VISITORS to Darlington’s first food festival will be able to enjoy a taste of two foodie films with an interactive eat-along experience.

New details of the events planned for the Distinctly Delicious – Darlington Food Festival, which will take place over the Bank Holiday weekend of May 24-26, have been released by organisers.

Street theatre, cookery demonstrations and a parade of a giant Locomotion No.1 made of cake are among a number of activities planned alongside stalls filled with local food and drink producers and street food.

On Sunday, the second day of the festival, Darlington’s Market Square will be turned into an outdoor cinema for two screenings of Disney’s Ratatouille, which follows the culinary adventures of Remy, a rat with an extraordinary sense of smell.

Film-goers will be able to smell, and taste, some of the treats as they appear on screen, including a helping of traditional French ratatouille.

Alex Hirst, manager of Distinct Darlington, which is behind the festival, said: “Ratatouille is one of the best and most loved food movies of all time.

“This will be a great opportunity for people to experience this movie as never before in a way that all the family can enjoy.”

Later on Sunday, the Market Square will also host a drink along event, with a screening of the acclaimed movie, Sideways.

The cult classic, which centres around a road trip with two friends drinking their way through the Californian wine region, will offer the chance to sample six wines matched to events in the moving, along with tasting notes and a mini wine tasting workshop before the film is shown.

Tickets for Eat Along Ratatouille screenings, held at 10.30am and 5.30pm, are £5 each while those for Sideways – which begins at 8pm - are £20 each.

They can be booked by emailing admin@distinctdarlington.co.uk Organisers are still looking for teams to take part in the Locomotion Cake Parade, where the town’s link to the first passenger steam railway will be celebrated in cake form.

Teams are invited to take part by decorating their own cake carriage in the Market Square from 11am on Bank Holiday Monday, before the parade through the town at 2.30pm.

Anyone wanting to participate should contact festival director, Simon Preston at simon@gracelonline.co.uk Copies of the festival programme can be downloaded from distinctdarlington.co.uk/downloads.