The ABC of Good Taste

It might be akin to organising a booze up in a brewery, but the ABC council’s spectacular festival celebrating food and cider in the Orchard County (or the Armagh, Banbridge and Criagavon borough to be exact) deserves every award it has so magnificently won.

We at Flash Fiction Armagh were very proud to kickstart the festivities on Thursday evening with a fabulous Flash Fiction in the Orchard, set in Teepees in the grounds of Crannagael House.

Jane and John Nicholson, owners of Crannagael house, were suberb hosts and we all felt so welcome.

To be honest, I felt nervous – the teepees are deceptively big. I worried that we would not have a large enough crowd, but the event sold out!

The readers were amazing. Hop over to our webpage to hear them. We had a nice mix of new faces along with seasoned readers. Many past readers were in the audience to support their fellow writers.

Quite a few audience members were new to Flash Fiction Armagh completely, and I know we ended the night with a few converts!

The inside of the teepee was luxurious. I loved the chandeliers.

We ended the evening with music and song from Phoenix Rose . It was the perfect end to a perfect evening.

The Armagh Food and Cider Festival continued over the weekend. I attended the Food Tour by Donna Fox Tours. These tours are a total taste treat. I’d highly recommend any of Donna’s Tours.

This tour started at our local Supermarket – McAnerney’s. I love this supermarket. It’s my local stop and the thing that I think is so special about it, is the local produce it stocks, from Armagh – balsamic vinegar, cheeses, ciders, gins, and beers to slightly further afield Irish artisan products.

We were completely spoilt for choice with samples of freshly baked Foccacia breads, lamb kebabs, in-house sausages… We followed Donna around the town in fine form for the rest of the afternoon, stopping at Uluru for more delicious food and finally ending up at a cocktail making lesson hosted by …. Mr Fox. No relation to Donna and I’m doing well to remember his second name after all that gin! But I can tell you his company is called Lough Neagh Distillers. The website has some of the recipies. There was also something about Spade:Town Brewery and it’s based in Lurgan but … well… gin… and btw the cocktails were Wow!

And before I sign off – just one wee plug for myself. I’m thrilled that Castrum Press is going to publish my trilogy next year. If you’re interesed in finding out about release dates please sign up to my Newsletter.

Byddi Lee