Ludlow Food Festival

This is the original within-the-walls food festival — three days of chefs cooking over open fire, cider and perry tastings, and more than a hundred small producers packed into the grounds of a genuinely stunning ruined castle. It's the kind of event where you end up queuing for a pie next to a Marches farmer and leave with a car boot full of things you didn't know you needed.

Go for the atmosphere as much as the food: live demos in the castle courtyard, a proper Friday-night event with music, and views over the Teme valley that most food festivals can't touch.