TENS of thousands of eager food lovers descended on Abergavenny this weekend for the eleventh annual Abergavenny Food Festival.

Tempted by the opportunity to taste some of the very best in local foods and meet some of the very best chefs working in the country today, visitors were drawn from all corners of the country, to what has become the UK's top food festival.

Among the attractions of the weekend were appearances by food writers Michael Winner, Matthew Fort, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Tom Parker Bowles and chefs Antonio Carluccio, Sat Baines, Brynle Williams, Mitch Tonks and Valentine Warner.

One of the undoubted highlights of this year's festival was the visit of Penelope Fillon, wife of French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.

Born in Abergavenny, Mrs Fillon returned to her home town to appear at the Market Hall chef demonstration kitchen alongside Christophe Langrée, head chef at the Hotel Matignon, official resident of the French Prime Minister.

During her appearance, which was marred only when a coin was thrown from the audience, Mrs Fillon, who was born in Llanover and educated at King Henry VIII School, answered questions from the floor and was reunited with several school friends, and her former employers Richard and Brenda Bosanquet, for whom she worked at the famous Just Something boutique in Market Street.

•For dozens more pictures of Abergavenny Food Festival click on Picture Sales