The management team at a north-east country park have been awarded a slice of a £50,000 grant to fund a food festival.
Seedy Sunday will be held at Aden Country Park near Mintlaw early next year to celebrate and promote local Aberdeenshire food and drink produce.
Families will be invited to get their hands dirty at a new farmers’ market, seed and plant swap shop, while also enjoying a host of horticulture and food demonstrations.
Seedy Sunday is one of eight Scottish food and drink initiatives toasting their success after winning grants totalling £54,506 from the latest round of Community Food Fund (CFF) applications.
Aden Park development worker Neil Shirran and his team secured around £5,000 from the CFF and a council grant scheme to lay on the event in March next year.
Last night Mr Shirran said: “The Seedy Sunday event is the first of its kind in Aberdeenshire and will focus on the two strands of both celebrating and promoting the fantastic local food and drink produce available from across Aberdeenshire, along with providing a place for gardeners and allotment groups from across Aberdeenshire to come together to exchange knowledge, seeds and plants.”
As part of the Scottish Government-funded Think Local Project, the fund supports projects and events around Scotland that encourage people to appreciate and access local produce.
Food Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “More and more communities are working towards getting access to, and enjoying, the fresh, seasonal, nutritious, and local food and drink we produce here in Scotland.
“During the Year of Food and Drink it is particularly essential that people take advantage of our fantastic natural larder in order to achieve our ambition of becoming a good food nation.”