Local food a clear favourite at Cheltenham Festival

The Cheltenham Festival, which begins later, draws hundreds of thousands of punters from across the UK and beyond, but organisers are increasingly making a point of championing food grown closer to the course.

Some 48,000 meals will be served during the National Hunt Festival, which will finish with Gold Cup day on Friday.

The Jockey Club's regional executive chef, Warren O'Connor, has had the ingredients for all of the starters, mains and desserts under orders for months, offering an economic boost to Gloucestershire's food suppliers.

From trout smoked in the Forest of Dean, wild venison from the Cotswolds to sourdough and pastries baked in Cheltenham, many local ingredients are used across the racecourse

But its in the £1,400 a head '480 restaurant' which serves food sourced within 480 furlongs (60 miles) of the racecourse that local produce comes to the fore.

"This day and age people want to see where their food comes from," said O'Connor.

"I find local suppliers put more of their passion into it than if its mass produced."

The focus on local is big news for smaller suppliers like the Six Chimneys Bakery in Cheltenham. Normal production quadruples during the festival as they supply cakes, pastries and breads to the event.

During our visit, the company's team of bakers were hand-rolling croissants and cruffins.

"We go from hundreds of products a week to thousands. For example on a normal day we bake 30 custard tarts but during race week its 540 a day!" said bakery owner Adam Hall.

The company has been baking for the racecourse for the last four years and has also been chosen to supply the new pop-up restaurant at the course run by Jack Stein, son of TV chef Rick Stein.

"Its a a huge feat for all of the bakers here to produce all of that for race week," said Hall. "Getting the contract was amazing for us.

"After the first year we had to buy a lot of new equipment and we had to bet on the contract coming back each year, which it has."

Over in the Cotswolds, 2,500 wheels of brie made from Gloucestershire cow's milk have been packed up ready to be shipped to the racecourse.

Lewis Weaver from Cotswold Organic Dairy, and his team, have been producing cheese here for more 20 years, and now its their brie, rather than cheese from France, that's making its way to the racecourse tables.

"Things slow down after Christmas so Cheltenham gets the new year going really well," said Weaver.

"Its great to support a local event and its great that they support us as well rather than importing things. That's a huge bonus for us just from a moral perspective.

"At the moment British food and farming is an important topic, so having quite a big event supporting us means a lot."

All of the local ingredients play a role in a huge 24/7 operation during the week. Warren O'Connor says its a huge logistical project that serves tens of thousands of meals.

"We have 400 chefs serving 48,000 meals in hospitality with retail on top of that, for people who want hot dogs and burgers etc.

"Every day we have nine 18-tonne lorries [arriving] with pallets of food. Its a 24-hour mammoth operation."

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