Mhor Please!

By Contributor -

The Oyster Bar at Mhor Festival

Mhor Festival – Scotland’s best-loved small festival – is back for a fourth year with music, magic and a massive celebration of the Year of Food and Drink.

The Mhor Festival at Loch Voil in Balquhidder offers a packed line up of activity and entertainment on May 23/24 and kicks off with the Whisky Galore Raft Race on the loch, with participants competing for £100 prize money.

There’s musical entertainment for all tastes and lots of family friendly fun for children. including arts and crafts workshops, dance workshops, trapeze artists and the always-messy omelette challenge. Food and drink is at the heart of the festival and there’s plenty to choose from for all tastes: Oyster Bar, Pimms and Champagne bar, Whisky Bar, The Salad Bar, The Big Barbeque cooking up meats from the family farm, a Hog Roast, Fish and Chip Truck and a vintage tearoom serving afternoon tea.

Everything from pies, pastries, popcorn and preserves

The Food Producers Market will take place on both days in the barn and will offer everything from pies, pastries, popcorn and preserves to whisky, jewellery, sea salt and apple juice. Forth Valley College students will be supporting hospitality, front of house and the kitchen, while The Salon Services team will add a touch of glamour to the Festival with a hair and make-up pop-up pamper parlour in the meadow.

The centrepiece of the weekend is the legendary (and sold out!) Festival Feast with five top chefs each cooking a course, giving food lovers a unique opportunity to sit down to an epic meal. The chefs taking part are:

• Fred Berkmiller from L’escargot bleu and blanc in Edinburgh, making his Mhor Festival debut
• Award-winning seafood chef Roy Brett from Ondine
• Michael Smith, the Michelin-starred winner of BBC’s Great British Menu
• Neil Forbes of Café St Honore, Scotland’s current Chef of the Year
• The man responsible for the weekend extravaganza:Tom Lewis of Monachyle Mhor

Those not attending the feast will be spoilt for choice on Saturday night with improved camping facilities, more entertainment (fire performers and a zip wire to name but two) and more food on offer than ever before.

Sunday morning starts gently with a panel of top journalists and commentators reviewing the newspapers over bacon rolls and coffee in front of an audience. Then budding bakers can compete in the fruit and veg themed Mhor Bake Off and take part in a tutorial on how to make an honest loaf of bread with Tom Lewis, with prizes up for grabs for the winners.

Dance the night away with the Scottish Ceilidh Allstars

For early evening refreshment, A Play, A Pint & A Pie is a one-man play by Lou Prendergast about a self-proclaimed ‘man’s man’ with the gift of the gab and a penchant for Elvis. Festival goers can then dance the night away with the Scottish Ceilidh Allstars followed by live Motown music from The Soul Foundation before the DJ’s open up The Club, keeping the music playing right into the night.

“The Mhor Festival is a great celebration of local culture and a platform for showcasing local produce,” said Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment Richard Lochhead. “We have a fantastic natural larder, iconic, fresh products, strong global brands, and excellent provenance credentials which I hope people will have the chance to experience at this year’s festival.”

For more information or to book, click here.

For lots more ideas about places to go and things to do throughout Scotland, pick up the latest issue of The Scots Magazine. In the shops now or order online here.

: Lots of children’s activities at Mhor Festival – even an egg and spoon race!

: Mhor Festival 2015

: The Oyster Bar at Mhor Festival

: The Raft Race is one of the many highlights of Mhor Festival

The Year of Food & Drink

The Year of Food and Drink Scotland began on 1 January 2015 and ends on 31 December 2015.
The Year celebrates the role that food and drink plays in shaping Scotland’s economic success, showcasing Scotland’s outstanding natural larder and our reputation as a land of food and drink.
The Year of Food and Drink is a Scottish Government initiative being delivered by VisitScotland and EventScotland in partnership with Scotland Food & Drink, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Tourism Alliance, SRUC and Young Scot.