Bella Scarr is excited, and terrified in equal measure. This year she took over the reins of one of the UK’s most highly-regarded foodie events – the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival – from Jess Brown, who put a decade of love into the celebration of Suffolk produce.

They are, Bella admits, big shoes to fill, but it’s clear, as festival manager, she’s taken the bull by the horns and got stuck in to not only bring back all the favourite elements of the event, but also to put her own stamp on it.

She says there are loads of new things for visitors to the festival (September 24 and 25) to enjoy, and that it’s the biggest event the site (at Snape Maltings) has hosted yet.

Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival comes, post-pandemic, at a time when consumers have struggled with the cost of living crisis, which Bella admits, she thought would be a concern for this year’s event. “But we were actually oversubscribed for traders months ago,” she shares.

“We are completely full. It’s more traders than we have ever had – 128 of them. That is so positive, and shows there are still businesses trying to thrive, and that are thriving. There’s also a huge culture of wanting to be local, support local and promote local.

“I think we’re an attractive event as well because we only allow traders from Suffolk or just peeking into the bordering counties.”

Bella says it’s been fantastic to get to know everyone, and that in preparation for the festival she held focus groups with producers earlier this year, to help plan the best one yet.

“Everyone’s been so friendly. Really great. I’m keen to just make it run as smoothly as possible. Following in Jess’s footsteps isn’t easy because she’s a legend. But so far it’s been really positive.”

The only challenge has been securing sponsorship and donations, which are vital to hosting what is a not-for-profit community event.

“I’ve been really grateful to everyone who’s helped this year. Our main sponsor is Adnams, and our ‘silver sponsors’ are the CSF Group. Denbury Homes, Birketts, Tiptree, the East of England Co-op, Fishers and The Suffolk.”

So, what’s new this year?

“There’s so much. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. But I did want to keep the festival fresh, so have moved things around a little bit. For example, the street food area will be on one of the lawns and have much more of a festival vibe with loads of decorations, a vintage bus with a DJ playing music, and more street food vendors than we’ve had before.”

Mike Warner brings a brand-new seafood stage for 2022.

“That’s a completely new venture,” Bella says proudly. “Seafood is something we’ve not done much with over previous years, and we wanted to shout about all the people in the industry on the east coast.

“Something else new is an area called The Larder. Within The Larder we have loads of things you can literally fill your larder with, direct from the farms. Organic veg. Organic fruit. Fresh meat. Fresh fish. And we’ve got the Woodbridge Kitchen Company there selling stand mixers and other gadgets. We wanted to make sure you could come to the festival and eat, and try lots of products, but also buy the ingredients to go home and cook.

“Within that area we’ve got a refrigerated bag drop running over the weekend, so if you want to buy 20kg of carrots, we can hold them for you...and get them to your car,” Bella laughs.

Other things to look out for include the family area, with ride-on machinery, music workshops, cookery classes, biscuit decorating, face painting and an arts and craft corner, the Adnams experience, the start-up area, tradestands, and musical performers dotted here there and everywhere across the riverside site. The majority of festival workshops have sold out.

“I’m pleased with the line-up on the East of England Community Kitchen stage too. We’ve always had demonstrations from chefs around the country, but what we’ve done this year is, in between each of the live demos we’ll have a producer talking informally for about 15 minutes, explaining what they do, who they are and handing out samples. One thing traders always find difficult is their stalls get so busy they don’t have time to talk properly to festival-goers. So this is their time.”

For the first time, tickets (in the form of wristbands) are cheaper to buy in advance online, although they will be available at the gates on both days. It’s £10 for over 16s (£12 on the day) and parking is free.

“I’m looking forward to it so much,” says Bella. “I feel like it’s going to have a real buzz about it with plenty for people to do for the whole day. I can’t wait to get feedback from people and being able to make next year even better.”

Go to aldeburghfoodanddrink.co.uk

Producers to look out for

A Passion for Seafood – Championing local and British seafood. The stage will be selling cod cheek kebabs.

B Chocolate – Stunning salted honey caramels and seasonal truffles.

Brownie and the Bean – Try Luke’s secret family recipe brownies – and enjoy banter with wife and saleswoman extraordinaire Charlotte.

Fishers – Gin distilled with botanicals gathered from local shorelines and marshland. Perfect over ice with a sprig of samphire and slice of fresh orange.

LA Brewery – Fruity, complex kombucha in flavours like tropical ginger and strawberry and black pepper.

Sunday Charcuterie – Excellent whole cut cured meats and salamis made with pork sourced from small, higher welfare farms.

Hodmedod’s - Grains and beans are at the heart of a healthy, fibre-filled, gut-friendly diet. Sample a raft of locally-grown options from these growers.

The Wild Meat Co – Venison is one of the most environmentally-friendly meats you can eat – buy some to take home from these wild meat experts. They could even have a lovely bit of squirrel for sale?

Stokes Sauces – Phenomenal sauces that put the high street branded stuff to shame. Their rich, deeply flavoured ketchup is the best place to start if you’re sampling the range.

Street food traders at the festival

Bagel or Beigel, Baytree Pizza, Burger Jam, Coriander Kitchen, Doodle Donut, Les Churros Amigos, Parkers Hog Road, Peck, Pinch, Pinneys of Orford, Smokebox, The Fish Hut, The Flying Chef, The Horse Box, Tikka Tonic, The Parlour, Waveney Valley Smokehouse, Roasted Caramelised Almonds, Tuk-In, Wright’s

On the A Passion for Seafood stage

Cyrus and Pervin Todiwala

CJ Jackson

Miranda Gore Brown

Nicola Hordern

David Grimwood

Dave Wall

Lily Benbow

In the East of England Co-op Community Kitchen

Emma Crowhurst

Sam Bilton

Chetna Makan

Dominique Woolf

Richard Bainbridge

Georgina Hayden

Becky Excell

Jo Pratt

Thomasina Miers

The ones to watch

One of the highlights of Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival is the Start-Up zone, where newcomers to the industry convene to showcase their wares, get their name out, and chat to the public about what they’re up to.

The area has been a successful launchpad for multiple food and drink businesses, which have gone on to feature in the main trade stand space.

This year, look out for:

Artefact Brewing – stunning, small batch craft beers including the Dark Mild (sweet coffee, chocolate and treacle notes), and the delightful, light and floral Jasmine Blonde.

Bubble Bus – a bright pink mobile cocktail bar selling cocktails on tap, mocktails and prosecco.

Eco Pebble – environmentally-friendly kitchen accessories (including bamboo chopping boards), premium spices, and more.

Grab a Burger – tasty, homemade burgers with the ‘X factor’.

Jem’s Bees – a smallscale beekeeper selling honey, beeswax and even natural surf wax.

Suffolk Fried Chicken – crispy, buttermilk fried chicken

The Suffolk – the new Aldeburgh hotel’s restaurant Sur-Mer will show-off its food offering.

Vinca – organic wines in a can.

Youdrink – a real ale shop specialising in East Anglian beers.

Wood Row Chocolate – decadent chocolates, hand-crafted by chef Simon (formerly of The Leaping Hare).