A nine-day celebration of food and drink produced in the Waveney Valley kicks off this weekend with a series of events designed to tingle your tastebuds.

The Waveney Valley Food and Drink Festival features 22 events across the area with fairs, farmers’ markets, open farms, special menus and real ale trails stretching down the river valley from Diss, Eye and Harleston to Beccles.

Tomorrow, there will be sizzling sausage fun in the Market Place, Diss, with a Battle of the Bangers from local producers, music from Park Radio, lots of food stalls and competitions, running from 9am to 2pm.

Starting at the same time but running until 5pm, A Taste of Eye will see a series of special events being held, from a Pie Festival in Eye Town Hall, to chocolate-making demonstrations, coffee bean roastings, samples of gluten-free and diary-free dishes, and a Spanish tapas event.

Then going through the week, food lovers can enjoy a range of pork dishes at the Pennoyer Centre’s Pulham Pigs Week in Pulham St Mary; a Walk, Talk, Eat guided walk to see rare breed pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks and geese at Samphire’s Sycamore Farm in Tibenham next Tuesday; and an Open Farm morning to see free range egg production at Hill Farm, Redenhall, on Wednesday.

A Food and Drink Festival runs in Harleston Town Centre from 9am to 6pm next Wednesday, with street food on offer in the Swan and Cardinals Hat car parks and the Market Place. Diverse tastes from Afro-Caribbean and Cajun foods to European and Eastern countries will be represented. There will also be a Browne’s Banger Bonanza with 12 different types of sausage to taste.

Getting into next weekend, the Diss Corn Hall Beer Festival runs on Friday and Saturday, and Diss Farmers Market next Saturday will again be offering a wide range of locally-produced foods.

Food festival events are also running in Beccles and Bungay. For information see www.visitwaveneyvalley.co.uk