04/05/2026
Ludlow in Shropshire built its reputation as a food town in the 1990s, when a cluster of exceptional independent restaurants and food producers assembled in this small medieval market town of around 11,000 people and attracted enough national attention to earn it the nickname 'the foodie capital of England.'
The Ludlow Food Festival, held each September, brings together producers from across the Welsh Marches region in the castle grounds and remains one of the finest small food festivals in Britain.
The food culture of Ludlow is rooted in the exceptional agricultural landscape that surrounds it; the Shropshire hills, the Teme and Corve river valleys, the orchards and hop yards of the Marches.
The butchers, bakers, and cheesemongers who supply the town's restaurants and the Saturday market source from this landscape with a localism that produces food of genuine quality and genuine character.