A MAJOR event will be held in the grounds of a country house this weekend, highlighting quality food and how to get the best out of your gardens and allotments. The Bedfordshire Festival of Home, Garden and Food is at Shuttleworth and is supported by Sain

A MAJOR event will be held in the grounds of a country house this weekend, highlighting quality food and how to get the best out of your gardens and allotments.

The Bedfordshire Festival of Home, Garden and Food is at Shuttleworth and is supported by Sainsbury's and Archant, publishers of your award-winning Comet.

With so much to see and do you will be spoilt for choice. With local, national and international food on display, there will be something to suit everyone's taste.

The event will appeal to anyone keen to see how they can brush up on their culinary skills and how they can choose the best products when shopping.

On sale will be a huge variety of products, with food made from the finest ingredients by producers who are passionate about how their products are made and how their ingredients are grown.

An exciting programme of activities is planned with a continental food market and cookery theatre, as well as tutored tastings and hands-on workshops.

And to wash the food down there will be organic real ales and other tasty beverages on sale.

For the gardener there will be plants for sale and ideas for landscaping and garden design, as well as garden furniture and machinery for sale plus much, much more.

Organiser of the festival for the past three years, Phil Gooden, owner of the Bird of Prey Centre at Shuttleworth, said: "The festival is going to be almost twice the size as it was last year when we attracted over 5,000 visitors.

"There is something for everyone and if we have good weather we should have our biggest crowds ever.

"There will be around 100 stalls selling a variety of goods and there will be foods from around the world and attractions for people of all ages."

A bonus for visitors will be half-price entry for adults to the Bird of Prey Centre, with adults paying �5 and children getting in free.

Mr Gooden said: "We have some great birds here with newcomers being a Marshall eagle, an African sea eagle, and some white-tailed sea eagles, so after going around the festival people can see a great variety of birds at the centre for another treat."

The event is open between 10am and 5pm on both days.