Thousands of visitors flocked to Heaton Park in the glorious sunshine this weekend to enjoy Manchester Eats Festival. This was the first time that Manchester has held the popular food festival, which until now has been held annually in Liverpool.

The festival was headlined by top celebrity chefs Marco Pierre White on the Saturday and Matt Tebbutt on the Sunday. Alongside them were a host of other well-known chefs including Adam Reid (The French, Midland Hotel), Ed Baines (Randall & Aubin) and Mary-Ellen McTague.

I was lucky enough to sit through Marco and Matt’s Q&A’s and cooking demo’s. As a food blogger it was a great oppourtunity to see two of my favourite chefs in action and to get an insight into their careers and what motivated them to become chefs.

Matt Tebbut is someone we love in my house and Amber is growing up watching Saturday Kitchen, so she was so excited to meet Matt and sit through his demo. He was hilarious and gave us all the opportunity to ask him questions on food and his TV shows. Definitely the highlight of the weekend.

The festival also included stalls from various artisian food and drink brands, including local guys Grandad’s Sausages and Red’s True Barbecue . Amber had the kids hot dog meal from Grandad’s Sausages on both days as they were that good!

Our other favourite brands included Scottish sponsors Innis And Gunn and Albury gin company Silent Pool . Gin is my favourite alcoholic drink and Silent Pool is easy one of the best gins I have tasted. I am looking forward to ordering a bottle very soon.

There was plenty of desserts and sweet treats on offer for those with sweet treats, including dutch pancakes, ice-creams and candy stalls.

There was also a range of free workshops aimed at adults and kids and a kids area to keep the little ones occupied.

Football lovers were well catered to with a host of the pop-up bars screening the England v Sweden game which only added to the atmosphere.

I am already excited for next year!

Did you go to the festival?

*We were invited to the event by Manchester Eats*