FOODIES will be in hog heaven this weekend when Bridport Food Festival takes place.

From tomorrow until Sunday, July 1, the West Dorset town will be awash with demonstrations, tastings, food stalls and much more.

At 6pm tomorrow the festival gets under way with the Round Table Beer Festival and a hog roast and BBQ courtesy of the Lions Club of Bridport. A vegetarian frittata option will be supplied by Downhouse Farm.

Dorset-based chef Lesley Waters will also be on hand at 8pm tomorrow to cook 'great British dishes with a local twist'.

The main launch takes place at 9.45am on Saturday, when events will be launched by Coun Geoffrey Ackerman and more than 100 local producers will be selling their wares throughout the town.

A full programme includes a week of special menus in pubs, restaurants and cafes throughout the Bridport area, farm walks and tours, cookery courses, food tastings at local farm shops and delis, and a children's food marquee.

The festival this year will also include talks by local trawler man Jamie Smith and one of the foremost experts on organic box schemes, Charles Dowding, will talk about how to get the best produce without using chemicals or pesticides.

On Sunday at 11am, the main events will include a talk by former Independent on Sunday editor Rosie Boycott about her smallholding at Dillington Park Farm and her bestselling book Our Farm: A Year In The Life Of A Smallholding.

There will also be talks by several local chefs, including Nigel Bloxham of the Crabhouse Café at Ferrybridge, Weymouth, who will be demonstrating crab and 'under-used fish from the Channel' (1pm).

The festival ends at 3pm.

Festival committee chairman Amanda Streatfeild said: "We are always delighted to welcome new people and producers to the festival and it's also brilliant to have the continued support of Lesley Waters.

"We also have demonstrations from local chefs who are determined to keep local food at the top of their menus - Nigel Bloxham of the Crabhouse Café, Ian Simpson of The White House Hotel, Charmouth and Stephen Frigon of the Beach and Barniciott."

The annual Round Table Beer Festival will be running alongside the foodie events.

For full details call 01308 459863 or log on to the website at www.bridportfoodfestival.org.uk