'Brilliant' Ludlow Spring Festival's return put spring in step of Shropshire's food and drink producers

Ludlow Spring Festival returned for the 16th year last Friday to Sunday (May 9 - 11) within the walls of Ludlow Castle’s medieval ruins. The event attracted thousands of locals, as well as visitors from further afield - Barnsley, Liverpool, Manchester, Southampton, London.

The festival kicked off on Friday night with the popular Festival Pub in the Outer Bailey, with 150 beers from independent breweries, live music, and street food vendors. 

Saturday and Sunday boasted a bumper programme of fun for all the family, with the addition of classic cars and vintage vehicles, dozens of exhibitors, circus skills workshops, pottery demonstrations, ‘talks and tastings’ with food and drink producers and more.

Acting chair of Ludlow Marches Food and Drink Colin Lloyd said: “It’s been a brilliant weekend, of course the weather helps immensely, and we have been extremely lucky to have a warm dry weekend. 

“The spring festival is a very different offering to our main event, Ludlow Food & Drink Festival in September, which was founded 30 years ago. The Spring Festival features food and drink, showcasing producers and vendors from the Welsh-Marches region, but it incorporates the highly popular beer festival, live music throughout the festival, and Marches Transport Festival.

"We were delighted to be working with the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates’ Indie Beer Campaign this year to bring a diverse range of beers from independent regional breweries. 

“Important to note is that the festival is a not-for-profit event, and could not run without the dozens of volunteers stewarding and serving beers; we are extremely grateful to them for giving their time and working so hard to make the festival such an enjoyable experience for visitors.”

Mark and Christine Senior, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, who were enjoying a Citra Mosaic on Saturday lunchtime, said: “We’ve been to the spring festival for a few years. It’s always nice weather, and we love the beers, the atmosphere, the castle setting, the entertainment and food. There’s lots going on, so we feel it’s great value for money. 

“We bring our motorhome and extend the weekend to a few more days travelling. We fell in love with Ludlow while we were here, and have been back since just to enjoy the town, which has lots of lovely pubs, and surrounding countryside.” 

Tim Wilkins, head brewer and director at Bewdley Brewery, said he was thrilled to win the Peoples’ Pint award at the festival in the Keg Category for Severn Storm. He said: “It’s been brilliant. There has been a really good selection of beers which have been really popular. We had more pale ales, keg beers and lagers this year, around ten different lagers. The majority have wanted lagers or pale hoppy keg and cask styles, which isn’t surprising in the warm weather.”

Shoppers thronged to the Inner Bailey, which provided welcome shade for around 30 diverse artisan food and drink producers, offering fine gourmet delights from cheese to craft spirits. First-time exhibitor Glenn Lloyd from Trefaldwyn Cheese and Daisy Bank Dairy said the event had been “fantastic overall”. 

Trefaldwyn Cheese has garnered prestigious accolades, including the title of Best Welsh Cheese in the World Cheese Awards. A third-generation organic dairy farmer, Glenn said: “We have been really pleased with the footfall, and the opportunity for new customers to sample our products. It’s our first time trading, and we have been impressed with how friendly the other traders are.”

Hannah Boon and Josh Watkins are the couple behind Distinct Distillers, based in an old Second World War fuel depot in Much Wenlock. They created limited D-Day themed cocktails which proved very popular to quench the thirst of festival-goers. They were making donations to a veterans’ charity from every purchase of their D-Day themed cocktails and bottles of VE Day London Dry Gin and 1944 D-Day British Dark Rum.

The Slow Food Ludlow Marches group curated a successful programme of speakers on Saturday and Sunday. The ‘Talks and Tastings’ in the Round Chapel in the Inner Bailey featured Steve Guy (also known as The Hungry Guy), award-winning beer writer Laura Hadland, Darren Tomkins from Gindifferent Bar in Shrewsbury, Hobsons Brewery’s Marc Suffolk, Peter Cook from Peter Cooks Bread.

Co-chair of Slow Food Ludlow Marches Tish Dockerty said: “It was a great opportunity for Slow Food Ludlow to put together a programme of talks and tastings that put local products centre stage in an entertaining and enlightening way. It seemed particularly popular with visitors to the festival.”

The Castle Gardens was the special setting for the Marches Transport Festival, bringing together more than 100 classic and vintage vehicles over the weekend. Andrew Makin, from Ludlow, has been displaying his Lotus Elise in the Special Interest Category at the Marches Transport Festival for "a few years". He said it’s “highly enjoyable. I like doing this one as it’s local, and it’s a perfect setting in the castle.”

Street food vendors in the Outer Bailey were doing a roaring trade.

Two much-loved street food vendors Roly Poly Eats and Epicurean Greek Eats are known for serving some of the best street food in the UK. Owner Darren Lusted, based in Pershore, said: “It’s been amazing - lovely weather, lovely place, well-organised, happy customers; what more could you ask for?

"We’re looking forward to coming back next year, and you’ll also see us later on in the year at Ludlow Food Festival. We always like coming to Ludlow, we’ve been coming to the festivals for as long as I can remember; it’s one of our favourite places as traders.”

Ludlow Spring Festival returns in 2026 from May 8-10.