Hastings Seafood & Wine Festival
This month sees the return of the Hastings Seafood & Wine Festival, held over the third weekend of September on the 17th-18th. The event showcases the very best in local seafood, wine, and music and its location on The Stade Open Space, in Hastings’ Old Town, means that we talk about food yards not food miles as the site is located directly on the fishing beach. Less than 100 years ago the festival area was the site of the capstans used to pull the fishing boats up the beach, to preserve the history, there are circles cut into the modern surface to replicate the paths worn by the horses as they walked around the capstans. During your visit to Hastings and the festival, be sure to visit Rock-a-Nore Road where you’ll find the Fishermen’s Museum. It is here, in the small independent museum, that you can learn about the fishing industry in Hastings and its maritime past, it also has the last remaining horse-driven capstan on display.
This year’s Seafood & Wine Festival will have more stalls than ever before, each serving up delicious seafood, glorious wines and plenty more. Enjoy the culinary delights of popular favourites such as Olly’s Fish Shack and The BBQ Project and sample some of the best wines the region has to offer from the local vineyards, Carr Taylor, Biddenden and Harbourne. Harvey’s will again be supplying the beer in the entertainment marquee where there will be some great music to listen to, whilst enjoying a pint from the Sussex Downs brewery, including Sam Calver, Big Blue and Buddha Triangle to name just a few.
The ever-popular Liane Carrol will be back on Sunday morning for her inimitable Jazz Breakfast (tickets are £20 adult, £10 children, including a continental breakfast by Judges Bakery. Tickets sell fast so be sure to book as soon as possible). The Classroom on the Coast, part of Stade Hall, will gives those wanting to improve their fish cooking skills the opportunity to learn new techniques. Local legend ‘Tush’ Hamilton and his wife, Pat will be giving lessons on the filleting of fish, alongside CJ Jackson from Billingsgate Seafood School, and of Sunday Brunch fame, who will be giving her very popular cooking demonstrations.
Wristbands covering admission for the whole weekend are priced at just £4 in advance (from the Visitor Information Centre next to Hastings train station), which is also selling Jazz Breakfast tickets. Gate entry is £5. Under 18s are admitted free.
www.visit1066country.com/fishfestivals
