Businesses, producers and organisations who want to take part in the 2025 Vale Food Trail are being urged to submit an application by the deadline.
The event – set to run from May 25 to June 3 – is a multi-location food festival which aims to offer ‘an exploration and celebration of food, farming and sustainability' in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Last year, more than 35 local businesses offered a varied programme of events designed to bring people closer to food producers and businesses in the local area. More than 1,000 visitors and locals travelled around the region, independently visiting producers, restaurants and other businesses for events which included farm tours, cookery workshops, tasting events, special exhibitions, live demos and more.
Festival organisers are now inviting applications from businesses, producers and organisations who might like to host an event as part of the festival.
Participation is free, and those who take part will benefit from increased visibility through the festival marketing, and a chance to reach new customers from within the Vale and beyond.
Louise Denham is the Sustainable Food Places co-ordinator at Food Vale, and one of the festival coordinators.
She said:
“We are thrilled to be bringing the Vale Food Trail back for a third time, building on the last two years of success to make the festival even bigger and better in 2025. We are looking forward to seeing what local businesses come up with – from bread making, and pickling workshops; farm tours and PYO activities; special menus featuring local, seasonal ingredients; tastings and tours of local vineyards/orchards; beekeeping and animal husbandry demos – or anything else related to sustainable food – we want to hear about it.”
Mill Dessent from Coed Organic will be taking place in the Vale Food Trail for the first time this year.
She said:
“We are an organic market garden near Cowbridge, cultivating the soil and producing vegetables in a nature and climate-friendly way; we don’t use any chemical fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides on our farm – we only use 100% natural methods to grow our produce. We are very excited to open our farm gate for a tour to the public as part of the 2025 Vale Food Trail, to talk about what we grow, our growing methods and the role of organic horticultural production in sustainable local food systems.”
Further details about how to apply to run an event as part of the 2025 Vale Food Trail are available at www.valefoodtrail.com.
The deadline for applications is 21st March 2025.
The 2025 Vale Food Trail is being organised by partners from Food Vale, the Vale of Glamorgan's Sustainable Food Partnership; Visit the Vale; Vale of Glamorgan Council; as well as Mentera’s business support programme Cywain.
