Funding was sought from the Outdoor Playing Space Scheme held by Suffolk Coastal District Council*, and the table was officially unveiled by the Town Mayor, Councillor Charles Notcutt, who can be seen along with Councillor Yule.

The Fayre is the brain child of local gastronomic guru Ugur Vata of The Galley Restaurant in Woodbridge, David Wright of The Cake Shop Woodbridge and George Bradley from Friday Street Farm and has been brought to fruition with the support of Choose Woodbridge. All parties are passionate about top quality local produce and keen to show of all the spring flavours that Suffolk has to offer.

The team at Friday Street Farm are bringing oodles of new season asparagus & strawberries and Ugur Vata will be doing cookery demonstrations and tastings using these fabulous ingredients. Other stall holders include The Angel Public House who will be selling their award winning sausage rolls, Marybelle dairy selling their local ice-creams, The Cake Shop who will be delighting visitors with their freshly baked scones with strawberry jam and fresh asparagus tartlets to name but a few!

Spring has been a long time coming this year and now it’s here what better way to celebrate than with these wonderful, fresh Suffolk-grown ingredients? We’re thrilled to be supporting such a timely and tasty event. George from Friday Street has assured us that the asparagus is tender and very flavoursome and the strawberries are just what you need to remind you that summer is just around the corner. It’s been a cold and soggy start the year which has made the produce a little slower to emerge than usual, but the flavour hasn’t suffered one bit!

Here is the team behind the event, getting into the spirit of it!

The event started promptly at 10am and was open to children under 14. The challenge was to find the hidden golden beans and swap them for chocolate eggs. We are very grateful that The East of England Cooperative Society was the main sponsor of this event for a second year – donating 500 eggs. Some local businesses gave discount vouchers too, for inclusion in the goodie bags. The children were entertained by Punch & Judy, Pound the Hound and a Face Painter and we were very lucky to have Deben Radio compering the whole event as well as lots of much appreciated volunteers. After the event many families headed into Woodbridge for a warming hot drink in one of the many pubs and cafes.

“Easter is traditionally a time for families and over the last eight years the Easter Egg Hunt has become a much loved fixture in the Woodbridge calendar. The weather was amazing with sunone minute and snow the next but that didn’t dampen any spirits and a good time was had by all!” Said Rita James, Choose Woodbridge Co-ordinator.

Similarly, on Sunday 31 March, Many pubs and restaurants played host to the hundreds of NCC bikers who visited Woodbridge! A delightful spectacle fully embraced by the town.

Here’s a sneaky video showing the NCC as they rode into Woodbridge on Easter Sunday.

And here are some photos from the Sunny/Snowy Easter Egg Hunt on Easter Saturday

Each business signing up to the scheme receives an on-site visit assessment from an environmental advisor followed by an energy report with an action plan. The report details the company’s annual energy spend and then shows the main opportunities for cost, carbon and resource savings.  It also includes a carbon footprint, a template policy and the action plan; all of which are the initial criteria for the Suffolk Carbon Charter – a county wide marketable accreditation.

Senior environmental business advisor, Oliver Ingwall King of Groundwork said:  “The on-site review will take between 1 and 2 hours, depending upon the size of your site, and is currently identifying savings on average of £6,700 and 30.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide per business. This means that typically a business can expect the service to identify potential energy and cost savings ranging between 10-35% of their annual consumption.”

Choose Woodbridge co-ordinator Rita James, who owns The Coach House B&B can vouch for the service:  “Thanks to the Groundwork advisors, I’ve reduced my carbon footprint by 13% and have a Suffolk Carbon Charter Gold Award to prove it,” she said.  Her business has also won awards from the Suffolk Creating the Greenest County scheme.

We will be running a Choose Woodbridge lunch session with Groundwork sometime in May.  In the meantime, more information can be found at www.groundwork-eastofengland.org.uk or contact Oliver Ingwall King on Tel: 01394 444586 Mob: 07726 695996.