The festival and its Christmas market takes place on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 December and promises foodie fun for everyone.

Members of Cockermouth’s Rotary Club have invited Santa Claus and will be hosting his grotto in Kirkgate Arts centre on the Saturday of the weekend from 10am to 3pm. Admission costs £1 per child with all the money going to the Rotary Club. Every child will receive a gift, funded by Allerdale Borough Council.

Visitors will also have the chance to browse the Cockermouth Country Market stalls which will be held in the arts centre that day too.

Elsewhere in town, there’s a Lapland Crafts workshop at Blossom Valley on Main Street where elves will be helping young visitors make their own snow globe, festive slime and a traditional Christmas decoration to take home. Tickets cost £3.50 and are available from the shop.

More elves will be doing walkabout story time throughout the town, bringing a little Christmas magic to visitors of all ages, and there will be facepainting with Silly Gilly of Party Fun. There will also be fairground rides on Main Street.

From the Christmas market on Main Street, with a hot food court plus entertainment on the acoustic music stage, there will be plenty going on at the Taste Cumbria event. Visitors will also have the chance to explore Cockermouth’s independent businesses and eat, drink and shop in the run up to Christmas.

This year’s Taste Cumbria Christmas is supported by Allerdale Borough Council, Cockermouth Chamber of Trade, Cockermouth Town Council and The Coffee Kitchen Bakery. For the full festival line-up, visit www.visitallerdale.co.uk/taste-cumbria-home.

For more fun events with a Taste Cumbria link, visit Wigton’s Christmas Lights Switch On on  Sunday 27 November, Workington Hall’s Winter Light & Sound on Friday 2 and Sunday 3 December, and Taste Cumbria Christmas in Cockermouth on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 December 2022. 

For more information about Taste Cumbria email ellie.jones@allerdale.gov.uk.