MORE than 18,000 people visited Wellington on Saturday to experience a world of food. 

The Eat Wellington event took place in the town centre, where more than 90 traders from across Somerset were invited to showcase their goods. 

A wide range of treats were on sale including cheeses, chocolates and ciders. 

Festival organiser, Bev Milner Simonds, said: "We want to offer a massive thank you to our wonderful volunteer stewards, sponsors, demo chefs, food talk participants, Stefano who ran the Hawksmoor Cookery School and all our supporters. They all pulled together to make this a safe, welcoming and well run event that we think Wellington can be proud of.

"Sarah and I tried to step back a couple of times during the day and soak up the atmosphere, but as ever we have been flat our with our team of volunteers all day. A massive thank you to all of them - they have worked their socks off today, calmly and professionally - a special thank you to the Wellington Army Cadets who were an invaluable addition to the team."

Co-organiser, Sarah Milner Simonds, said:"It was great to see the streets of the town centre full of happy people enjoying so many great food and drink producers. We brought the demo stage back this year and also had the Food Talks hosted by BBC Somerset and the free pop-up Hawksmoor cookery school. Many producers told that this is one of their favourite festivals as the town is so welcoming and the visitors so friendly. Wellington is a special place to be, especially on a weekend like this."

Visitors to the show also took part in the poll to find the people's favourite stall. The Best in Show competition, sponsored by Porter Dodson LLP saw 1,000 votes cast and Brazier Coffee Roasters topped the public poll as the people's choice, and Blu Fire Caribbean 'n' Mutton Shack as the sponsor's choice. Winner of the prize draw was Christine Tron, who took home a trio of cookery books.

The demo stage, in the scout hall, saw The School Chef, Steve Fowell, who was supported by Waitrose, joined by Odette's Tearoom and Guddi & Gikki restaurant, with a bonus bhangra dance workshop, all cooking up delicious flavours throughout the day.

Sarah added: "Obviously we were blessed with wonderful weather and we were very pleased to welcome the newly weds from the service at the Baptist Church into the festival for some memorable wedding day snaps. We are now busy gathering feedback on this event and are looking forward to building on this for 2018."