Richard Curtis to be guest chef at Suffolk's Latitude festival

A renowned screenwriter and film director has been announced as the guest chef for this year's Latitude festival in Suffolk.

Richard Curtis and his wife Emma Freud will use produce from the county to show off their culinary skills at the event at Henham Park near Southwold.

Curtis, who has a home at nearby Walberswick, is behind movies including Notting Hill and Love Actually.

The festival will be held over the weekend of 20 to 23 July.

Other guest chefs will be musician, film director and cultural commentator Don Letts, comedic couple Marcus Brigstocke and Rachel Parris, and singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor and her husband, bassist Richard Jones from the band The Feeling.

Broadcaster Freud said: "Suffolk is the warmest and most magical county in Britain, with massive skies, stunning beaches, and a community that glows with kindness. And its culinary wonders are stunning.

"In the early 1930s, many members of my German Jewish family arrived in Suffolk and were made to feel welcome.

"Nearly a 100 years later, we're still here. On July 20, in our beautiful tent, we would love to welcome and feed you, the Suffolk way."

Curtis and Freud will host Thursday night's dinner.

On their menu is a welcome drink made with ingredients from a pub's allotment, a cheese starter from Jonny Crickmore at the Fen Farm Dairy and fresh seafood for the main.

Freud also revealed they would serve up Suffolk crullers for pudding - which is a light choux pastry fried desert.

"It may be the greatest dessert you have ever eaten," she said.

Letts will host on Friday, Brigstocke and Parris on Saturday and Ellis-Bextor and Jones on Sunday.

Curtis, who made his name writing BBC comedies including Not The Nine O'Clock News and Blackadder before going on to write and direct Four Weddings and a Funeral and About Time, has previously shared his love of Suffolk.

He dedicated his book That Christmas to Walberswick, where he spent lockdown, saying he felt "amazingly lucky" to have a home there.

His 2019 film Yesterday was his "love song" to The Beatles and to Suffolk, he said.

Acts performing at this year's Latitude festival include Pulp, George Ezra, Paolo Nutini, The Kooks and Siouxsie.

Three local acts will also perform thanks to being nominated by BBC Music Introducing in Suffolk.

Ipswich-based rapper Native James, Shotley R&B artist Darcey Iola, and Framlingham band Ikarus will play on the Alcove stage.

Native James said it would be the biggest festival he had played so far and he was "ecstatic" to join the line up.

He promised festival-goers they would "have the best party ever" watching him perform.

Ikarus said it was a "huge honour" to have been selected and Darcey Iola, who started performing gigs this year, said she was excited to make what she described as an "amazing jump".

Organisers recently said day tickets for the Sunday had sold out.

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