The Truffler: Hays Galleria Seafood Fair, Henrietta Green's Food Lovers' Fair, Ludlow Marshes Food Festival, Bray

In the days when they were cheap, and weren't available all year round, oysters were eaten only when there was an "r" in the month. Which makes today the start of the native oyster season. The Hays Galleria Seafood Fair on London's South Bank has become an annual fixture at the start of the season, and it's happening this weekend with a variety of stalls selling oysters and other seafood, and demonstrations of how to tackle trickier marine life, and cook it. Today and tomorrow it starts around 11am, ending this evening at 7pm, and tomorrow at 6pm. Hays Galleria is on the river but under cover; the nearest rail and underground station is London Bridge.

The fun really starts next weekend, with Henrietta Green's Food Lovers' Fair beginning next Friday, 7 September at Loseley Park, near Guildford. It was due to take place earlier in the summer but was postponed because foot-and-mouth disease affected many of the specialist food producers who were to take part. Book in advance on 01483 577123 to pay £4 a ticket (at least two tickets must be bought like this and there's a 50p transaction fee) or pay £5 admission on the gate. But if you go on Friday, £1 of the cost of every ticket goes to the children's hospice charity, Chase. Once inside the fair there will be 100 stalls, each selected and vetted by Henrietta Green, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of Britain's specialist food producers. Food that has received her seal of approval includes meat from Northfield Farm, Mrs King's pork pies, Musk's sausages, Sillfield Farm products, venison, Patchwork pâtés, herbs and salad leaves from Secretts Farm and Halcyon Herbs. Cheeses, pickles, cakes and preserves, bread and ice cream from artisan producers will also be for sale. There's a demonstration kitchen where old and newer pros such as Clarissa Dickson Wright, Tony Tobin, Kevin Gould, John Torode and Allegra McEvedy can be seen in action, and Henrietta Green will show how to cook some of the produce on sale in recipes from her Henrietta Green's Farmers' Market Cookbook. The Food Lovers' Fair is open from 10am to 5.30pm, on 7, 8 and 9 September. Don't be so distracted by all the goodies to eat and buy that you forget to visit Loseley Park's beautifully laid out kitchen garden.

Ludlow Marshes Food & Drink Festival was one of the first, and it's happening again, starting on Friday, 7 September with a food and drink fair in the marquee in the castle. There's more on Saturday and Sunday, 8 and 9 September, when there will be more demonstrations and talks by chefs and experts. You can get a train to Ludlow from Shrewsbury, and even Bristol, and there's park and ride from just outside the town. Food and wine from Ludlow's twin towns in Italy and France is on sale, and on Sunday there's a market of local produce in the castle square. Ludlow's food & drink festival originated seven years ago to support the town's food traders and surrounding producers. It has never had sponsorship from multinationals.With more Michelin-starred restaurants than anywhere else in England apart from London, Ludlow has an extraordinary reputation as a Mecca for good food. In the past year, it has lost one of its six butchers for family reasons, not because of the Tesco effect, but still has five; there are at least two greengrocers, four bakers, three specialist grocers/ delicatessens, and more than a dozen pubs.

No festival as yet, but the Berkshire village of Bray has plenty to brag about on the food front, too. It's the home of the Waterside Inn, Michel Roux's legendary restaurant, but of more note recently, of Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck. Blumenthal's latest accolade is to be named the Chefs' Chef in the forthcoming 2002 AA Restaurant Guide. Known for his experimental cooking, if some diners are baffled by his coffee and garlic ice cream, his peers are highly impressed. In a poll of 1,800 chefs he emerged as the winner. His restaurant, the Fat Duck, joins an elite half dozen to have been awarded five stars in the AA guide – that's one more star than neighbour the Waterside Inn. And nowhere in Ludlow ranks as high as four or five stars.