KENDAL is in the throws of preparation as it braces itself for the annual celebration of the region's food and drink.

Embarking upon its sixth year in business, Kendal Festival of Food is promising a "bigger and better" weekend complete with delicious tasters, master-class demonstrations, fascinating talks plus a special VIP line up.

Thousands descended on the town last year for the ever-growing popular attraction, and this year is expected to be no different.

"We are really looking forward to a great weekend," said Cath Dutton, of Kendal Festival of Food."This year we have a record high number of stalls and more talks, demos and tastings on offer than ever before, so we are all set to build on the success of last year’s brilliant event and we have a number of new features for 2015 too."

Exciting additions to the festival menu on this coming Saturday and Sunday (March 7 and 8) are top food critic and BBC's The One Show resident culinary expert Jay Rayner.

The famous food writer and broadcaster will provide an entertaining evening at the Brewery Arts Centre entitled ‘My Dining Hell’ - examining the nation’s love affair with lousy reviews while giving the audience a taste of his own most excruciating nights outs.

And another cherry on the finely iced cake of festivities is an appearance from food historian and fellow Cumbrian Ivan Day.

Visitors will get the chance to delve into the past to discover food from England’s north country in a talk that will cover recipes dating back to the 1600s.

Glorious food of the past will be celebrated and brought back to life using 200-year-old equipment including ice cream and sorbet recipes previously devoured by our Georgian and Victorian predecessors.

There will also be demos from highly regarded chefs and bakers in the industry including Chris O’Callaghan from Linthwaite House Hotel, Peter Sidwell, from ITV’s Britain’s Best Bakery programme and Robert Stacey from the unique apprentice-run Castle Dairy fine dining restaurant.

And of course the streets will be lined with more than 80 stalls overflowing with goodies from artisan bakeries and patisseries to cheesemongers and specialist meat suppliers.

Full festival-goers can wash everything down by paying a visit to Wainwright’s Drink’s Yard, a new feature giving guests a chance take home the very best local tipples from some of the region’s finest micro-breweries, spirit producers and distilleries.

Returning for this kids is CBBC's Stefan gates in the Family Festival Village who will host an explosive food science show, revealing the amazing secrets of what we eat.

For more information visit www.kendalfestivaloffood.co.uk