THE central heating may be on again but autumn doesn't begin until September 23, when the hours of darkness begin to encroach on the days. Harvest festivals are traditionally held around the harvest moon, which happens this Saturday. It's a time to appreciate, to feast and to preserve food for the colder months ahead.
Harvest Food Festival
Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway
Master Chef Professionals champion Gary MacLean hosts a demonstration today at the Harvest Food Festival in Castle Douglas, so far the only food town in Scotland, a designation given to mark its more than 50 local food and drinks producers. Many will have stalls at the festival, which also hosts workshops from the likes of artisan chocolatiers In-House Chocolates and a showcase of seasonal produce from local growers and gardeners.
Today, Douglas Arms Hotel, Castle Douglas, 11am to 4pm, £5 food festival only, £10 food and drink festival. Tickets from www.ticketsource.co.uk
Oyster Festival
Stranraer, West Galloway
Moving the ferry terminal for Belfast to nearby Cairnryan in 2011 presented economic challenges for Stranraer, with the town's community-led oyster festival being one passionate and successful response, with last year's festival generating around £1 million for the local economy.
Now in its third year, the weekend festival celebrates the area's local produce and coastal heritage, as well as the famous oysters from Loch Ryan, where oyster fishing dates back for over 300 years. Highlights include demos by top chefs Tony Singh, David Alexander and Nick Morris and an oyster-eating competition.
September 13 to 15, venues in Stranraer, various times, £5 weekend, £3 day, under-12s free. www.stranraeroysterfestival.com
Scottish Wild Food Festival
Cardross Estate, Stirlingshire
The new one-day festival focuses on learning the skills to make delicious meals from responsibly and safely-sourced wild plants and fungi. The line-up includes forager Rokhsaneh Madeira on the hunt for Scottish superfoods, jamming expert Kate Thornhill and wild cocktail-making with Marysia Paszkowska of boutique hotel Monachyle Mhorwill.
September 14, Cardross Estate, Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, 10am to 6pm, £8.50 adult, children free. www.citizenticket.co.uk
Floors Castle Food Festival
Kelso, Roxburghshire
Christopher Lambert and Andie MacDowell were once depicted cavorting around this country house, which featured in 1984 adventure film Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes. 35 years later, its the setting for a two-day food festival featuring local food producers and a schedule of chef demos including Christian Edwardson from Provender Melrose, Great British Bake Off contestant Antony Amourdoux and Chris Weston, head chef at Floors Castle.
September 14 and 15, Floors Castle, Roxburghshire, 10am to 5pm, £8.10 day, £12 weekend, concs available. www.greatbritishfoodfestival.com
Newmilns Food Festival
East Ayrshire
Gary MacLean is also among the chefs appearing at the Newmilns Food Festival giving demonstrations and expert food tips. Now in its third year, the festival will feature up to 80 food and drink producer stalls, outdoor food vendors and activities for children. There's a free shuttle bus to and from the festival from Galston Cross, Loudoun Academy, Newmilns Cross and Darvel Cross.
September 21, Jamieson Park, Newmilns, 11am to 5pm, £3 adult, children free. www.newmilnsfestivalweekend.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here