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In Food & Drink

Sip, slurp and glug

Wine Festival Winchester: big flavour with unsubtle notes of socialising and the heady whiff of fun.

I’m at the Winchester home of BBC Saturday Kitchen wine experts Susie Barrie and Peter Richards, who usher me into their super stylish kitchen.

Both hold the prestigious Master of Wine title, making them part of a fairly rare species of experts from across the world. They are also half of the four-strong team behind Winchester’s Wine Festival, which is now in its third year and takes place at Guildhall.
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15th September 2017 By
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In People

High Street hero

Meet Kev. He’s been selling The Big Issue in Hampshire for nearly five years, and rain or shine he has a song, a joke or a friendly word for the people who pass by his regular pitch on High Street, just outside The Body Shop.

Taken into care as a youngster, Kev spent years living homeless on the streets of London before heading south. “I was the guy you see in a doorway,” he says. “I used to hitch just to have somewhere to go. It didn’t really matter where the lorry drivers were heading. I’d go round the motorways and come back to where I started.” Continue Reading →

11th September 2017 By
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In Art & Culture/ City Highlights

Jane Austen 200: Celebration and commemoration

Winchester marks the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death with events across the city. Jane lived in Hampshire, writing in Chawton, and came to Winchester for the final few weeks before her death in the city in 1817. From exhibitions and talks to street performance, Austen fans have plenty to enjoy.

Find out more about Jane’s life and work at an exhibition by Hampshire Cultural Trust and Jane Austen’s House Museum at Winchester Discovery Centre. See Jane’s pelisse coat, first editions of her work, personal letters and a collection of portraits up close in The Gallery. 01962 873603 www.hants.gov.uk/wdc

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18th July 2017 By
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In Art & Culture/ City Highlights/ People

Bringing the city streets to life

It’s the UK’s longest-running festival of outdoor arts, attracting audiences of 58,000 to over 200 live performances last year.

This year’s Hat Fair runs from 30 June to 2 July, with a new director, Andrew Loretto, at the helm.

“Hat Fair was conceived as a busking festival in 1974 and is inspired now as it was then by the people, heritage and public spaces within the city,” Andrew says. “Our aim is to transform the everyday into the extraordinary.
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23rd June 2017 By
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In City Highlights/ Food & Drink/ People/ Something For The Weekend/ Wining and Dining

Ice and a slice at Ginchester Fete

“Indulge in a little bit of what you fancy as often as you can.” That’s what Gary Whiter, co-founder of Winchester’s Cabinet Rooms, believes.

Gary and Marcus Roe, the two bearded gentlemen, as they’ve become known, are kicking off the Summer with Ginchester Fête, a celebration of all things gin, which comes to the Great Hall on World Gin Day, 10 June. Tickets cost £10 and include a drink on arrival.

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23rd May 2017 By
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