Celebrity chefs Sean Wilson and Paul Rankin will be demonstrating their culinary skills in the Stoves Cookery Theatre at Our Bury St Edmunds Food & Drink Festival over the summer bank holiday weekend on Sunday 30 and Monday 31 August.  Top chefs from some of the Suffolk foodie town’s restaurants including The Eaterie at The Angel Hotel will also be entertaining the crowds for free over the two days.

A newcomer to the festival, former soap star Sean Wilson will be donning his chef’s whites on Sunday. Appearing in ‘Coronation Street’ for 21 years as Martin Platt before presenting Channel 5’s ‘Great Northern Cookbook’, he will be showing his talent as a self-taught cook and multi-award winning cheesemaker. Bank Holiday Monday will star Paul Rankin, who is best known as one of the longest standing and most successful chefs on ‘Ready Steady Cook’.

As well as demonstrations in the cookery theatre, Our Bury St Edmunds Food & Drink Festival will feature some 120 stalls to browse, try and buy from a huge variety of local producers as well as a farmers’ market, urban beach, street entertainment and family fairground rides.  Most of the town’s restaurants, cafés and pubs, now nearly 100, will also be open on the day for brunch, lunch, afternoon tea or just a cuppa, or something stronger.

Open from 10am to 5pm, the free-entry two-day event is organised by the town centre Business Improvement District (BID) organisation Our Bury St Edmunds. For more information visit www.ourburystedmunds.com/foodanddrinkfestival and for where to stay www.burystedmundsandbeyond.co.uk.  Coaches can drop off and pick up on Angel Hill, close to the Cathedral and Abbey Gardens and coach parking is available at the Lorry Park on Rougham Hill near the A14 Bury East exit postcode IP33 2RU where there is a café and toilet facilities.

Follow the Food Festival on Twitter @ourburysteds or Facebook facebook.com/ourburystedmunds/ and post on Instagram instagram.com/ourburysteds/ or YouTube at youtube.com/user/ourburystedmunds using hashtags #buryfoodfest and #tastebury