One of the highlights of the county’s food and drink calendar is making a comeback after a three-year hiatus.
The Great Framlingham Sausage Festival had become an event many looked forward to in autumn, so there was sadness locally when it was called off in both 2020 and 2021.
A showcase of the region’s prime bangers, and an ode to regional producers, it brought as many as 10,000 visitors to the market town pre-pandemic.
And organisers are hoping, once again, to fill Framlingham’s streets with food lovers, with the festival due to take place on Sunday, October 9, from 10am.
Local businessman Steven Calver heads up the event, aided by a committee including resident Rachel Chesman who says response to the return of The Great Framlingham Sausage Festival has been “brilliant”.
“The community are all behind us. So many people want to be involved and all the trade stands and ticket sales are going well. We’re having a brochure made for the event and lots of people want to advertise in it. It’s all about community spirit. Everyone’s talking about the festival around town, wanting to know what’s happening. We’re very very excited.”
At the heart of the festival, for anyone not familiar with it, is a trail, taking visitors around Framlingham to various shops and businesses, where they’ll discover participating sausage makers. Entry ticket prices (£6 or £20 for four in advance online) include samples at each stand. Once you’ve tried all the sausages, it’s time to pick your favourite and vote online using a QR code to be found all around town on the day. Voting ends at 4pm, and the overall winner will be announced at 4.30pm on Market Hill.
This year tickets also include the chance to take part in various crafts. “Emma from EJ Art Creative will be here helping people make felt sausage dogs – our mascot is a dog called Teddy. And we’ll also have rock painting and a critter-making workshop with Crafty Critters, and activities for children with the Crafty Cabin.
“Then we’ve got loads of food and drink stalls, and some fantastic live music including our local postman (Harry Isaac Presley and The Hip Operation) performing as Elvis!
“We’re feeling really really positive about the festival and the fact so many people want to be included on the day. It’s great we can do all this again after Covid. Framlingham is a wonderful place and I’m proud we can put this on for the community,” Rachel adds.
Find out more and book your tickets at framlinghamsausagefestival.com
Meet the sausage makers
Here are just a few of the sausage maestros you’ll find on the 2022 trail.
Lane Farm: You might have seen Lane Farm sausages in your local Co-op store or farm shop. A much-loved, family-run brand since the 90s, started by Ian and Sue Whitehead, today the business includes daughter Rebecca and their nephew Harry. And, as well as sausages, they have a range of bacons, and cured meats and salamis – with new launches including a Suffolk mortadella, Suffolk coppa, and a range of dried snacking salamis.
Rebecca says they’re delighted to be back at The Great Framlingham Sausage Festival. “We’ve chosen the Suffolk Farmhouse sausage as our entry,” she reveals. “It’s based on my great great grandmother’s recipe, with a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon. I don’t think it gets enough recognition, and it’s such a lovely sausage. Really traditional-tasting.
For the sausages, the team only use the best cuts of pork from pigs reared on the family farm. “We only put in cuts you’d want to eat,” adds Rebecca. “All our pigs are higher welfare, raised and finished here. It’s a real family business. It’s funny because now it’s coming full circle. My children are enjoying our sausages and making some of the same comments I made to my parents when I was young!”
Oak House Farm: This farm shop opened up just before lockdown in 2019 at Sproughton, selling its own reared beef and pork, and lamb sourced from local shepherds. “Everything is locally sourced, if not from here,” says Georgina Woolf.
Sausage flavours available at the shop include pork and leek, pork and apple, Cumberland, and gluten-free, but it’s their classic pork, traditional variety that’s being entered into the festival this year. “We’ve got Gloucester Old Spots on the farm, and they’re what goes into these sausages. It’s our butcher’s special recipe from many years ago.”
Fodder: You might have tried one of Harry Woolf-Evans' Scotch eggs, from when he was a supplier to the East of England Co-op. Today, he sells them at his own butchery Fodder (formerly Five Winds) at Melton. But you’ve got to be quick. You can only get your mitts on them on Thursdays while stocks last. The rest are shipped off to Harrods and Selfridges. A newcomer to the sausage festival, this year Harry is entering one of Fodder’s most popular ‘sausages of the week’ - Thai Green, made with prime local pork, and his own curry paste. “My first job was at a Thai restaurant,” he says. “I make all my own pastes. This recipe is one I’ve kept for years and years. And instead of water in the sausage mix we use coconut milk, which gives a really spicy, creamy flavour.”
Pop to Fodder to try other speciality sausages, from black pudding, to Cheddar and Marmite. And to marvel at the team’s sausage rolls and range of pies – all made on site using meat from within 50 miles of the shop.
Shopping at the sausage festival
There will be numerous opportunities on the day to try (and buy) Suffolk-made food and drink from stalls on and around Market Hill.
Festival favourites Yum Yum Tree Fudge will be there with their glorious array of delights –including their no-added-sugar and dairy-free fudges. Made with British sugar and real, natural flavourings, popular varieties include their Madagascan Vanilla, Salted Butterscotch, and Belgian Chocolate.
You will be able to buy packs of your favourite sausages at the stands to take home – so why not invest in a few locally-made condiments from the festival to go alongside them? Stokes Sauces will be selling their really very good sauces, relishes and chutneys. Their savoury, rich tomato ketchup is a winner with bangers, as is their brown sauce – surely a must for any Suffolk breakfast table?
Must Chup’s delicious combination of mustard and ketchup will be available to sample and buy on the day too (great in hot dogs).
As we all know, sausages and beer go hand-in-hand. Visit Mr Bee’s Brewery at the festival, to check out his honey-infused pints. And head along to The Krafty Braumeister stall, where you can find out more about owner Uli’s multi-award-winning, naturally-made German-style beers, which are just the ticket with bangers and mash.
Also at the event is the Bubble Bus (cocktails and prosecco on tap), Suffolk Distillery (a range of Suffolk-made gins, vodkas and rums), Smithington Bakery (brownies and other bakes), The Truckle Cheese Company (tasty cheese and chutneys), The Suffolk Coffee Pod (superb locally-roasted coffee and rich hot chocolate) and Suffolk Village Ciders.
Many more will line Market Hill, including street food traders selling everything from pizza to churros, and bratwurst sausages with all the trimmings.
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