Awards Night Culminates the 15th Year of the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food & Drink Awards 2023/24

With Northamptonshire’s growing success in the Food & Drink sector this year, there has been probably the toughest competition yet when it comes to finding winners across all 19 categories at the Weetabix sponsored awards.  

With 101 finalists and over 500 hours of volunteer judging taken place, this has to be one of the most supported events in the 15 years of having the awards.

The menu served by Portfolio Events included some wonderful examples of Northamptonshire food and drink including Dovely Bakery Rose Cottage multi seed loaf, Hamm Tun Fine Foods’ Northamptonshire blue cheese, Urban Microgreen mixed salad, New Lodge Vineyard Chilli Honey dressing, Three Hills Brewery Heidrun Session NEIPA, Eat Curious vegan Wellington, and Boughton House honey.

The results are as follows:

Artisan Local Drink of the Year, sponsored by J Sweeney Accountants

• GOLD - Club 80 Navy Strength London Dry Gin, Silverstone Distillery
• SILVER - Blueberry Juice, Mee Blueberries
• SILVER - Oat Drink, Wild & Furrow
• BRONZE - Heidrun Session NEIPA, Three Hills Brewing Ltd
• BRONZE - Phipps Foundry Mild, Phipps Northampton Brewery Co Ltd
• BRONZE - Paw Another, Bearly Organised Ltd
• BRONZE - Winwick Hall Methode Champenoise, Winwick Hall Bruce Green Limited
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Artisan Local Product of the Year, sponsored by Heygates

• GOLD - Coffee Ice Cream, Your Cool
• SILVER - Boughton Estate Homemade Honey, The Boughton Estate
• SILVER - Shoetown Blue, Hamm Tun Fine Foods
• BRONZE - Lemon Curd, Friars Farm
• BRONZE - New Lodge Vineyard Chili Honey, Made by the Beekeeper
• BRONZE - Northampton Cheesecake, F.F Tee Bakery
• BRONZE - Steak Pasty, Duston Village Bakery
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Artisan Local Vegetarian/Vegan Product of the Year, sponsored by Daily Bread

• GOLD - Strawberry & Rose Cake, Mill House - The Old Stable Yard Tea Room
• SILVER - Carrot, Parsnip & Pecan Cake, Sophisticake Creations
• SILVER - Northamptonshire Blue, Hamm Tun Fine Foods
• BRONZE - Fresh Oyster Mushrooms, Shoots & Spores                     
• BRONZE - Harrington Wild Garlic Butter, The Tollemache Arms
• BRONZE - Rose Cottage Multi Seed Loaf, Dovely Bakery
• BRONZE - Salad Mix, Urban Microgreens
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Booker Gastro Pub of the Year, sponsored by Booker

• GOLD – The Tollemache Arms, Harrington
• SILVER - The Rose & Crown, Yardley Hastings
• SILVER - The Sheaf Inn, West Haddon
• SILVER - The Kings Arms, Polebrook
• BRONZE - The Old Talbot, Potterspury
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Booker Young Chef of the Year, sponsored by Booker

• GOLD - Jade Walter - Rushton Hall Hotel & Spa
• SILVER - Thomas  Giles - The Falcon Hotel, Castle Ashby
• BRONZE – Harvey Tapp - The Snooty Fox, Lowick
• BRONZE - Levi Moukan - The Falcon, Fotheringhay
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Canape of the Year, sponsored by Portfolio Events

• Kamil Podgorski, Northampton College
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Community Café of the Year, sponsored by The Good Loaf, and The Health and Wellbeing services at West Northamptonshire Council

• GOLD - Bennett’s, Thrapston
• SILVER – Bob’s Corby, Corby
• SILVER - Polo Pavilion Tea Room, Winwick
• BRONZE - Happy Mondays, Rushden
• BRONZE – A Place to Bee, Kingsthorpe
• CERTIFICATE OF MERIT - Lavender Bee Tea Room, Kettering
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Event Venue of the Year, sponsored by Hilton Garden Inn

• GOLD - Silverstone Circuits Ltd
• CRYSTAL - The Granary at Fawsley
• SILVER - Kelmarsh Hall & Gardens
• SILVER - Kettering Park Hotel & Spa
• SILVER - Rushton Hall Hotel & Spa
• BRONZE - Furtho Manor Farm
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Farming Environment Award, sponsored by Weetabix

• GOLD - J.A. Knight & Sons
• SILVER – Courteenhall
• SILVER – Wold Farm
• BRONZE - J.E Atkinson & Son
• BRONZE – White House Farm
• Certificate of Merit – Stetchworth Estate Farm
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F&B Achiever of the Year, sponsored by Howes Percival

• GOLD - Joe Buckley, The Tollemache Arms
• GOLD – Eddie & James White, Whites of Earls Barton
• BRONZE - Glenn Newman, The Granary, Fawsley, Daventry, and The Waterside Café at Northampton Active, Northampton
• BRONZE - Steve Reid, Northampton Cheese Co., Northampton Charcuterie Co., and Friars Farm, Northampton
• BRONZE – Jo & Nigel Wagstaff, Houghton Hams
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Food and Drink College Student of the Year, sponsored by University of Northampton

• GOLD - Cohen O'Dell, Northampton College
• SILVER - Thomas Walshaw, Moulton College
• SILVER - Cara Payne, Northampton College
• BRONZE - Chloe Matthews, Moulton College
• BRONZE - Alex Mundey, Tresham College, Corby
• BRONZE - Dante Newman, Tresham College, Corby
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Healthy Food and Wellbeing of the Year, sponsored by Delapre Abbey

• GOLD - Mango Explosion Granola, Salma Soulful
• SILVER - Organic Wheatgrass Juice, Britt's Superfoods
• BRONZE - Chocolate Super Shake, Nasty Vegan
• BRONZE - Bresaola, Northampton Charcuterie Company
• BRONZE - Carrot Cookies, The Loving Chef
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Workplace:

• GOLD – Sol Laug Haven
• SILVER – Weatherbys
• BRONZE - Silverstone Circuits Ltd
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Local Food Hero of the Year, sponsored by Moulton College

• GOLD – Rick Sharpe, The Roaming Artisan
• SILVER - Milly Fyfe
• SILVER – Claire Gurney, The Shack Food Project
• BRONZE – Narinder Hammond, Skittles Community Shop
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One to Watch, sponsored by Whitworth Bros. Ltd.

• GOLD - Restaurant Ember
• GOLD - Santina’s Wood Fired Pizza Co.
• SILVER - Nasty Vegan
• BRONZE - Butterwick Bakery
• BRONZE - Royal Oak, Naseby
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Outstanding Contribution to Food & Drink Northamptonshire

• Jo & Nigel Wagstaff, Houghton Hams
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Patrons Award

• Phil Martin, Northampton College
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Restaurant of the Year, sponsored by Greedy Gordons

• GOLD - The Palmichael, Burton Latimer
• SILVER - Marseille, Northampton
• SILVER - Murrays, Whittlebury Park, Towcester
• BRONZE - Hopping Hare, Northampton
• BRONZE - Karmana, Northampton
• BRONZE - Tap and Kitchen, Oundle
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Weetabix Sustainability Award, sponsored by Weetabix

• GOLD - Sol Laug Haven
• SILVER - Blue Skies Ltd
• SILVER – SNVB (South Northants Volunteer Bureau)
• BRONZE - The Farm Shed
• BRONZE - Green Machine Refill
• BRONZE - Silverstone Circuits Ltd
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Whitco Chef of the Year, sponsored by Whitco

• GOLD - Adam Phillips, The Falcon at Castle Ashby
• SILVER - Zak Perrin, The Falcon at Fotheringhay
• BRONZE - Piotr Czarnocki, Gourmand Pierre Private Dining
• HIGHLY COMMENDED – Daniel Webster, Websters Catering and Events
• HIGHLY COMMENDED - Laszlo Bodnarjuk, The Palmichael
• HIGHLY COMMENDED - Reece Coles, Hops and Chops
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World Cuisine Restaurant of the Year, sponsored by British Pepper & Spice

• GOLD - June Plum, Wellingborough
• SILVER - Marmaris, Northampton
• SILVER - Mexican Fire Garden, Kettering
• BRONZE - Little India, Earls Barton
• BRONZE - Voujon, Long Buckby
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The culinary themed trophies were created from upcycled metalware supporting the sustainable theme of some of our categories.  These were presented by Helen Fospero who was the Master of Ceremonies, known for her presenting role on shows such as GMTV, Daybreak and Lorraine.

For more information on the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2023/24, please visit www.northamptonshirefoodanddrink.co.uk.