NORTHCOTE Manor's anual food and wine festival is under way.

Tickets for the week-long event sold quickly, with sev-en top UK chefs, including London restaurant Pied à Terre's Shane Osborne, heading the bill each day.

This year, the Manor has also added its support to Taste Lancashire 08...The Year of Food Drink', and bosses said the festival would be "a showcase for local restaurants, produ-cers, farmers' markets and young chefs, who add to our growing reputation as the fine-food centre of Britain."

This year's festival has the theme "Obsession", and the Michelin-starred chef Pierre Koffman will be cooking up a five-course meal for the lucky guests tonight.