LUDLOW is gearing up for its biggest weekend of the year.

The three-day Food Festival starts tomorrow (Friday) and could bring more than 20,000 people into the town.

Since it was started in 1995, the festival has grown to be the biggest event in the town’s annual calendar and has established a national reputation.

In addition to attracting visitors from the local area and throughout the West Midlands and Welsh borders, the festival also brings people in from other parts of the country and even overseas.

This year, there will more than 140 top quality food and drink producers exhibiting the finest in cuisine that the area has to offer.

Familiar features like the sausage, bread and ale trails will feature along with talks and demonstrations. People will have the chance to vote for their favourite sausage.

On a lighter note, there will also be entertainment including a ‘waiters’ race’ and pudding tasting. Young chefs will also be showing what they can do.

The festival claims to have helped to attract top chefs and restaurateurs into the town and played a vital role in establishing food and drink as a key marketing attraction for Ludlow.

In 1995, a small group decided to stage the first food festival and it has grown from strength to strength. Even in the early years, it brought several thousand visitors into the town but made a major leap forward in 2000 when more than 12,000 people attended.

By 2007, more than 20,000 paid to enter the castle grounds to experience a gastronomic treat.

This year, the festival gave birth to its first offspring – a small Spring Food Festival which took place in May and is set to become an annual event.

Organisers are hoping for a glorious late summer weekend of weather but one cloud will be the absence of one of the founding fathers and champions of the food festival, Graeme Kidd.

The former Mayor of Ludlow died earlier this year aged just 53 following a tragic accident at home. A feature of the festival this year will be the Graeme Kidd pavilion, in his memory.

Ludlow Food Festival is tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. Gates open at 10am every day and close at 5.30pm on Friday and Sunday and at 6.30pm on Saturday.

Tickets are £7 for adults and £1.50 for children, with a family ticket at £16 giving admission to two adults and up to four children. Groups of 15 or more can have discounted tickets at £5 per person.

Visitors can pay on the day, or avoid queueing by booking online at foodfestival.co.uk.