THOUSANDS of food lovers gathered in Abergavenny to celebrate the annual Food Festival, the warm weather that greeted autumn bringing bumper crowds across the weekend.

Organisers could not put a figure on the number of people who flocked to the town, but festival spokesman Cathy Green said it has been a ver y good year, with the streets "heaving."

"There's been a fantastic turn-out, and more people have booked in advance this year, we've had lots of events sold out before the day," she said.

Befitting the festival's ever-burgeoning reputation, a selection of the cookery world's great and good were on hand across the weekend, showing off their skills and passing on tips to visitors hungry for food and advice - and those visitors are getting increasingly international.

The perpetually busy Market Hall and the streets around rang with snatches of accents from across the UK and overseas.

On Cross Street, visitors from the Black Country loudly praised the mouthwatering display of chocolate brownies, while a few metres further on, fabulous fruit and veg on the High Street was bought up by excitable Italians.

Across the town, Gwent businesses rubbed shoulders with London-based companies and others from far afield.

One of those Gwent businesses was Forage Fine Foods, of Pandy, whose founder Liz Knight said the festival attracts representatives from Harrods and Fortnum and Mason, who have sampled her food and subsequently placed orders for their London stores.

Former Monmouthshire council worker Mrs Knight, 37, said: "With this festival I can prepare all summer, and friends help out and then take things home at the end of the day. It's very much a cottage industry."

And the festival is not just a showcase for adults. At the town's castle, nine-year-old Joshua Quan-Buchanan, sold kitchen accessories at his stall, Joshua's Chickenopolis.

Joshua, who lives in Monmouth, has helped his grandmother Laura Buchanan-Smith raise funds for St Anne's Hospice since he was four years old, last year raising £373, while Mrs Buchanan-Smith, who lives in Newport, has been fundraising at the festival for 12 years.

"Joshua has always been our youngest volunteer," she said. "He started off selling eggs and apples, and now we collect things from all over. We both keep chickens, at the moment we have four quail and two chickens between us."

Also at the Castle, volunteers from Abergavenny Community Orchard pressed apples into juice for thirsty visitors. The orchard has 80 trees, including 40 Welsh cider apple trees and 20 perry pear trees, and the produce proved popular, with visitors describing it as "delicious."

At the Priory Church of St Mary, teas and scones proved popular, with proceeds going to the church, while Abergavenny Community Link also raised money for a village in Ethiopia by selling their coffee.

Shirley Jones, among five volunteers who established the Two Towns Trading Initiative in Abergavenny, said profits from selling the Ethiopian coffee will go to social projects in that country. Anyone interested in buying the coffee can e-mail twotownstrading@gmail.com

Almost 150 stalls traded across the weekend, plying a bewildering but delicious variety of food or drink. There were also lots of cookery masterclasses, talks, and musical entertainment.

One of the most popular was Grow It, Cook It, Eat It - a schools' cooking competition that inspired finalists from Monmouth comprehensive, Fairwater High in Cwmbran, and eventual winners King Henry VIII comprehensive, Abergavenny, to high standards under time limited conditions.

At the Priory Church of St Mary, teas and scones proved popular, with proceeds going to the church, while Abergavenny Community Link also raised money for a village in Ethiopia by selling their coffee.

Shirley Jones, among five volunteers who established the Two Towns Trading Initiative in Abergavenny, said profits from selling the Ethiopian coffee will go to social projects in that country. Anyone interested in buying the coffee can e-mail twotownstrading@gmail.com

Almost 150 stalls traded across the weekend, plying a bewildering but delicious variety of food or drink. There were also lots of cookery masterclasses, talks, and musical entertainment.

One of the most popular was Grow It, Cook It, Eat It - a schools’ cooking competition that inspired finalists from Monmouth comprehensive, Fairwater High in Cwmbran, and eventual winners King Henry VIII comprehensive, Abergavenny, to high standards under time limited conditions.