Sausages, beer and pies celebrated at Whittington food festival

Caterer and pie maker Steve Manders organised the village's first Sausage, Pie and Beer Festival to bring together small-scale, artisan producers and help raise their profile, as well as raise money for St John's Hospice, Lancaster.

"It went very well," said Steve, who runs Wagtail Catering and Katie's Kitchen with wife Kate. "We had about 200 to 300 people through the doors, and all the suppliers have said it was a really good atmosphere and they'd do it again next year."

Among attractions at the village hall were:

- sausage-making displays by Hornby Butchers

- beer tastings from Old School Brewery, Warton

- a sell-out cheese stall by Whin Yeats Dairy, of Hutton Roof, which makes cheese using unpasteurised milk from its herd of pedigree Holstein Friesian cows

- preserves and pickles made by Sue Prickett, in her Hutton Roof farmhouse kitchen

- freshly roasted, single-origin coffee from Kircabi Roasters, of Kirkby Lonsdale

- and traybakes and gourmet pies from Katie's Kitchen.

"With Whittington Races not happening this year, we wanted to do something to bring a bit of life to Whittington," said Steve.

"We like food and wanted to do something with small-scale suppliers in the Lune Valley because it's relatively unknown to a lot of people."

Steve and Kate launched their new website at the festival, where handmade, hand-crimped pies can be ordered online and delivered frozen. The couple offer large, pork pie wedding cakes as well as smaller pies made with traditional, hot-water pastry using butter, lard, egg yolk and flour.

Recipes include beef bourguignon topped with celeriac mash and buttered leeks; and chicken with white wine, cream, shallots and ciabatta stuffing.

Home-made chicken stock is added to pork pies as jelly, and the couple are working on their own beef stock recipe. They are also looking at using coconut oil instead of palm oil in the pastry for their vegetarian pies.

For more, visit www.wagtailcatering.co.uk