About The Festival
The annual Steyning & District Food & Drink Festival is a celebration of local food and drink available within Steyning and the surrounding district.
This month long event – 2nd September to 7th October – is all about showcasing local products, producers and businesses together with supporting the local economy by bringing visitors to Steyning and the local villages of Bramber, Beeding, Ashurst, Edburton, Wiston and Small Dole. We also look forward to raising a generous donation for our Festival charity via some of our events.
Our event, this year, being the 12th anniversary of our festival, begins on the 2nd September with the superb Steyning Farmers’ Market. From then onwards there will be a host of fantastic offers to be found within the district shops, eateries and attractions, together with a mass of great events. Just a few events to whet your appetite are: Foodie walks with lunch/cream teas; High Street Tasting Saturday; Children’s Mad Hatters Tea Party and Best Hat Competition at Cobblestone Tea House; Wiston Vineyard Wine Tasting & Food Pairing; Coffee & Cake Morning for our Festival Charity, The Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice; Workshops at The Artisan Bakehouse; Tottington Manor Wine Tasting & Tapas Evening and Springs Smokery Tour with Optional Lunch. Details of offers & events can be found within this website. Please note that this far ahead of the Festival, not all offers will yet be downloaded and events may have still have some further detail to be added. We aim to have EVERYTHING in place by mid-June, but most are already there, so please do take a peep now and make sure you put certain dates in your calendar and pinpoint offers you need to follow up on.
Lots to look forward for the month of September. Our team are working hard to bring you another Festival full of superb offers and fun things to do and see.
The Team
The Steyning & District Food and Drink Festival is being brought to you by a superb team of hard working, innovative, dedicated people! The amount of voluntary time they have given to the event is quite mind blowing, but as long as it is successful and enjoyed by many, it is all worth it. Would you like to help either this year 0r next year? If so, we would love to hear from you
Please email: steyningsouthdowns@gmail.com
The Area
The small market town of Steyning and its neighbouring villages of Bramber, Upper Beeding, Small Dole, Edburton, Wiston & Ashurst are set on the edge of the South Downs National Park. We are lucky to have many thriving local food and drink producers and enticing venues.
More information is available on our Tourist Information webpage.
The Partnership
The Steyning & District Food & Drink Festival is organised and run by the Steyning & District Community Partnership with the Food & Drink Festival Committee – a sub committee of the Partnership’s Visitor & Tourism Group – taking responsibility for delivering the event.
This is only one of the many projects that have been driven by the Partnership over the years; if you would like to learn more about the Partnership and maybe volunteer to serve on one of our sub committees, see the Steyning & District Community Partnership website
This Year’s Festival Charity
The Festival charity for this year, 2023, is the Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice. Along with all other events, please try and support these events too, which are organised to raise funds for them:
Charity Dish – to be found at many of our eateries within the area during the whole Festival period. Choose this dish (or scone or pizza) and a donation will go to the Charity.
Coffee & Cake at Springwells – the entry fee of £6.50 will go entirely to the Charity.
Farmers Market Hamper – Raffle at the October Market to raise money for the Charity, with all produce within the hamper donated by the stall holders.
May we take this opportunity to thank all our superb and generous sponsors. Without their support and enthusiasm our Festival could not take place – we really cannot thank them enough.
This year our sponsors are:
GOLD SPONSORS
HORSHAM DISTRICT COUNCIL - Providing a range of public services making Horsham District a great place to live, work and visit. Supporting local communities with advice on availability of grants & funding for projects and events; various free training programmes/workshops and start-up business support and information. www.horsham.gov.uk
SILVER SPONSORS
THE SUSSEX GROCER - Knight’s Budgens is a family owned & operated business who have been running award winning shops since 2007. The Sussex Grocer opened in Steyning last year, providing a vast range of food, drink & household needs. Many products are Sussex sourced, something of which they are very proud. www.facebook.com/KnightsBudgensofSteyning
BRONZE SPONSORS
HJ BURT - One of the area’s longest standing independent estate agencies; unprecedented service covering all property matters.www.hjburt.co.uk
COCOA LOCO –Local award winning ethical chocolate producers. www.cocoaloco.co.uk
HIGGIDY PIES–Local producer,making glorious everyday food to help people live well.www.higgidy.co.uk
RUSHFIELDS PLANT CENTRE -a family run business that has been serving its local Poynings community and beyond for nearly 40 Years. The business began as just a few greenhouses in a field and has blossomed into a diverse centre offering a much-loved Café and Farm Shop, both focusing on local produce.www.rushfields.com
STEYNING & DISTRICT BUSINESS CHAMBER - Promoting, protecting and developing the interests of the business community of Steyning and District. www.steyningchamber.co.uk
STEYNING & DISTRICT COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP –Volunteers organising projects/events to bring benefit to residents, businesses & visitors. www.visitsteyning.co.uk
STEYNING PARISH COUNCIL - supporting community projects wherever possible. www.steyningpc.gov.uk
WEST GRINSTEAD & DISTRICT PLOUGHING & AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY – established in 1871. Very pro-active in promoting the interests of the local farming community. www.westgrinsteadploughing.
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