The first weekend in July sees the annual Cardigan Bay Seafood Festival, lots of stalls all along the harbour of Aberaeron, Ceredigion. This year’s event was as good as any of them, especially as the arctic wind died down and the sun shone down on the hundreds of visitors to the festival.
Cardigan Bay is the spectacular stretch along the middle section of the west Wales coast – basically between the Llyn Peninsular in the north and down to St David’s in the south with Aberystwyth in the middle. Aberaeron is one of the prettiest harbour towns following the coast road, half way between Aberystwyth and Cardigan.
Every year, local restaurants and food businesses set up a stall and cook fantastically fresh seafood (plus some meaty alternatives too), filling the town with wonderful smells and inviting you in to try something new. While strolling around munching, you can also enjoy live music from a band at The Hive, cookery demonstrations at the end of the harbour near The Harbourmaster, and a rousing performance by the local primary school. There are stalls from a bit further afield too, such as the chef from the Wynnstay in Machynlleth, and some from along the Welsh Marches.
OK so parking is a bit difficult, but other areas within walking distance are allocated as public parking for the day, and on such a warm sunny Sunday, a stroll was no hardship at all. We both enjoyed the tasty paella from The Feathers, a strawberry Eton Mess, a bottle of white wine sat on the harbour wall, oh yes and a mackerel roll for Leslie!
