FURNESS chef Kevin Tickle leads the line-up of special events at this year's Taste Cumbria event in Cockermouth.

The head chef at Forest Side, in Grasmere, will be cooking two exclusive meals for 32 guests in Wordsworth House.

Among the other guests appearing at the county's flagship food festival next month will be Ulverston's Shed 1 Gin, which hosts The Secret Gin Garden at the Castlegate House Gallery.

Tickets for the special events are on sale now, while the full programme for the festival - taking place in Cockermouth town centre on Saturday September 23 and Sunday 24 - has also been announced.

The team at CN Events, which organises Taste Cumbria, is also launching two Taste Trails – one for little foodies and another for the grown-ups. The trails will guide visitors around town and into the local businesses.

Festival organiser Marie Whitehead, director of CN Events, said: “We can’t help but get excited about our flagship Taste Cumbria festival but when we’re bringing together even more of the very best food and drink experts this county has to offer, we can’t wait for the weekend to arrive."

The addition of Mr Tickle to the line-up has proven a source of great excitement for organisers and regulars alike. The celebrated chef - who grew up in Kirkby, attended Ulverston Victoria High School and formerly worked at Cartmel's L'Enclume - will be a big draw for foodies from all over the area.

Mrs Whitehead added: “Using two of Cockermouth’s most beautiful venues – Wordsworth House and Garden and Castlegate House Gallery – and bringing Kevin Tickle to Cockermouth for the first time is a real coup. Meanwhile the rest of the festival is just getting bigger, with more locations and more to see and do.”

Taste Cumbria Cockermouth is now firmly on the foodie calendar in the last weekend of September - with this year’s its biggest offering to date. The seventh instalment of the festival will, as ever, showcase the very best that Cumbria has to offer in food and drink.

The first Taste Cumbria Food Festival took place in 2010 and saw Cockermouth’s shops, restaurants, hotels and pubs join forces in the weekend-long Cumbrian culinary celebrations. Taste Cumbria is the largest food festival in the county, bringing in over £2m into the local economy.

Tickets for the pop-up restaurant, a comedy night and masterclasses are available from www.tastecumbria.com or can be booked by phoning 01228 612000.