When: Saturday, September 21, 10am-5pm

Where: Daylesford, near Kingham, Gloucestershire, GL56 0YG

The annual Daylesford Harvest Festival is taking place this Saturday, September 21. As the leaves turn golden, take this day to honour the abundance of delicious seasonal produce available during autumn in an activity-filled day on Daylesford's Cotswolds farm.

The Harvest Festival is a chance to celebrate all the wonderful food they produce throughout the year. With a bountiful variety of crops at their best in autumn, it is a day to relish this most generous of seasons before the cooler winter weather sets in.

Several of last year's most loved activities will be making a comeback, including the Country Brocante Fair in the Dairy Paddock and the Daylesford Producers' Market where you will find mouth-watering organic artisan produce which celebrates the seasons.

Daylesford farmshop will be a stone's throw from all of the activity and will be hosting tastings all day as well as selling unique harvest homeware.

A Harvest Competition Tent will take pride of place in the Market Garden, where you can win prizes for your own culinary skills. The deadline for entries has already closed, but categories include Best Harvest Vegetable, Best Chutney, Best Apple & Blackberry Pie and Largest Pumpkin.

Daylesford's head gardener Jez is planning some fun challenges in the Market Garden - will you master courgette jenga, building apple towers or making monsters out of ugly, bruised or wonky vegetables?

A love for seasonal organic food inspires much of the Harvest Festival. Asado-style firepits will be lit the night before so you can enjoy mouth-watering barbecued delights, or head to The Trough and newest addition, The Legbar for a bite to eat and a refreshing cocktail.

For budding chefs of all levels, The Cookery School will hold indoor demonstrations all day. Get hands-on with the help of our expert tutors and learn key cooking techniques to use at home.

All ingredients used will be sourced from Daylesford's 28-acre Market Garden and you'll learn about the best of autumn's produce - comforting varieties including wet walnuts, figs, leeks and turnips and an abundance of rich meats including partridge, venison and pheasant, all grown and reared from Daylesford's organic farms.

The festival site will be packed with activities for all ages. Children can ride mini JCB tractors and Lots of Lovely Art will hold fun workshops for the kids to get involved in. There'll also be apple bobbing, onion stringing, pumpkin weighing and a scarecrow competition.

In true Daylesford festival style, there will be plenty of live music and a fully stocked bar to get grown-ups into the festival spirit, too.

For budding cooks, The Daylesford Demos will make a return, as will the North Cotswolds Beekeepers for anyone interested in our precious pollinators.

For the budding florists, skilled floristry tutors will be running a series of demonstrations throughout the day, covering everything from flower crowns to hand-tied harvest wreaths, flower pressing and tours of the organic Cutting Garden.

They will also host of creative activities so you can learn a new skill.

Daylesford's sustainability expert Tim Field will lead talks with experts and friends of Daylesford, discussing the sustainability issues of today and explore the actions needed to secure our future, dedicated to a Delicious Revolution, Sustainable Solution.

Daylesford's chosen charity is The Felix Project, a pioneering initiative which strives to save food and change lives in London, will be on-site throughout the day.

Bamford Barn will be host to a range of sustainability-focused activities, including painting your own Bamford candle, ideas for reusing candle pots in your home and reducing wastage.

Over at the Bamford Wellbeing Tent, there will be a host of workshops and wellness activities including a gong bath with Leo Cosendai and an introduction to hormonal health with Alice Mackintosh.

You can meet the rare and heritage breeds of cattle that Daylesford prides itself on. Senior farms manager Richard Smith will be holding talks in the Dairy Barn throughout the day so that guests can gain an insight into our best in class organic dairy practice at the farm.

Renowned wildlife artist Gary Cook has been commissioned to paint some of the trees on the Daylesford Estate which will be on show at the Harvest Festival. The exhibition will run for two weeks after Harvest Festival, so if you can't make it on the day then make sure you visit in the two weeks afterwards.

Entry to the Harvest Festival is free entry, with free parking, but please do register your attendance to help Daylesford keep track of numbers in advance. 

The website link for more information and to register is https://www.daylesford.com/events/annual-harvest-festival-2019-cotswolds/