Marmalade Awards & Festival (Photo Hermione Hasell-McCosh)
When: 28th February & 1st March 2015
Where: Dalemain Mansion & Gardens, Penrith, Cumbria CA11 OHB
£: A day ticket costs £4 in advance and £4.50 on the gate
What is it?
The World’s Original Marmalade Awards and Festival takes place on 28th February and 1st March 2015 at Dalemain Mansion in Cumbria.
The event will be kicking off National Marmalade Week (28th February – 7th March 2015), with a ‘Marmalade Peel of Bells’ that will resound around the country. The bells start with hand bells at Dalemain and end with the Great Bell of Bow (of Oranges & Lemons nursery rhyme fame).
To celebrate the Awards’ 10th anniversary year, there will be an extended number of competition categories to enter. There will be a network of collection points across the UK for people to drop their entries off, including the Paddington shop at Paddington Station, Mackays near Dundee and Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly.
The closing date for entries is 15th February 2015. Everyone who enters a jar gets their preserve tasted and judged. Competitors will also get a personalised mark card with feedback on how the marmalade can be improved. If they are lucky they will also get a gold, silver or bronze award. The double gold star winner will get their marmalade made by a commercial kitchen. It is then stocked at Fortnum & Mason, with 50p per jar going to charity.
Jars on display for the Marmalade Awards (Photo Hermione Hasell-McCosh)
Visitors will get the chance to view the entries and taste over 500 marmalades. Visitors can also attend workshops, lectures and tutored marmalade and wine tastings. There will be a 10k marmalade run and children’s fun run, a Marmalade Question Time with experts including Dan Lepard, and readings from the Paddington Bear Books.
As part of the weekend there will be free travel on Ullswater Steamers at 9.45am for those who bring along a jar of marmalade. Complimentary toast and marmalade will also be served.
The awards have raised more than £150,000 over the last ten years for Hospice at Home, hospices around the world, Action Medical Research for children and Marie Curie Scotland. All the proceeds from the amateur entry fees go direct to these charities.
More info: www.dalemainmarmaladeawards.co.uk