The tenth Abergavenny Food Festival takes place on September20-21.

Celebrations include the launch of the first Festival Fringe, featuring over fifty events put on by local organisations in the run-up to, and over, the main weekend.

This has all been enabled by support from The Welsh Assembly Government, the European Union, Monmouthshire County Council, adventa, Capital Region Tourism and Abergavenny Town Council.

Thanks are also due to all the local businesses, including hotels, which continue to support the festival and ensure that Abergavenny remains a byword for hospitality.

Fringe Festivities

Fabulous Festive Menus:

There's an amazing array of culinary delights on offer. It all starts with the Monmouthshire Seafood Fayre on Sunday, September 14 at Llanfoist Village Hall.

Join Soil Sisters Miche and Daphne at The Art Shop - sip and savour colourful organic aperitifs and artisan concoctions; enjoy an Australian Wine Dinner or a Kitchen Garden Sunday Roast at The Bell at Skenfrith. The Charthouse Bar and Bistro is hosting a Spanish Wine Tasting and Tapas Evening, and there's a Fringe Cider Dinner at The Clytha Arms. The Crown at Pantygelli is All At Sea with a five-course menu and Cripple Creek Inn is putting a special menu on for the occasion.

Guests are invited to guess the ingredients with a mystery Gourmet Evening hosted by The Crown at Whitebrook, and then it's time for Champagne and Sparkles at The Hill. The Hardwick is hosting a special lunch in conjunction with Huntsham Farm (see Farm Walks below) and The Foxhunter will be taking the 'local' and 'seasonal' emphasis a stage further.

Take part in the Momentous Monmouthshire Menu at the Glen-yr-Afon Hotel in Usk where senior chefs (male v female) will compete over a three course Sunday lunch – the winners to represent the hotel on the chef dem stage at the main festival.

Enjoy the gentle outdoors with the River Usk Picnic and Barbeque at the Gliffaes Country House Hotel. And here's something really unusual: share the American gastronomic dream with the Monnow Valley Drive-Thru Experience at Monnow Valley Arts Centre.

Exhibitions:

There's a photography exhibition at Abergavenny Castle Museum, and The Art Shop is running a Late Summer Show inspired by gardens, rich ripe and mellow – together with handmade ceramics by contemporary artists.

The Court Cupboard Gallery has a Table for Two, featuring ceramicist/sculptor Ned Hayword and still-life Artist Louise Lovell; and Martin's Framing and Gallery showcases professional artists from Wales. Monnow Valley Arts Centre hosts A Memorial Exhibition of Welsh and English Landscapes by John Addyman and there's Food For Thought with various artists at the Red Dog Gallery. Mouthwatering Monmouthshire is on show through photographs of local food producers at St Michael's Centre.

Farm Walks:

Take a break from all the crowds and enjoy time out in the stunning Brecon Beacons National Park with the Abergavenny Food Festival Food Trail – a mini-bus tour to various farms (Rheld Farm, Graig Barn Farm and Lodge Farm), culminating in a final stop at The Beacons Farm Shop and Welsh Venison Centre.

There are also four trips to local farms, all with a different focus: Wildlife Friendly Farming (Great Bailea Farm), A Dairy Farm with a Difference (Pant Farm), Border Country Farming (Court Farm Llanthony), and Organics from the Hills (Maes-y-beran).

Rare breed producer Richard Vaughan of Huntsham Farm has teamed up with Stephen Terry of The Hardwick to offer a farm walk and a four-course meal.

Enjoy a Castle Meadow Walk around the edge of Abergavenny or take part in a Wild Food Foray and Picnic put on by Mulberry House/Ty Morweth.

Film & Theatre:

Abergavenny Film Society will be screening two films: The Baker (12a), and Delicatessen (15) – both with a firm focus on food; and The Borough Theatre offers an audience with Arthur Smith, the grumpiest Grumpy Old Man. Tickets available on 01873 850805.

Church Activities:

There are harvest/flower festivals at both Abergavenny Methodist Church and Holy Trinity Church – and the latter will also be running a fair trade stall with activities for children. St Mary's Priory plays host to local vocal quartet Jigging Alice who sing music from seven centuries.

Workshops:

The new Learning Space at St Mary's Priory Tithe Barn is promoting Food Heaven? A hands on history family fun day, including making your own illuminated manuscript and making and tasting Medieval food with ingredients from the Monastic Kitchen Garden.

There's also a Venison Cookery Course on offer at the Culinary Cottage Cookery School, plate-decorating workshop's at Nantiago and free food workshops for young children at Abergavenny Library.

Shops/Retail

Abergavenny bookshop is giving a generous 20 per cent discount on all cookery books, Cooks Galley is running some special promotions over the weekend, and Nicholls Department Store is selling homemade Welsh cakes at their main entrance.

Markets

There's a Food Festival Taster Market on the Friday (free entry) with thirty food stalls in the rear car park behind the Market Hall, which will be occupied as usual by Abergavenny Market Traders. And The Green Zone Market will once more take place in Greyhound Yard across the festival weekend. With an emphasis on Zimbabwe it will include fairly traded arts and crafts Tools for Self-Reliance and other 'Green' stands.

Details of both main Festival and Fringe events can be viewed athttp://www.abergavennyfoodfestival.com">www.abergavennyfoodfestival.com

•Both brochures giving full details can be picked up from The Borough Theatre or Abergavanny TIC.