Useful Information
Ludlow and the surrounding area offers a wide range of great places to stay - hotels, inns, b&bs, cottages and camp sites. Comprehensive visitor and accommodation information can be found on the Ludlow web site - www.ludlow.org.uk - or is available from Ludlow Visitor Information Centre, Castle Square, Ludlow Tel: 01584 875053.
Early booking is advisable.
(Please note the Food Festival is unable to advise or help you book accommodation.)
HOLIDAY COTTAGES - Sykes Cottages have an excellent selection of great value self catering holiday cottages in and around the Ludlow area that make the perfect place to stay when visiting the Ludlow Food Festival. Visit the Sykes Cottages website for a full list of cottages in the Ludlow area. http://www.sykescottages.co.uk/ludlow-cottages.html
Or just outside of Ludlow in the stunning Corvedale (about 20mins drive away) you can find the lovely www.corvebarnfarm.co.uk
FESTIVAL CAMPSITE - Rugby Club
Camping and small campervans at Ludlow Rugby Club, which lies at the base of Ludlow Castle just 200 yards away and only a 400 yard walk to the Food Festival. Ludlow Rugby Club have decided to use the 10 acre site as a Caravan, Motorhome, and Camp site for both the Spring & Food Festival.
- Available from 10am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night.
- Toilets and showers open 24hours
- Bar open from 6.00pm Friday and Saturday night.
- Leave your vehicle parked by your tent all weekend
- Some tarmac area if required(must be booked)
- Rates £10 per night per person paid in advance by cheque or bank transfer. No casual bookings !
TO BOOK go to the Ludlow Rugby Club website here www.pitchero.com/clubs/ludlowrfc Or download the form here or any questions ring Lynn on 07528314405
BABY CHANGING & FEEDING FACILITIES
There are baby changing and feeding facilities available within the festival; these are based within small marquees and contain a table and chairs for your use. There is also a small amount of disposable changing mats and wipes available for your use, if needed, along with sanitizing gel.
Is there a cash machine in the castle?
No, but there are cash machines at all the major banks, within 5 minutes walk: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, NatWest and Nationwide. There are also cash machines outside the Post Office (One Stop Shop, Upper Galdeford) and outside Tesco (the car park side).
Is there a bureau de change?
Apart from Sunday the Post Office (at the One Stop Shop, Upper Galdeford, next door to Co Op), and the four major banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, NatWest) all have foreign exchange facilities (converting to pounds). These are all within 5 minutes walk of the castle.
Is there anything for children to do?
Most things in the Festival will be suitable for, and of interest to, all the family, apart from alcoholic beverages.
Activities that will be of particular interest to children (and also adults) include the Panic Circus and Waiters Race. Specific talks and demonstrations will also be focused on children's involvement so please check the programme for your intended day of visit to see which events will be occurring.
Can I bring a coach party or other group?
Yes, coach parties - and other groups - are welcome, especially on Friday or Sunday, which are a bit quieter than Saturday, but please help us to help you by contacting us in advance. Discounted prices for groups available (for 15 people or more) please either contact us or download the Group Booking Form.
Do you take credit cards?
Many individual vendors do take credit cards. But it is always useful to have cash with you! At the entrance to the Castle, payments for admission can be made with cash, a personal cheque, debit or credit card. Online ticket sales are available until the Sunday before the Festival for payment by credit or debit card. We suggest that you buy your tickets online in advance in order to avoid queues at the busiest times. (A £1 order fee is applied to each total online sales order to cover postage and card costs.)
I don't like large crowds - when is the Festival quietest?
Friday and Sunday are the quieter days, and the Friday when trade visitors often prefer to come. The peak periods are between about 12 and 2.30 on each day - during these times you may well find the food and drink marquees in the castle are very crowded, and it is suggested that you may wish to visit other festival venues outside the castle, at those times. The first part of the morning and the afternoon from about 3.00 pm onwards are also good times for leisurely inspection of the stands.
The Ludlow Marches Food & Drink Festival will be held on:
Friday 12th, Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th September
Accessibility
Access in Ludlow (South Shropshire Access Group)
Wheelchair access - All events in Ludlow Castle and most other venues are suitable for wheelchair access. The entrance to the Castle itself has a rough cobbled surface and a wheelchair user may require assistance - readily available on the spot - for this short section. Some shops have entrance steps but again assistance is readily available.
Disabled toilets can be found at the car park off Castle Square, and in the Castle during the Food and Drink Festival.
Disabled car park spaces (for disabled badge holders) can be found in the car park off Castle Square.
One of the Park & Ride buses has a low floor access. Further information on this will be available from the stewards at the car park.
Blind and partially sighted - we have specific provisions in place and guided access to the festival and ask that you contact the office for further details.
Wheelchair hire - we do have a limited number of wheelchairs that can be hired over the weekend for a £30 deposit. These can be reserved and if you would like to do so please contact the office.
If you have special needs and require assistance, please do not hesitate to contact our office on 01584 873957, or by email, and we will be happy to do what we can to help.
Can I bring my dog?
Well-behaved dogs on a lead are allowed in the castle grounds, but NOT in any marquee or anywhere where food preparation is taking place (except guide dogs). Festival venues other than the castle each have their own policy regarding dogs, but of course food shops do not normally permit dogs to enter.
Dog Creche: there will be a dog creche inside the castle where the charge will be £1 per hour - donations to the RSPCA.
How do I get a stand in the Food and Drink Festival?
Please see this page, or contact us for more information.
FIRST AID & MEDICAL FACILITIES
There are trained personnel on site throughout the weekend and an ambulance on site to cope with any incidents that may occur. Ludlow Hospital has a minor incidents unit which does have limited opening hours so if an incident happens within the castle we urge you to use the first aid tent located adjacent to the entrance.
The castle is open to the public as follows:
Friday 7th September: 10.00 am to 5.00 pm
Saturday 8th September: 10.00 am to 6.30 pm
Sunday 9th September: 10.00 am to 5.00 pm
Last admission 30 minutes before closing time.
Events outside the castle have their own times which are shown throughout the website.
PARKING & GETTING TO THE FESTIVAL
TRAIN TRAVEL - Coming by train is the quickest and easiest way of getting to Ludlow as the station is just a ten minute walk from the Castle and you get to see the town on your meander through. Best of all you can buy your ticket into the festival actually at the station or on the train so no queues either - and you're helping the environment!! Book now at www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk.
PLEASE use the FESTIVAL PARK & RIDE service - Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Ludlow is a charming medieval town, but has limited town centre parking, which at the time of an event like the Food Festival is even more limited!
COACH PARKING: There is VERY limited coach parking in town and so when you make your group booking we will send you details of where to park the coach and also passes for the driver along with your passes to get in so please make sure you book in advance.
FESTIVAL PARK & RIDE LOCATION: please watch out for the FESTIVAL Park & Ride signs on the A49 and the A4117 as you approach Ludlow. The postcode for satnav purposes is SY8 3ET, located at HENLEY HALL.
PARK & RIDE MAP
Using the Festival's Park & Ride is quicker and easier for everyone and for your convenience we have established a FESTIVAL PARK & RIDE scheme in a convenient edge-of-town location (by kind permission of the Lumsden's, Henley Hall) close to the by-pass on the A117 Kidderminster Road, where for only £5 per car you get supervised parking AND a return journey on a frequent bus service to and from the town centre from 9am Friday, Saturday & Sunday. (Please be aware that this is a grass field so please do wear appropriate footwear.) The last bus runs up to one hour after the gate closes on the festival - 6pm Friday, 7.30pm Saturday and 6pm on Sunday. A low-floor bus is available for people with disabilities, but if you have special needs you are invited to contact us in advance and we can make any appropriate arrangements - see here.
Please be aware that at peak times of travel there may be queues to use the buses even though there will be up to 8 buses in operation. From previous knowledge these peak times are:
Friday afternoon return to the parking site from 2pm-4pm
Saturday morning going into the festival from 10am- 11.30am
Saturday afternoon from 3pm - 5pm return to the parking site
PARK & WALK!
As an alternative to the Festival Park & Ride, we also offer a PARK & WALK in conjunction with a couple of organisations within the town who raise money for their funds by using volunteers to park people and provide a much needed facility for the festival.
Shropshire Council has kindly granted use of their car park for the Saturday and Sunday and this can be found at the bottom of Corve Street at SY8 1DG. Parking will be £5 a car and all funds will be donated to the WRVS.
The Ludlow Cricket Club will be open on the three days of the Festival. This parking area at Ludlow Cricket Club has capacity for 400-500 vehicles.
Open from: 8.45 am to 8.00 pm
Location: Burway Lane, Ludlow, SY8 1DT (see map)
Cost: £5 per day up to 1 pm, £3 thereafter
There will be cricket to watch from 12noon on Saturday and 2 pm on Sunday.
Facilities: Toilet and rudimentary baby-changing facilities during car parking hours.
Ludlow Cricket Club is a non-profit organisation with all monies being ploughed back into cricket facilities, especially to benefit junior cricket in the area.
Please do not try to park in the town centre during the three days of the Festival - you will find it very difficult to locate a legal parking space and your attempts will simply add to the congestion. There is the 'town service' Park and Ride located at the Eco Park, operated by the Shropshire Council, which will be running a normal service throughout the weekend. Buses run every 30 minutes and drop off just a couple of minutes walk from the centre of the town and the castle. However, please be aware that this service is not set up to deal with festival traffic and will become congested and long queues can be expected. The Festival Park and Ride is definitely the easiest way to get to the Festival if you are coming by car.
Disabled car park spaces (for disabled badge holders) can be found in the car park off Castle Square.
Access Ludlow (South Shropshire Access Group)
Please also note that because of the numbers of visitors to the town involved, King Street, High Street and Castle Street (the main streets leading to the castle) will be closed to vehicles during most of Saturday and Sunday, for safety reasons. (Pedestrians can have the whole street to themselves.) This means it will be even more sensible to use the Festival Park and Ride!
What happens to the profits?
Ludlow Marches Food and Drink Festival is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. Any surpluses can only be used for financing the next year's festival, or for otherwise furthering the aims of the festival, which are to promote and assist independent, quality food and drink producers and suppliers in Ludlow and the Marches. Surpluses cannot be paid as dividends to the members. Most of the work of the Festival is done by volunteers. We have two permanent employees (one part time and one full time) and a small number of the workers at the Festival weekend are also paid, for particular reasons.
What about the quality of the food and drink at the Festival?
This is the most important question of all! We try hard to ensure that all food and drink supplied at, and associated with the Festival, is of the highest taste quality and of the highest standard of production. Except for products and ingredients that clearly have to be brought in from elsewhere - such as coffee, for example - almost all of it is produced by small independent producers from the Welsh Marches area. As well as taste quality which is paramount (it has to taste good, and will almost always taste better than the equivalent from industrialised, globalised large-scale production, and be better for your health), we try to ensure that products are produced with respect to the environment - this doesn't have to mean organic (though organic is good) but it does mean that sustainable production with a minimum of artificial intervention is required. We select the exhibitors at the festival, and the suppliers of take-away food, very carefully, but we cannot examine or analyse every product by every supplier. But any supplier that is found to be supplying food or drink at the festival that does not meet our standards and requirements will be asked to stop doing so - and is very unlikely to be asked to return next year.
Why not leave your purchases (not your kids) at the shopping creche (located at the entrance/exit of the festival in the castle grounds) and pick them up later!
Run by the Festival's charity for 2012 - Self Help Africa
Friday/Saturday/Sunday
- Adult £8.50
- Child £2.00
- Family £20.00 (2 adults and up to 4 children aged between 5-13 years)
2-Day Adult
- Fri/Sat £15.00
- Sat/Sun £15.00
- Fri/Sun £15.00
3-Day Adult £21.00
Friday/Sunday
- Concessions (on the gate only) £7.00
- Group Bookings £7.00 (more information here)
Tickets are available here or you can purchase them by contacting us.
Toilets + Disabled toilet facilities can be found at the car park off Castle Square, and in the Castle during the Food and Drink Festival.
Access in Ludlow (South Shropshire Access Group)
Travel to Ludlow
MAPS:
Regional approaches
Ludlow (access roads)
Ludlow street map UK
Park & Ride map
BY ROAD
The A49 trunk road from Warrington (M6) in the north, through Shrewsbury and Hereford to Ross-on-Wye in the south gives good access to Ludlow. From Birmingham, head west on the A456 through Kidderminster, or from the M5 leave at Junction 3 and join the A456 through Kidderminster. At Clows Top, the best route is to leave the A456, forking right on to the A4117, signposted Cleobury Mortimer.
For your convenience - and that of others - please use the Festival Park & Ride when you reach Ludlow. Watch out for the FESTIVAL Park and Ride signs on the A49 and the A4117 as you approach Ludlow - don't head for the town centre.
ROADS CLOSED IN TOWN CENTRE DURING THE FESTIVAL
On the Saturday and Sunday of the Festival, King Street, High Street and Castle Street (in the centre of town) will be closed to vehicles, at the request of the police, in order to make these streets a safer and more pleasant environment for the peak time of the Festival. Castle Street car park will not be available; therefore it is even more essential to use the Festival Park & Ride.
BY RAIL
There is a fast and frequent train service to Ludlow, which is on the Manchester-Crewe-Cardiff line. From London Paddington and SW England there are good connections at Newport (South Wales) or Hereford; at Crewe, Manchester or Shrewsbury there are connections to the north of England, North Wales, the Midlands and Scotland. There are also direct through trains to Ludlow from Chester, Holyhead, and north Wales, and from south and west Wales. On all Arriva Train services you will also be able to purchase rail and festival entrance tickets in the station and on the train thus saving time once you reach the castle.
For detailed timings and fares and online bookings visit Arriva Trains Wales website. For telephone enquiries and bookings phone Ludlow Station Travel on 01584 877090 or National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 (or Welsh language 0845 60 40 500).
BY BUS
There are services to Ludlow from Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Kidderminster and Hereford, as well as from many smaller places in the immediate area. Telephone Traveline on 0870 608 2608 for information about times, routes, etc, or visit the Transport Direct website to plan your bus and coach journey.
BY AIR
The nearest airport is Birmingham, approx 90 mins by car or by trains from Birmingham International station (via Shrewsbury), which is adjacent to the airport. Manchester, Liverpool, and Cardiff airports are also convenient, with good road and rail links.
Do we cater for vegetarians?
There is a wide range of vegetable products and vegetarian food for you to sample.
For more information about access in Ludlow generally, please contact the Visitor Information Centre on 01584 875053.
Talks and Demos
There are two talks and demonstration stages within the festival and they are both free to attend.
What′s On - Friday
A full day of entertaining demonstrations by a selection of the country's finest chefs, together with 'our' exhibitors and other events…
What′s On - Saturday
Saturday is our busiest day with the infamous sausage and ale trails taking place on top of everything else!
What′s On - Sunday
Another 40+ local food and drink exhibitors can be found on the market square located just outside the castle for Sunday only!
Taste Workshops
Taste Workshops are led by expert producers or chefs who will guide you through a tutored tasting of selected food and drink. Booking is essential!
Exhibitors
The Exhibitors at the festival are integral to the success of the event and are ALL based within Ludlow and the Marches
Ludlow - The Food Town
There's more to Ludlow than posh nosh. Named 'England's Finest Market Town' by Country Life Magazine some years ago...
Get Involved
The festival simply could not happen without its band of merry men & women so come and be part of this fantastic team!
2012 Programme
The 2012 programme is now available to plan your festival visit. Whether you are joining us for one day or the entire weekend you'll need to download this to plan your trip so you dont miss anything!