The Dartmouth Food Festival, widely recognised as one of the country’s most prestigious food events, returns this year from Friday, 25 October to Sunday, 27 October.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the festival will welcome renowned figures such as Saturday Kitchen’s Matt Tebbutt, Professor Tim Spector, award-winning baker Richard Bertinet, 2010 MasterChef winner Dhruv Baker, and chef and author Jane Baxter.

Flying the flag for local talent are festival patron Mitch Tonks from The Seahorse, who will host a special demo with Mark Hix on Saturday. MasterChef: The Professionals 2016 finalist Elly Wentworth from The Angel, and Luca Berardino from Andria in Dartmouth, will also showcase their skills throughout the weekend.

Run entirely by volunteers and free for visitors, this not-for-profit festival offers a unique programme spread across three days in the Devon town on the River Dart. The festival has always focused on educating and inspiring visitors, creating a sustainable, independent event that supports the community.

This year’s events include:

To mark its 20th anniversary, the festival has launched a limited-edition cookbook: The Dartmouth Food Festival Cookbook: A Celebration of Food, Friendship & Feasting, curated by Helen Lloyd and published by Kitchen Press. It features recipes from top chefs who have been part of the festival, including Matt Tebbutt, Romy Gill, and Nick Evans, as well as local food heroes. With photography by Nick Hook, the book is available for pre-order from the festival’s website, priced at £25.

Festival Ambassador Orlando Murrin said: “The Dartmouth Food Festival began as an ambitious event, with a few local artisans and volunteers in the market square. Twenty years later, it has grown into a phenomenal celebration that attracts over 20,000 food lovers from near and far. This year’s cookbook commemorates this extraordinary milestone and showcases the uniqueness of this event.”