A CORNUCOPIA of foods was on offer to tantalise the taste buds at Wimborne Food Festival.

Celebrity chefs rustled up treats in the Corn Market, including BBC2’s The Campervan Chef Martin Dorey, who drove his trademark van into the tent before creating a feast from local ingredients.

Food stalls packed out the Minster Green and High Street, while children’s TV favourites Peppa Pig and CBeebies’ Mr Bloom delighted younger audiences with story-telling and singalongs.

Organiser Deborah Curtis estimated that the fifth annual festival had topped last year’s crowds of more than 10,000 people.

“We’ve been getting really good feedback from the traders,” she said.

“Wimborne has been very lively, with a lot of people and a really good atmosphere.

“Visitors have been really impressed that there’s so much else as well as food this year.”

Entertainment came from street performers, and the new Willow Walk - outside Waitrose - played host to falconry displays, ferret races, a mobile farm and a free vintage fun fair.

Saturday saw the first Literary Fringe Festival, with talks by culinary writers and a spooky ghost walk led by resident author Malcolm Angel.

Festival organiser Clare Kavanagh said: “Waitrose dropped off mystery bags of shopping on Sunday morning so we could do a Ready, Steady, Cook-style event.

“Matt Cook, from Fish Face Catering, whipped up a Mediterranean dish with rainbow bass.”

Then Gemma Hart, 15, took to the stage as part of her prize for winning the Hotel du Vin Young Chef competition.