Thousands attend 20th anniversary of Trout 'n' About

The Trout ‘n’ About festival took place on Sunday, August 2, with around 200 stalls from local businesses offering their wares.

The festival stretched across the High Street, Festival Field, Town Hall and Vine Yard.

Sarah Johns. Mary Giles, Ruby Allison. Sam Clark and Chris Dow (Image: Newsquest)

For Mary Giles, Chris Dow, Sarah Johns, Ruby Allison and Sam Clark, the festival was right on their doorstep, living within walking distance.

Mary said: “It's local and all about supporting local businesses. It's a really good community event raising excellent money for charity.

“We have come for a number of years, it’s a nice way to spend a few hours, and the people here work really hard.”

Rod and Jenny Edbrooke from Longdog Brewery (Image: Newsquest)

Basingstoke brewers Rod and Jenny Edbrooke brought Longdog Brewery to Festival Field.

They have owned the independent brewery since November 2019 and run a shop and tap room.

Jenny said: “We have been coming to Trout ‘n’ About for four years, since they started the festival field.

“It's fun, it's always fun and a really good atmosphere and we like to support local producers.”

Volunteers Hugh and Margaretha Northam (Image: Newsquest)

A large team of volunteers kept the festival running, giving information and managing parking.

Hugh and Margaretha Northam are two of those volunteers.

Hugh said: “It’s going fantastically well, we have had a great turnout. I tried to count but I ran out of fingers at about 10 seconds past 10.”

He said crowds were moving through more smoothly this year and praised the food selection.

Hugh added: “It's sunny, a nice atmosphere, lots of families.

“Everybody seems to be happy, everybody seems to have participated. Most people are taking away something from the event, either a big smile or a bag of something.”

Mid Test councillor Ali Johnston praised the event.

She said: “Stockbridge is put on the map again; it's so important for the rural economy.

“There’s a great group of volunteers behind this that work 12 months of the year putting this together. What a fabulous event.”

Cllr Ali Johnston and Caroline Nokes MP (Image: Newsquest)

Romsey and Southampton North MP Caroline Nokes ran a pop-up surgery from her stall.

She said: "Trout ‘n’ About is a brilliant celebration of local produce, crafts and more than that. It's an opportunity to bring the community together.”

She said the stall had proved popular, with ‘lots of people’ raising ‘a whole range of issues.’

She added: “It's been great to have so many.”

She thanked organiser Bob Powell and his team for their work.

Ashleigh Dullbridge and Mark Badham-Thornhill (Image: Newsquest)

Andover man Mark Badham-Thornhill, originally from South Africa, visited with his two daughters from Woking and Wimbledon.

He said: “It’s our first time. It’s brilliant, there’s lots of variety of stuff. It's way more people than I was expecting. They are doing something right.

“It's a family thing, and we like doing family things.”

Mark said ‘no one expected it to be this hot’ and that he would sell ice-cold drinks if he had a stall.

His daughter, Ashleigh Dullbridge, from Woking, said: “It's very well organised and parking was a good idea.”

Lynne Cherlin with her stall Be Festooned…, (Image: Newsquest)

Lynne Cherlin, from Overton, attended the event with her stall Be Festooned…, which sells handmade glass artwork and jewellery.

She said: “It’s a great event, it’s always really good. People are in a really good mood because of the weather.

“We’ve been coming here for the last 10 years, it’s very intense trading, it gets very busy.”

She started the business 15 years ago after being made redundant from her job as an accountant and then ‘took to glass.’

Her husband Chris, who makes wooden stands for her artwork, joined her at the stall.

Graham and Jacqueline Smythe (Image: Newsquest)

Jacqueline and Graham Smythe travelled from Suffolk to visit their Stockbridge-based daughter and ended up at Trout ‘n’ About.

They have visited during the festival for the past few years and enjoy it.

Jacqueline said: “It's a really good day. We have been eating, drinking, purchasing lots and trying not to purchase lots

“This seems to be very successful this year, and we were so lucky with the weather.”

John Mitchell and Karen Welch (Image: Newsquest)

For John Mitchell and Karen Welch, from Fleet, it was their first time coming to the festival.

John said: “I like the fact that there are a lot of local artisans; they actually make their stuff themselves.

“It's got a really nice local feel to it, we would come again.”