In less than three weeks' time, food lovers will be flocking to Hampshire for the first ever New Forest Food and Drink Festival Week.
From 31 October until 6 November, top chefs, restaurateurs and artisan food and drink producers will be uniting their talents for a programme of mouth-watering gastronomic events set against the backdrop of the stunning New Forest national park.
If you fancy a culinary adventure, here are some of the highlights of the week:
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The Game and Wine Night at Beresford's Restaurant and Balmer Lawn
Locally sourced meats from the rich wildlife of the New Forest will be a focal point of the food festival – and nowhere more so than at the game and wine night at Beresford's Restaurant. Located within Balmer Lawn, a former hunting lodge, the restaurant will invite guests to sample the very best the area has to offer, with wines selected to complement each of the six courses and a live piano accompaniment.
Choice cuts on the menu will include venison from three kinds of deer, pheasant, partridge, pigeon, rabbit and hare – enough to satisfy even the most fastidious of game lovers.
Wednesday 2 November, 7pm (£60), more information here
Vegetarian feast with TV chef Simon Rimmer
Best known for Sunday Brunch on Channel 4, Simon Rimmer opened veggie restaurant Greens, now a Manchester institution, back in 1990. He'll be hosting a dinner at Burley Manor, a former stately home turned hotel and restaurant, to share his passion for meat-free haute cuisine.
Guests will be welcomed with a glass of Perrier-Jouet champagne before being treated to a four-course vegetarian banquet, followed by a talk by Rimmer himself.
Tuesday 1 November, 7pm (£125), more information here
Tastes of Chewton Glen
Enjoy the best that autumn has to offer at Chewton Glen spa and hotel, a 17th-century manor whose kitchen has previously been graced by the likes of James Martin and Jean-Christophe Novelli.
The hotel's current head chef Luke Matthews will be using past inspirations and contemporary influences to present a six-course feast of classic fine-dining fare that includes truffles, wild mushroom and beef fillet, all served with specially paired wines.
Saturday 5 November, 7pm (£125), more information here
Sip and Savour Tastings at The Montagu Arms
On Friday 4 November, there will be no menu at chef Matthew Tomkinson's restaurant at the Montagu Arms in Beaulieu. Instead, diners can expect six seasonal courses paired with wines selected by the hotel's sommelier. Guests will have no idea what they're going to be served until it appears in front of them.
As well as award-winning food, the restaurant offers the genuine country life experience, located within a 17th-century hotel adjoining a cosy pub in a picture postcard village just inside the New Forest.
Friday 4 November, 6.30pm (£125), more information here
A celebration of fish and seafood at the Master Builder's House Hotel
The south coast is famous for its abundant and delicious seafood – and where better to enjoy it than in the tiny riverside hamlet of Buckler's Hard? From the grassy verge outside the Master Builder's House Hotel, diners can look out over the waters of the Beaulieu River as they feast on the very best of what the sea has to offer.
The menu will include an oyster bar, seared scallops, langoustine croquette, wild sea bass and char-grilled squid, alongside a selection of side dishes and sweet treats to finish.
Friday 4 November, noon (£35), more information here
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