Lymington Seafood Festival returns for second year – and it’s bigger and better

The Lymington Seafood Festival is returning for a second year. More than 85 artisan producers are attending over August 11-12 2018.

The free two-day festival will feature a ‘greater array’ of seafood stalls this time round, according to organisers, all of which will be combined with live music, local gins, English sparkling wines, and beers and ciders.

The seafood get-together saw 15,000 people attend in 2017. Lymington, not far from the New Forest in Hampshire, pools seafood from the West Country waters and the Solent, and hosts top chefs in demonstration kitchens.

The festival is led by The Jetty’s chef patron Alex Aitken and will this year feature the likes of Matt Tomkinson from the Montagu Arms, and Chewton Glen’s Luke Matthews. Also appearing in the demo kitchen will be 2016 MasterChef winner Jane Devonshire.

Hear from festival director Domine Nowell

Only 2 months to go until @lymingtonseafoodfestival

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“We’ve worked really hard to attract a fantastic line up of chefs, along with some of the best artisan food and drink producers from across Hampshire and Dorset,” said director Domine Nowell.

“With over 85 stands, we’re likely to see more than 250 different dishes including lobster mac n’cheese, scallops, cockle popcorn, soft shell crab, shrimp burgers, oysters…..the list goes on! Plus, we have retained a great selection of art and craft stands for that all important bit of shopping”.

Go New Forest CEO Anthony Climpson OBE said: “The sense of community, local provenance and the simple pleasure of being at a great event with so much going on in an amazing waterside location means after just a year, the festival has already established itself as the New Forest’s top food and drink event”.

This year’s main sponsor is craft brewery Ringwood, while charity Sail 4 Cancer is the official beneficiary.

Newly elected Lymington & Pennington Mayor Anne Corbridge added: “It was fantastic to see the town so busy last year with locals and those from farther afield enjoying the festival. We are lucky to have so many Lymington and New Forest producers [attend].”

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