READY Steady Cook's Lesley Waters got the sixth annual Christchurch Food and Wine Festival off to a flying start on Saturday.

From the balcony of the Mayor's Parlour the elfin TV chef called out the words: "Ready, Steady, Go" and, down among the crowds in the High Street, a barrage of balloons was released to officially launch the week of gourmet gastronomy.

Heralded by town crier Keith Jackman, mayor Cllr Sue Spittle welcomed the crowds who had piled into town to enjoy the two-day International Food Market that filled the High Street and Saxon Square.

Cllr Spittle said: "The Food Festival is now a well-established community event for Christchurch and is a showcase for everything which is good about our town: our food, our excellent restaurants and other food establishments, as well as our community spirit.

"I would like to thank the Festival's sponsors today and in particular the Daily Echo and Dorset Society magazine because without their generosity and support the festival would not be able to take place."

"There are 110 events in the borough during the week and the Inter-national Food Market features more than 100 stalls," she said. "I am delighted to see Round Table representatives from Aalen, our German twin town, back in Christchurch again and I am looking forward to sampling some of their famous beer."

The market, which opened an hour earlier, was a feast not only for the palate, but also for the eye.

Olfactory organs too were brought into full play as the mouth-watering aromas of frying onions, sausages and burgers mingled with the sharp tang of garlic and the pungency of some of the riper cheeses on sale.

There were pizzas aplenty and luscious pink prawns sizzled in garlic and served up with chilli sauce in pitta bread.

Bournemouth and Poole College was running an oyster bar and long queues built up for hot dogs starring French sausages, and for the hot hog roast baps from Pritchett butchers of Salisbury in the other corner of Saxon Square.

For the thirsty there were beers from the Oakleaf Brewery, including a "real lager" served direct from the barrel going by the name of I Can't Believe It's Not Bitter!

Round Tablers from Aalen and Christchurch dispensed more alcoholic beverages, as did Somerset cider-maker Nigel Stewart of Bridge Farm, East Chinnock.

Anyone feeling jaded after a surfeit could get thoroughly perked up with Nigel Green. His Dorset Coffee Company currently sells 135 different brews.

Simon Speight and partner Samantha Clarke produce preservative-free pasta, sauces and ice cream at home in Melbury Bubb near Dorchester. Like Nigel, he was enjoying selling in Christchurch.

Free-range butchers Neal and Son from Tuckton Road, Southbourne, showed how inventive a sausage could be with recipes including wild boar and cider, pork and Ringwood Ale and chicken and lemon grass.

Maxine Smiles from Purbeck-based Fish Feasts had an ear-to-ear grin as people queued for her fishcakes and quiches.

The asparagus season is in full swing and Claire Jeffery of Bransgore was busy selling crisp bunches of it from Dan Tanner's farm at Sopley.

Ed Neville was at the Broke Wood Farm griddle serving up tasty burgers and sausages, all from naturally-reared Devon-cross cattle.

Eve and Jo Puttick run Apple Catering Cakes from their thatched home in Lytchett Matravers. People were lining up to buy their best seller, the squidgy apple cake and Jo's specialities: chocolate biscuit cake, pork beef and apple roll and ploughman's platt.

Ray Waters of new Forest Jam and Chutney said. "It's a busy day, business is good. I always say if you've got the best in the market you'll sell it!"

And everyone seemed to be doing just that.

First published: May 9