Out and about

The First Cambridge Food and Garden Festival, Parker's Piece, Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st September, 2008, daily until 6pm (free)

This should be a feast for your eyes as well as your tummy when Parker's Piece is turned into an autumnal playground for an entire weekend.

With more and more of us concerned about the cost of food and how many food miles it's travelled before reaching our tables, growing our own - or buying from local growers - is becoming increasingly popular.

The Food and Garden Festival promises to be a showcase for the best local produce, food and flowers the region has to offer. In typical 'country fair' fashion there will be competitions for growers of fruit and vegetables, as well as keen cooks and flower arrangers.

But it's much more than that... There's a Gardeners' Question Time Roadshow on site and a cookery school, plus arts and crafts for your home and trade stands.

And if all that makes you feel hungry, there will be a massive food hall with tasty local goodies to sample, and then you can wash it all down with some real ale or cider sourced from micro-breweries as well as some of the better-known producers.

There's no entry fee, but certain activities will be charged, such as the children's funfair and inflatables.