Devon's autumn food calendar, plotted

Autumn is when Devon's food calendar earns its keep. The summer crowds thin out, the harvest lands, and for about eight weekends running there's somewhere worth driving to with an empty boot and an appetite. Here's how the season plots out.

Early September: the town festivals

Bovey Tracey opens the season with a festival that mixes food and drink with the town's craft heritage — a proper high-street takeover rather than a field of gazebos.

A week later, Ashburton — pound for pound Devon's best food town — fills North Street for its food festival. Go hungry, leave with chutney.

Late September: the seafood stretch

England's Seafood Feast takes over Torbay and Brixham through late September and early October. The one to book early is the behind-the-scenes tour of Brixham fish market, which starts before dawn and ends with a Rockfish breakfast — the freshest thing you will eat all year.

October: the big two

Powderham Castle's food festival is the county's set-piece: producers and chef demos in the castle grounds, and very much a bring-the-family day.

And Darts Farm rounds off the season with Pumpkin Fest — nominally about picking a pumpkin, actually about spending a whole afternoon eating your way around the farm.

We'll keep this page honest as dates firm up. If you want picks like these matched to your patch of Devon, the weekly email does exactly that.