THE Hairy Bikers helped make the annual Lancashire Food Festival one of the most successful ever.

More than a thousand people went to Accrington town hall and met the biking and cooking duo, Dave Myers and Simon King, who opened the two-day festival on Saturday.

Simon and Dave, who rose to fame with their BBC television series The Hairy Bikers, which has seen them travel and cook in areas such as Namibia and Transyl-vania, said the food festival was fabulous' with 'such high quality produce' on offer.

The pair wowed scores of festival goers with two dishes they hope to recreate on the Saturday Kitchen television programme, which will be filmed for BBC 1 later this month.

They gave a demonstration of a salmon and a guinea fowl dish shortly after they arrived.

Barrow-born Dave said: "It has been great, fabulous, really successful. The quality of the produce is so so high but it is reasonably priced. We hope to take some of stuff to cook with."

The two-day festival kick started Taste Lancashire, a festival of food and drink organised by Made in Lancashire, which aims to highlight the region's culinary pleasures and create a platform for promoting small and medium-sized producers. It attr-acted more than 35 producers.

Kerry Smith, events organiser for Made in Lancashire, said: "It has been really, really busy and this year has been by far the most successful."

Sarah Entwistle, of Entwistle's Ramsbottom, which specialises in sauces, pates and sticky toffee pudding, said: "It has been a success and we have enjoyed it. The Hairy Bikers have encouraged more people to come."

Susan Bristow, of The Chocolate House, Glenfield Park, Blackburn, said: "It has gone really well."

Julie Norris, who was on the Three B's Brewery stall, of Stockclough Lane, Blackburn, which is owned by Robert Bell, said: "People have been really complimentary and we sold out of some of our beer. People have been really complimentary. "