Bake Off stars set to appear at Ludlow Food Festival

Luis Troyano, who appeared on the BBC show last year, and Howard Middleton from the fourth series of the programme, are part of the line-up at the festival, which will be held in the grounds of Ludlow Castle from September 11 to 13.

Both will give demonstrations on the festival's cooking stage before signing copies of their books.

Middleton, will talk about his new book Gluten Free Baking, will appear on the Friday afternoon while Troyano will give a demonstration on the Saturday morning.

Organisers have also revealed that Shaun Hill, who ran the Michelin-starred Merchant House in Ludlow until 2005, will return to the town he helped put on the culinary map.

Mr Hill, who now runs the Walnut Tree restaurant near Abergavenny, has been named as an inspiration by top chefs such as Tom Kerridge, who appeared at last weekend's Shrewsbury Flower Show.

In total there will be 33 talks and cookery demonstrations over the course of the festival, while more than 180 producers will show off their wares.

There will also be annual locally-made sausage, ale and bread trails taking place around Ludlow along with the pudding tasting and a Sunday produce market. For children there will be KidzKitchen cookery classes sponsored by Lanyon Bowdler and interactive Grow Cook Learn workshops making soup and choosing breads from around the world to accompany it. Marcus Bean's Brompton Cookery School will again be running pop-up cookery classes, and "taste workshops" will be run by Slow Food Ludlow Marches, along with other cookery masterclasses,

The festival will kick off with Parkinsons' UK Secret Supper on the evening of September 10, which will be a charity night sampling three restaurants in one evening around the town.

For more information visit www.foodfestival.co.uk or call (01584) 873957.