From stocking fillers to belly fillers…
Festive food, drink and merriment at the Abergavenny Christmas Fair
Sunday 10th December, 10:00 – 17:00, Abergavenny Market Hall
Abergavenny will be filled with festive delights on Sunday 10th December as the town hosts a celebration of all things Christmas at the annual festive fair.
The Abergavenny Christmas Fair will take place across Abergavenny’s Market Hall, Upper Brewery Yard and St Mary’s Priory grounds, with over 85 stallholders ready to help you stock up on fantastic produce for the festive season, or seek out some lovingly crafted presents for friends and family.
For the kids, there will be Christmas decoration and craft making activities, a festive fun trail full of surprises, marshmallow toasting and lantern making for the light parade.
A glittering line up of chefs on the Market Hall stage will inspire your seasonal menus, with everything from foraged festive trifle, to making the most of Christmas leftovers.
With a focus on celebrating up and coming Welsh culinary stars, the market hall stage will be showcasing:
MasterChef Quarter-Finalist Imran Nathoo on making the most of your Christmas leftovers
Chef Tommy Heaney of his eponymous restaurant, cooking up a showcase festive feast
Liz Knight from Forage Fine Foods, with her foraged Christmas trifle
Guardian gardening journalist Lia Leendertz with recipes from her wonderful seasonal book The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to 2018
Tickets are £5 (available through the website plus booking fee, or on the day from our Box Office), with all kids’ activities and chef demos included.
Stop by The Angel Hotel where you’ll find Santa in his grotto outside the front of the hotel. Santa’s horse and carriage will be offering rides through the streets of Abergavenny from 13:00 until 17:00 for £5. (All details, tickets and enquiries organised through The Angel Hotel.)
Our festive celebration will end with carol singing, accompanied by the Abergavenny Borough Brass Band, the children’s light parade, mince pies and mulled wine in the St Mary’s Priory courtyard.
Wine, winter warmers, sherry pairings and yuletide puds – tasting workshops at Homes of Elegance:
All tasting workshops are ticketed separately at £16.50 (inc. booking fee), last for an hour and include a selection of samples for tasting…
Christmas Cocktails with Dom Jacobs
The night before the Christmas Fair, Mayfair’s top bartender Dom Jacobs is coming to town and hosting what promises to be a very warming masterclass at the Homes of Elegance store (18:30 – 19:30, Saturday 9th December). Showcasing tips on how you can be a Christmas cocktail pro in your own home, expect to slurp some tasters and come away with inspiration for your festive drinks cabinet.
On Sunday December 10th, there are three more masterclasses running at Homes of Elegance:
What Wine with your Christmas Feast?
Sick of Sauvignon? Bored of Bordeaux? Try something different this Christmas with our wine pairing workshop (11:30 – 12:30, Sunday 10th December). You’ll get the opportunity to taste four different wines with recommendations of what festive food to match them with. We all like to splash out on a fancy bottle of wine at Christmas, but how can you be sure that you’re spending wisely? Pick up tips on how to get the best value, ideas on unusual wines and up and coming grape varieties.
Sherry and Christmas Food Pairings
It wouldn’t be Christmas without sherry! But apart from mince pies, what food should you pair it with? David Hayward of Gonzalez Byass and critically acclaimed chef Freddy Bird will be talking you through a selection of sherries, from the bone dry to the super sweet, and the food to match with them (13:00 – 14:00, Sunday 10th December). You’ll get the chance to taste your way through a range of food pairings alongside each sherry, including jamon and smoked eel croquette with parsley alioli, roasted duck with bone marrow bread sauce and a classic Christmas trifle. Freddy will talk you through each of the dishes and you’ll receive recipe cards to take home, just in time for Christmas.
Christmas Desserts with Laurian Veaudour of Cocorico
If festive sweet treats are what flies your sleigh, or you have a passion for desserts that are sprinkled with a little Christmas magic, then this is the seasonal session for you. Culinary maestro and finalist of Bake Off Creme de la Creme Laurian Veaudour from Cocorico in Cardiff will be hosting this class (14:30 – 15:30, Sunday 10th December) on alternative desserts for your Christmas table. You’ll receive recipe cards to take home and tips from Laurian on how to recreate them in your own kitchen so that you can impress your friends and family with these sweet show-stoppers. And there will be tasters along the way of course!
