Best UK food and drink festivals in summer 2022

Nine locations will feature on the Pub in the Park tour in 2022. Launched by chef Tom Kerridge, each festival celebrates “everything about the glorious British pub” – delicious food, award-winning chefs, chart-topping music, great drinks “but above all else a fantastic time with friends and family”.

• 12-15 May: Marlow 
• 27-29 May: Wimbledon 
• 10-12 June: Warwick 
• 17-19 June: Bath 
• 24-26 June: Dulwich 
• 8-10 July: Tunbridge Wells 
• 2-4 September: Chiswick 
• 9-11 September: St. Albans 
• 16-18 September: Brighton

The Great British Food Festival has a spectacular line-up for 2022, with 11 events held at some of the UK’s most beautiful venues. 

• 14-15 May: Burton Constable, Hull 
• 2-5 June: Harewood House, Leeds 
• 17-19 June: Trentham Gardens, Staffordshire 
• 18-19 June: Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire 
• 16-17 July: Knebworth House, Hertfordshire
• 29-31 July: Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire 
• 20-21 August: Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire 
• 3-4 September: Margam Park, South Wales 
• 10-11 September: Dalkeith Country Park, Midlothian
• 17-18 September: Borde Hill, West Sussex 
• 24-25 September: Arley Hall, Cheshire 

Liverpool will come alive with a brand new festival on the Jubilee bank holiday weekend. Celebrating the city’s food and drink heritage, the “Taste Liverpool. Drink Bordeaux” event will see takeovers by leading restaurateurs and chefs, cookery demonstrations, food-inspired cultural events and many venues offering special festival menus and an array of beautiful Bordeaux wines. The festival is free to attend with ticketed experiences available for wine tasting.

Held over the Jubilee bank holiday weekend, the Blenheim Palace Food Festival showcases delicious produce while well-known celebrity chefs host live demonstrations and Q&As. Local and national stallholders will serve up a range of artisan treats and homemade delights, and there will also be craft beers, cocktails and mocktails on the drinks menu. Family activities, a picnic area and entertainment feature throughout the weekend. Tickets are required. 

Explore all things gin at Junipalooza where more than 400 different varieties will be on show. Sixty distilleries will also be sharing their love for the spirit and serving up samples and stories for all to enjoy. Now in its ninth year, Junipalooza is a “meet the maker” festival. Either the distiller or brand owner will be there in person and you will be able to meet the people that put everything they have into the gins they make. 

More than 55,000 people will be tucking into the delights on offer at Taste of London in June. The “food-fuelled garden party” takes over Regent’s Park for eight sessions over five days with the capital’s top chefs, restaurants, bars and artisan producers on show. Things to see include demonstrations, masterclasses, the fire pit and a craft beer trail.

Held within the grounds of Claydon Estate in Buckinghamshire, Bigfoot is a music, food and craft beer festival. The three-day event will see Khruangbin, Caribou and Happy Mondays headline the main music stage while breweries in attendance include Signature Brew, Verdant, Deya, Gipsy Hill, Braybrooke, SALT, Budvar, Wild Beer, Purity, Howling Hops, and Stone & Wood.

The inaugural edition of Festa at London’s Tobacco Dock will highlight Portugal’s best wine producers, some of which have never been showcased in the UK before. Delicious Portuguese food, restaurants, a Mercado and wine shop, live music and entertainment will also be on the festival menu. 

Country sports and living history are celebrated at Ireland’s national game fair and festival of the countryside. A highlight of the event is the fine food and crafts festival, which is held in a large, tented village. This is a food festival with an “unrivalled all-Ireland reach”.

Returning in July, the Edinburgh Food Festival will once again showcase quality Scottish ingredients and the best food producers and makers from across Scotland. There will be demonstrations and workshops from some of the country’s best chefs as well as a range of stalls and street food outlets for visitors to enjoy. 

Held at Stanford Hall in Leicestershire, this would “make a great first festival for anyone new to veganism”, says Natalie Paris in The Daily Telegraph. As well as showcasing what it claims is the “largest selection of vegan food” in UK history, it “aims to equip revellers with the skills needed to whip up ethical, but nutritious plates of food at home”. Plus there’s music, talks, yoga workshops and a children’s area 

The National Geographic Traveller Food Festival returns to London for the first time since 2019. Taking place at the Business Design Centre, the festival will serve up a range of culinary experiences and the chef line-up includes José Pizarro, Grace Dent, Fuchsia Dunlop, Olia Hercules, and Richard Corrigan. “Speakers’ Corner” will see food writers and cookbook authors discuss their latest work while the Masterclasses will feature immersive international experiences with destinations as diverse as Italy and Wales. 

Held in Haywards Heath, this event promotes “sustainable Sussex produce, from food to fashion”, says Rachel Dixon in The Guardian. Foodie treats include a pop-up Egyptian restaurant, a range of cookery demos and an artisan market. Local bands play during the day. 

This food and music festival on the banks of the Camel Estuary will be hosted by Jack Stein and friends and feature a jam-packed menu of live acts, chef demos, open fire cooking and pop-up restaurants. Laura Mvula, Happy Mondays and Passenger are the music headliners while Jack Stein will be joined by chefs such as Gizzi Erskine, Rosemary Schrager, Richard Bertinet, Emily Scott and, of course, Rick Stein.

This new “two-day extravaganza” in Manchester is brought to you by the team behind the award-winning North Leeds Food Festival, says Rachel Dixon in The Guardian. They promise international street food, no fewer than eight independent bars, a live cookery theatre and a market where you can pick up local products. It’s not just about food, however: there are “lots of kids’ activities”, and an “eclectic music line-up” featuring local acts. 

Set on Blur bassist Alex James’s farm, and well attended by the fashionable Cotswolds set, this is the “ultimate feel-good festival”, says Ellie Smith in Country & Town House magazine. It’s no surprise that the music is high quality – The Human League and Stereophonics headline this year – but there are also ample feasting opportunities, plus demos from the likes of Michelin three-starred chef Clare Smyth. 

“If the sight of great hunks of meat being licked by flames gets you going”, then Meatopia is for you, says Natalie Paris in The Telegraph. At this annual festival on London’s Tobacco Dock, firecooking is “elevated to an art form”. More than 70 chefs will be in attendance this year, serving up dishes tested in advance. But the organisers stress that “Meatopia is not about gluttony”: there’s a focus on imparting knowledge, and on ethical, sustainable ingredients. 

Seafeast, the award-winning Dorset Seafood Festival, will take place in Weymouth in September. Festival visitors can taste fresh seafood dishes from a great selection of stalls while enjoying entertainment from talented chefs and live music acts. 

Founded by two farmers in 1999, this festival has become “one of Britain’s leading food events”, said Natasha Goodfellow in Countryfile magazine. Some 30,000 people flock to the Welsh town each year for a programme of talks, workshops and tutored tastings. And there’s a “legendary” party held on the Saturday night, in the grounds of Abergavenny Castle.