Last year we went as a family to The Foodies Festival when it was held at Battersea Park. We had an absolutely brilliant day and I was very keen to go along again this year. They hold lots of festivals across the country in the summer and have three in London this year; there was one at Hampton Court palace a few weeks ago, the one this weekend at Clapham Common and a new addition has just been announced for a return to Battersea Park in August!

I love food but I wouldn’t call myself a particular foodie, I’m not a wonderful cook although I enjoy it and I don’t know very much about it but I still had a wonderful day out with the family last year. Florence danced to music and we ate lots of yummy food, trying things we’d not experienced before and being introduced to new drinks too. I was very much looking forward to Clapham Common – I was provided with a couple of tickets for the purpose of review and I persuaded a gang of my Mummy friends into coming with me too! I told them that we’d had a real giggle last year and there was loads for the children to do so we had a big girlie and little’n’s day out together!

We were lucky enough to have VIP tickets which means access to the VIP tent, a meal from one of the food stands, a glass of champagne and a goodie bag to take home at the end of it. Last year I remember we’d had two meals as part of the ticket so I am presuming that instead of putting ticket prices up the festival decided to cut down on meals instead. On the one hand I can totally understand this but on the other I do have to say £48 is quite a lot of money… Still, it was absolutely lovely to enjoy some oysters and champagne and sit in a luxurious tent with celebrity chefs as our neighbours and for a treat why not? We used our vouchers and chose some delicious lunches before we did anything else, well, when in Rome!

After we’d eaten (the first of many things we ate), we queued up to register for the demonstrations for BBQ, chocolate, drinks and other things in the various theatre tents. There is also a children’s theatre tent with hands on food work shops for them to attend. We signed the little ones up for a fruit decorating class and in another area, for a small donation to charity, we signed them up for bread making! The girls were having a fabulous time being friends in the sunshine, laughing and enjoying both the food tasting and the hands on workshops!

Nothing felt rushed and even though it was mega busy, the festival had a really chilled out and family friendly vibe. Yet again this year Florence got well and truly into the festival spirit and bare foot danced her way through the whole day. With her little friends this year, I’m sure she had even more fun!

We wandered in amongst the food stalls hearing about new foods and old, new ways of producing and taking advantage of specially priced show offers! All our men folk were bought speciality cheeses (must be our ages) from the Cheshire Cheese Company who had some delicious flavours like the super hot El Gringo, Chilli, Lime and Tequila Cheddar! It blew my mouth off but was so smooth and creamy! We enjoyed tasting and drinking our way around the festival. We found a great stall selling bottles of delicious bubbly for just £7 – well it would have been rude not to! I tried some delicious foods like truffle paste which I’d certainly heard of but never had the opportunity to try before and naturally with my expensive tastes I loved it!

I also discovered Kitchen Nomad which sounds amazing! Each month they select a different country of the world, carefully source authentic products and typical recipes of that country, pack it all up in a beautiful box and deliver it right to your door. Each box will contain 7-9 speciality products, 5 authentic recipes from chefs and Interesting information about the culinary habits and customs of the country in focus. All you have to do next is cook! I think it’d make a pretty interesting blog post so I might just do it!

We all loved sampling the food and Florence got really into trying all the little bits and pieces!

At the end of the day, dancing to the bands done and filled up to the max with delicious treats and it was time to pick up our goodie bags and go home. I have to say that this year the goodie bags weren’t a patch on those that we got last year at Battersea Park and I did feel for those that had parted with the best part of fifty quid and went back to question them. The woman agreed they weren’t very good and brought us some more but actually, they were exactly the same. It was a bit of a shame as the goodie bags last year had such fab treats in them and we became fans of lots of the products.

All in all the festival is an absolutely great day out and with children it’s super good fun! The regular priced tickets are just £15 which is a bargain as the day is filled to the brim – children go FREE! We might even have to go back to Battersea Park in August, it’s the same weekend as the Lollibop Festival so we might just make it a festival weekend at home in London!

I was not paid to write this post but I was provided VIP tickets to attend for the purpose of review.