring of a special Lifeline unit. The Careline Appeal aims to assist the elderly, the disabled, those who are terminally ill, victims of crime and victims of domestic violence and more recently child carers.

The Dorset Seafood Festival takes place on Weymouth’s Waterfront from 12-13 July.

As well as a wide range of seafood to get stuck into, events include cooking demonstrations by top chefs Mark Hix, Mitch Tonks and Tom Cull; a Dorset Young Seafood Chef of the Year Competition; Fishtucker Trials; filleting demonstrations; a wine matching exhibition; a fresh fish auction and live folk music.

Soak up the festival atmosphere and enjoy some great local seafood.

Dorset Seafood Festival: 12-13 July

Enjoy some great nosh whilst enjoying the stunning views at the Seasonal Seafood Buffet at Studland on 6 July.

The selection of local seafood includes scallops, mussels, prawns and crab pate all washed down with wine.

Booking Advisable on 01929 450259. Meet at Knoll Beach Cafe, Studland.

Studland: July 6 12pm

Sample a selection of 45+ real ales at the Dorchester Beer Festival at the beginning of February.

Organised by the West Dorset branch of Campaign for Real Ale, admission includes a souvenir glass and a free half pint. 

£3 Fri or Sat Lunch 11am-3pm
£5 Fri or Sat Eve 6-11.30pm

Keep an eye out for some mouth-watering events in and around Purbeck during this week’s Dorset Food Week.

Dorset Food Week is a celebration of locally grown and great tasting Dorset food -some of the culinary events taking place include food tastings, markets, cookery demonstrations and food related walks and talks.

Goldy’s, the organic farm shop that opened a new branch at Bere Farm in Lytchett Matravers back in April, has been nominated for 3 awards by the National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association.

Goldy’s is in contention for Best Newcomer, Best On-Farm Bakery and Environmental Farm of the Year awards.

One of the great green features of the new shop is that the heat generated by the refrigeration systems and ovens are channelled into poly tunnels at the back of the shop, helping to grow and supply produce all year round.

The Goldy’s franchise looks set for even more success as it is exploring the possibility of opening stores in the United States.

Chococo, the Swanage based chocolate maker has won 3 Gold Great Taste Awards at a prestigious national food awards ceremony. 

The awards, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, are the equivalent of the Oscars and over 4500 foods are blind tasted by experts.

Chococo’s winning products were their Melting Milk Truffle, Purbeck Marble cake and Pure Kakawa truffle.

Chococo was set up in 2002 and in this short time thay have won 18 fine food awards for their hand crafted, fair trade products.

If you are in need of ideas and inspiration for your home then get down to the Bournemouth Ideal Home Exhibition at the BIC at the end of August.

There will be over 150 exhibitors and a special cookery theatre with wine and cookery demonstrations by experts.

BIC:  10am-5pm daily:  Adults £4,  OAP £2,  Children FREE

The streets of Dorchester will have a little oh la la this August Bank Holiday weekend when a French Market comes to town.

A group of stallholders from Rouen in Normandy will be offering their wares, which includes French delicacies, leather goods, clothes and confectionary.