Pictures: Dorset Seafood Festival returns to Weymouth

The annual Dorset Seafood Festival took place at the weekend in Weymouth, taking over the car park at the Peninsula.

Featuring a large number of seafood stalls and cooking demonstrations as well as live music, the event is a beloved feature of the town's calendar.

Cooking demonstration (Image: Cristiano Magaglio)

Saturday evening saw a significant amount of rain which saw the day end two hours early.

Despite the rain, many still enjoyed what the festival had to offer.

Sunday was overcast but there were spells of sunshine later. 

Suzy Cooper and her friends from Guildford were looking forward to trying the fish cakes. Suzy said: "It is really nice so far. We are going to go back and try the fish cakes and seaweed samosas."

Suzy Cooper and friends (Image: Cristiano Magaglio)

Some even travelled from as far as London to attend the festival.

Sarah Williams said: "We came down for a week for this festival. Saturday with the weather I felt so sorry for everyone after we went back to the hotel to dry off.

"We have come back today to try a few more things before we head back home."

Sarah Williams (Image: Cristiano Magaglio)

Carol Treadwell, also from London, said: "We love it, we came down for the entire weekend this year rather than just one day.

"We love the stalls and the drinks. We all went home like drowned rats on Saturday, but we still loved it, we stayed until the end."

There was also live music throughout the day (Image: Cristiano Magaglio)

Hilary Mardell from Marlborough, Wiltshire, said; "I have always had a good time here, and everybody is friendly.

"I just think it's a good festival, everybody seems to be having a good time."

Hilary Mardell enjoying a snack (Image: Cristiano Magaglio)

Gareth Burton from the Nook - which provided a bar at the event - said: "If you like piña coladas and dancing in the rain then that was the theme of Saturday."

Gareth Burton (Image: Cristiano Magaglio)

Festival Director Sophie Kermani said: "We opened on Saturday to queues in the morning. We knew there would be showers but at about 1pm it got a bit biblical.

"We were supposed to stay open until 8pm, but it was just impossible so we closed early at 6pm.

"I spoke to all the traders and despite the rain, everybody did really well. Things have been busy despite the rain."

Sophie Kermani (Image: Cristiano Magaglio)

The festival was briefly cancelled in January this year but was swiftly brought back at the end of the month.

Sophie added; "Once we saw how many people were despondent (about the cancellation) we wanted to do what we could to keep it going, joining up with the owners of Weyfish.

"Thank you to all the stall holders, sponsors and wonderful visitors, who are just British people who know how to party in the rain. We are really grateful."

The entrance to the festival (Image: Cristiano Magaglio)

The event is one of the biggest fundraisers for the Fishermen's Mission charity, which raises money to support those working in the UK's fishing industry.

Over the years it has raised more than £90k for the charity, and organisers are hoping to break £100k this year.

(Image: Cristiano Magaglio)