A great day out in September: Whatever your tastes, there should be something for everyone at the Hastings seafood and wine festival, centered around Hastings’ historic fishing beach The Stade.
The fun takes place in the brilliantly evocative Old Town, which is the hub of the region’s fishing and cultural quarter
Seafood sophisticates and wine connoisseurs take note. The date to put in your diary for 2012 is the weekend of 15 & 16 September 2012.
The Hastings Seafood and Wine Festival, now in its 7th year, is a celebration of Hastings’ sustainable fishery, its vineyards and excellent local food producers.
Attracting more than 40,000 food lovers to taste succulent dishes from over 30 food stalls – where local chefs conjure up a colourful array of flavours – the festival runs from 11am on the Saturday to 7pm on the Sunday.
Festivities take place in the atmospheric Old Town in the heart of the picturesque fishing and cultural quarter known as The Stade* with its historic Net Shops, and which is home to Europe’s largest beach-launched fishing fleet**. The festival’s now permanent home on the Stade Open Space also boasts the newly opened Jerwood Gallery, a prestigious collection of 20th & 21st century British art.
Wander through the tents and marquees trying locally landed fish and wine from the award-winning vineyards around Hastings. Sussex and Kent are the two top wine producing areas in the country and here you’ll find some of the best in the area.
Enjoy a Jazz Breakfast with a relaxed coffee and a croissant on the Sunday morning, musical entertainment from the cream of the local music scene throughout the day and walks and talks on the 1,000 year history of the Hastings’ fishing fleet – with local fishermen doing net-making demonstrations. There really is something for everyone at this festival, which has fast become an established and eagerly anticipated event in the Hastings’ calendar.
Among some of the other foodie delights of Hastings, Craig Sams and Jo Fairley (Green & Black founders) are at Judges Bakery, smoked fish can be bought from Rock-a-nore Fisheries and the legendary Maggie’s fish and chips is found on the beach.