AS well as the various headline acts, this year’s Bolton Food and Drink Festival has welcomed a raft of well-known regional chefs who have shown off their skills over the weekend.

This has included former Corrie star and cheese specialist Sean Wilson, former Masterchef winner Simon Wood and Radcliffe-born head chef Robert Owen Brown.

Another festival regular to return for this year’s event was Andrew Nutter, who opened his Rochdale restaurant ‘Nutters’ when he was just 21.

He was delighted to be performing again and agreed that the 11th food festival has been the busiest and best yet.

He said: “I think it is even better than last year.

“It’s great to see the sheer joy and excitement from the stall holders being proud of the produce they sell and engaging with the customer.

“So many times when you go to other festivals the people behind the stalls don’t really care but here it is all about the buzz of them engaging with the customers and the excitement of it all and it means that the customers will actually buy the products, it’s a no brainer.”

He added: “The enthusiasm and energy from the audience with the demonstrations has been excellent and it means that it is one of the highlights of my cooking year.

“It’s my sixth year and a great buzz with all the other chefs. I always get the bank holiday slot and it’s great meeting everyone and seeing people coming back to get new recipes and dishes and just interacting with the crowd.”