THE Ludlow Marches Food and Drink Festival is about many more people than top chefs from the town's Michelin-starred restaurants.

"You're much more likely to find exhausted, small scale producers of delightful foodstuffs," claims Mayor Graeme Kidd.

"They will be producers who have been taken by surprise by the demand for their products on the first day.

"They will also have stayed up all night to make more in time for the even busier Saturday - only to repeat the process for Sunday."

The town will be full of trails. This week Carter's and the town's four other independent butchers were preparing new sausage recipes for the 1,600 members of the public who will judge the Sausage Trail on Saturday.

Owner Chris Carter said "It's a lot of work.

"We're really busy but it's enjoyable."

There will also be a Real Ale Trail on Saturday, offering a chance to judge beers in more than eight pubs.

Entry forms or tickets for both trails will be available from the festival information stall, near the entrance to the castle.

There are also plenty of sideshows.

In what has become an annual event, Ludlow Methodist Church, in Broad Street, will offer a choice of delicious homemade puddings on Saturday and Sunday and this will coincide with its own harvest festival.

Ludlow Assembly Rooms will run workshops on food-related subjects, including mug decoration, on all three days.

The top chefs will be in the demonstrations marquee on Sunday.

Peter Hargreaves, from Dinham Hall Hotel, will reveal some of his cooking secrets and Maynard Davies and Jake Maddox will show how to butcher a pig into its various cuts.

Shaun Hill, from the Merchant House, will join an experts' panel with Christopher Bradley, of Mr Underhill's, and Jean Bourdeau, from De Grey's. Peter Gartell, from the Clive at Bromfield, will round off the day's session.