A weekend bursting with fresh seasonal flavours, culinary inspiration and family fun is in store for food lovers at RHS Garden Rosemoor this October.

Sponsored by Atkins Ferrie Wealth Management, Festival of Flavours celebrates the bounty of autumn and Rosemoor’s Heritage Devon apple harvest with cookery demos, expert talks and garden tours, and an artisan food and craft market. There will also be live music and campfire cooking to get visitors into the festival mood.

Watch live cookery demonstrations and learn how to cook with foraged ingredients, make sourdough or press apples. Be inspired to grow and cook your own tasty ingredients with expert advice from the Rosemoor edibles team and take in a vegetable garden tour. Listen to Barny Butterfield, founder and owner of Sandford Orchards Cider, talk about the history of cider and cider making in Devon, and the importance of diversity for ecology, flavour and the future sustainability of orchards. Hear Liz Copas talk about her book ‘The Lost Orchards’, followed by a book signing.

Bring the little ones to pose for a photo with a hawk or an owl or watch the heavy horses clearing trees in our woodland. Children can also enjoy supervised tree climbing, try den building, toast a marshmallow and follow a special apple pebble trail.

You are invited to enter your prized pumpkins into a competition - drop your entry off in advance on Friday so it can be weighed and then showcased during the festival in the Stream Field. There will also be chilli displays following this year’s seed trials as well as an array of heritage apples on show. Bring your apples in for identification or decide which apple tree to plant in your garden by tasting a range of varieties.

Then head to the Craft and Food Market in the Garden Room where you can chat to local traders and craftspeople, browse local produce and deli treats, and watch demonstrations of wood skills and traditional crafts.

Enjoy Dartmoor folk songs and tunes from Crockern on Saturday or some foot stomping, melodic indie folk from the Kahunas on Sunday. Stop in for a drink at the Sandford Orchard Cider Bar and browse and buy from a range of trade stands in the stream field and the Garden Room.

Finally, make sure you try out the delicious, seasonal menu in the Garden Restaurant where the dishes shine the spotlight on the abundant, flavour-filled produce that comes straight from the fruit and vegetable gardens to the kitchen. The menu changes every two weeks to make the most of whatever produce is in peak condition and ready for harvest. Dishes during the festival include:

Slow cooked Exmoor beef brisket with caramelised garden shallots and port jus on roasted squash, finished with crumbled Devon blue and parsnip crisps

Salmon and prawns with a creamy garden spinach and white wine sauce topped with crunchy cheddar and hedgerow cobnut crumb

Roasted pumpkin roulade with leeks and Rosemoor chilli cream cheese (mild), drizzled with toasted walnut and kale pesto

Blackberry brûlée with orange and garden thyme shortbread.

Lighter lunches are also available and no garden admission is required if you are just visiting the restaurant.

So embrace autumn and enjoy a palette inspiring day out.

A shuttle bus has been arranged for the weekend, running to the following timetable:

Great Torrington South Street Car Park to RHS Garden Rosemoor

10am, 10.30am, 11am, 11.30am, 12noon

RHS Garden Rosemoor to Great Torrington South Street Car Park

1pm, 2.30pm, 3pm, 3.30pm, 4pm, 4.30pm

Visitors who travel car-free benefit from a 30% discount on entry.