A QUIRKY event celebrating an aspect of Dorset’s culinary culture is to return to the area where it was first created.

The Dorset Knob Festival and Knob Throwing games is set to return this summer following a five-year hiatus.

It was last held in 2019 at Kingston Maurward near Dorchester but this year is to return close to its original home of Cattistock.

The 2024 Dorset Knob Festival will be held in Chilfrome, just quarter of a mile away from Cattistock.

The festival will be part of the Cattistock Countryside Show, held on Sunday, July 14 in Chilfrome, nine miles west of Dorchester.

Proceeds from the festival will go to support the village of Cattistock and surrounding rural areas as part of the organizer’s rural community mission.

First beginning in 2008, the festival pays homage to the traditional Dorset savoury knob biscuit, which had been made by the Moores family for more than 150 years.

The competition sees participants hurl a Dorset knob biscuit as far as they can to win prizes.

A range of knob-themed events are set to take place at the show including knob throwing, knob painting, a knob and spoon race, guess the weight of the big knob, and knob darts and pinning the knob on the Cerne Abbas Giant.

Dorset Echo:

Knob eating competitions are absent from the line-up this year. Organisers said that arguably, 'competitive eating competitions just aren’t done these days.'   

The event was cancelled in 2022 when organisers said the sheer number of people that attended back in 2019 - more than 8,000 - meant the occasion could no longer be run by a village committee.

The event didn't go ahead in 2018 due to problems with the supply of 'knobs' while in 2021 organisers opted to cancel the event for a second year amid Covid uncertainty.

The Cattistock Countryside Show has been running for 62 years consecutively boasting events for horses, ponies and dogs.  

A spokesperson for the event said: “The Dorset Knob Throwing Committee is delighted to be joining the Cattistock Countryside Show which has been held do successfully at Chilfrome for many years.

“The first Dorset knob throwing took place behind the pub in Cattistock.  Good fun was the verdict, and so we decided to do it again the next year.  So, it happened again with a bit of grub thrown in.

The spokesperson went on to explain the reasons behind the lack of knob throwing festivals. 

They said: “Various factors precluded a KnobFest in 2018 but Dorset knob throwing was back for a hugely successful event again at Kingston Maurward in 2018.   

"Then, sadly, while planning the 2020 event, Kingston Maurward decided that knob throwing no longer met its profitability and resourcing criteria and it was unable to support the planned return. 

"Unfortunately, this notice was not given quite soon enough and it was too late to find another venue for 2020.   Then came Covid.  Now, post-Covid, Knob Throwing is back. 

“The overriding aim is for visitors to have a really good day out and enjoy the Knob games and all that the Countryside Show has to offer."

To find out more go to dorsetknobthrowing.com or email Press@DorsetKnobThrowing.com. 

To learn more about The Cattistock Countryside Show go to www.cattistockshow.co.uk.