THERE was plenty of heat in the kitchen as top Dorset chefs showed off the county’s finest produce at a festival in Poundbury .

The first ever Dorset Festival in Queen Mother Square saw a feast of entertainment and a host of stalls on offer on Saturday and Sunday.

Organisers said the turnout of an estimated 10,000 people across the weekend exceeded their expectations and put the square ‘on the map’.

Chefs cooking up a storm over the two days included Matt Follas from The Wild Garlic in Beaminster, Tim Attrill from the Hive Beach Cafe at Burton Bradstock and Mark Hammick from The Gaggle of Geese at Buckland Newton.

A free concert on Saturday evening saw performances from Harpin’ On, New Scorpion Band and Misbehavin’.

There were more than 80 stalls, with Dorset Farmers’ Markets offering local produce and art and crafts from the Anonymous Travelling Market.

Chairman of the festival committee Simon Conibear, who is also Poundbury ’s development director for the Duchy of Cornwall, said: “We think it went brilliantly, we had very good music and a huge attendance that was more than we thought we were going to get.

“The Famers’ Market went very well and everybody seemed very happy.”

Festival goers were able to enjoy all the British Olympic success over the weekend – thanks to a big screen showing the major events.

Money was also raised for a local charity through a prize draw in aid of the Weldmar Hospicecare Trust.

The prizes on offer included a six course dinner for eight people prepared by leading Dorset chefs and two tickets to Highgrove Gardens.

Mr Conibear said after the success of the first event there were already calls to make it an annual festival and use the location for other events.

He said: “We have been asked if we will do it as a regular thing and there is a suggestion we should do it annually and maybe even put on a Christmas fair.”

Matt Smith from the Weldmar Hospicecare Trust, which also had collection buckets at the event, said: “As a charity we really appreciate the committee choosing Weldmar to raise money for.”

He added that the charity would continue to be selling tickets for the prize draw until September 7.