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

For the next three days tens of thousands of ‘foodie fans’ from all over the country and overseas will converge upon the town for its biggest single event of the year.

The Food Festival starts tomorrow (Friday, September 9) and continues until Sunday.

In two decades it has replaced the summer Arts Festival as Ludlow signature event and will offer demonstrations as well as hundreds of different exhibits and stands to showcase the best in food and drink from Ludlow and south Shropshire.

But when the gates open there will be differences as changes have been promised.

The theme this year is Sustainable Food and Farming and this will include a new feature ‘Buy-From Shropshire’ along with presentations from the Pentabus Thaetre Company and Harper Adams Edible Bugs.

Ludlow Food Festival is also hosting the UK Trade Investment team with 15 overseas buyers who will be interacting with exhibitors to discuss exporting opportunities.

Away from Ludlow Castle there is a full schedule of events at Ludlow Assembly Rooms and a new ‘Gorilla Trail’ around town courtesy of the British Ironworks Centre.

Also making a special trip to Ludlow will be a number of Slow Food Producers from outside the region handpicked for their exceptional produce including Emilia who specialize in Parmesan cheese made according to Italian quality and tradition.

They have won the award of the Slow Food as Best Deli and Cheesemonger in London in the 2014 and 2015 and are regular traders at London’s Borough Market.

The Food Festival has grown in 21 years to be a national event, attracting more than 20,000 people to the town.

Lindsey Rolling has taken on running the Food Festival and has been fortunate to take on a success story but as she admitted when she spoke to ‘the Advertiser’ earlier in the year this does create challenges.

The changes that are promised will make a difference whilst retaining the best elements from the past.

This includes keeping Ludlow Castle as the venue although the Assembly Rooms is also going to be a key centre.

Ludlow town centre and its traders can expect to benefit from the large number of people coming into the town.

The Festival will feature more than 180 top quality small independent food and drink producers from the Marches, the England-Wales border country, inside Ludlow Castle.

As well as the food producers, throughout Ludlow's historic town centre there will be an extensive programme of food-related events.

What will remain from the past is the famous Ludlow Sausage and Ale trail.

Old favourites inside Ludlow Castle include demonstrations, talks, pudding tastings, markets and more.

Chefs on the menu include Great British Menu winner Richard Bainbridge, Masterchef: The Professionals winner Mark Stinchcombe with his multi award winning wife and chef Sue; Raymond Blanc’s development chef Adam Johnson, 2014 Masterchef Winner Ping Combes, Romy Gill, MBE and Sophie Michell, Chef and author.

The activities in Ludlow Assembly Rooms include on Saturday will be free chocolate tasting sessions with renowned Austrian chocolatiers Zotter, in Ludlow for one weekend only.

There is James Sherwin’s Pop-Up Restaurant Saturday night.

Sunday is dedicated to the FREE Feeling Foodie book Festival at the Assembly Rooms.

Ludlow was Britain's first successful food and drink festival when it started back in 1995 as the brain child of just a small number of enthusiasts.

It has grown since in a way that could not have been imagined in the early days attracting large numbers of visitors from throughout the UK, as well as from overseas.