Food Festival Success

Saturday 21st April has been etched in my mind for several months now. Not only was it the Bishop Auckland Food Festival, it was also the day in which the Auckland Castle Trust revealed itself to the world, and set out its ‘starter for ten’ on the future of the castle.

With our large banners setting our our aims and ambitions, our film of HRH the Prince of Wales wishing the Castle well, our film of Prof Diarmaid MacCulloch in the Throne Room talking about the Castle, and our legendary free tote bags, we spent a fantastic day meeting local people, traders and visitors, and talking with them about our plans. 

In spite of the rain reducing visitor numbers this year, we were delighted with the numbers of people taking the time to get to know us better.

More than 300 of you visited the Castle – not bad considering that last year only 1000 paying visitors went inside in the whole year! 

Around 300 of you completed a form wanting to join our mailing list and asking to know more.

Nearly 200 of you also wrote your ideas and drew pictures on our 2–metre–high scribble board, with concerts, outdoor events, and family activities featuring highly.

And over 130 of you attended the talks by Jonathan Ruffer in the beautiful Chapel.

Comments on twitter (@aucklandcastle) included ‘Jonathan was so enthusiastic, so inspiring’, ‘the ideas that were left on the wall were awesome!’ and ‘it was a brilliant day despite the weather!’. Although as the picture shows, the sun did manage to put in a bit of an appearance! 

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