T3 @ Harvest Festival

A few months ago my sister Carolyn and I found ourselves sitting in a living room and having tea and biscuits with the vicar and assistant vicar of St. Mildred's Church. As we left, she turned to me and said, "Did you ever in your wildest dreams think you'd ever be sitting in a living room with two vicars discussing the Harvest festival arrangements?"

For that is what we had been doing. At the time we were planning to organise a 'local food festival', kind of a 'Taste of Tenterden', if you will, and so the church were interested in combining that with their Harvest festival and co-promoting the whole shebang. However, the food festival idea fell through because even though we canvassed all the local eateries, food producers, etc. we only got a couple of tentative OKs, and even then it was like "well, I'll do it if other people do". Evidently someone tried to organise one a few years back and it was not a resounding success. The problem was that people were envisioning the same scenario as last time, i.e. that it would be in a big marquee on the Rec. We told them that our idea was to do individual offers at each restaurant or farm shop etc. and that no-one would have to send staff out in the field anywhere, but nobody seemed swayed by this because 'given the current economic climate, we can't afford to be giving discounts'. A fair point, I suppose, but more than a tad cynical.

So we shelved that idea for use at a later date. What we did do, however, was to plant the seeds for the Harvest Festival. Here's a little rundown of what you can expect to see.

Date: 6th and 7th October, at St. Mildreds Church, Tenterden

11 am to 4 pm


We will be located in our gazebo outside the church with a food miles activity, and lots of info about keeping it local and how that can save the planet. Become a locavore, grow your own, buy local, eat local and have fun! We'll also be handing out copies of our own 'local food map'.

Inside the church Tenterden and District Chamber of Commerce has organised displays of local fare from:
Arcadia
Chapel Down
Biddenden Vineyards
The Potato Shop
Nightingales Honey / Gibbet Oak Farm
Homewood School Farm

and more. In addition, the Chamber of Commerce is going to manage the refreshments stall outside the church after the Sunday service offering tea/coffee/soft drinks and a sample of some delights provided by their various members.

Come along!

Don't forget also that on Saturday the Church Tower will be open. It's a good climb, and if you want to burn some calories in a narrow confined space, with a really good view at the end, you cannot do it in a finer fashion!