That Cornish institution, the Port Eliot Festival has unveiled the chefs, speakers, drinkers, growers (and hidden late-night cocktail bars) which make it the UK’s finest, most inventive festival for food.

Now, building on the launch of the Flower and Fodder stage in 2014, Port Eliot, which runs from July 28-31 confirms its best ever food line-up.

Polpo, the renowned, award-winning, Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant, will create an authentic Venetian bàcaro experience. Festival-goers can indulge in crispy freshly-fried fritto misto, sumptuous spicy pork and fennel meatballs, fragrant summer broad bean and mint bruschetta, all washed down with lashings of prosecco and classic Italian Aperol and Campari Spritzes.

Every day, from 10am until 10pm, Polpo will offer an experience that is both transporting and commensurate with the quintessential English summer experience that is Port Eliot. The bàcaro will be built on to the exterior of the house, surrounded by antique beer hall tables, wine barrels and bunting. In the basement of the house, Polpo will transform the 800-year-old Still Room - the oldest kitchen in the house - into a production kitchen, in which chefs will begin their preparations at 8am every day.

Russell Norman said, "Port Eliot attracts such sophisticated, knowledgeable and erudite food fans that cooking and eating there feels so easy. It's like dining with your family, but without the squabbles. It's always the highlight of my culinary calendar.”

British Fine Tea Merchants, Comins, will transform Port Eliot’s beautiful orangery into a Tea House, creating a space to escape, relax and immerse yourself in tea culture. Comins’ full range of over 25 personally-sourced fine teas will be prepared using traditional methods. The breakfast menu includes Matcha granola, Egg Hoppers & sweet Japanese Hokkaido Toast with cinnamon butter. Lunch features Japanese Gyoza dumplings, along with afternoon tea with blueberry scones and a section of Comins cakes and tea breads. Tastings, tea talks and tutorials will run throughout.

The heart of Port Eliot’s food happenings is the Flower and Fodder stage, which welcomes a tempting menu of chefs, writers, speakers, who will spend the event cooking, sharing and chatting. Among the chefs and writers this year:

? Nathan Outlaw - holder of two Michelin stars for his Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, now at Port Isaac, which was acclaimed as the best restaurant in Cornwall by Michelin.

? Blanche Vaughan - Food writer who trained at the River Cafe and cooked in restaurants across the UK such as Moro and St John.

? Sally Clarke - One of Britain’s most acclaimed chefs and restaurateurs.

? Madeleine Shaw a nutritional health coach, qualified yoga instructor, bestselling cookery writer of Get the Glow and creator of the Glow Guides App.

? Jeremy Lee has been the Head Chef at Quo Vadis, Soho since 2012 and is also a partner in the business. Jeremy, changes his menus daily, reflecting the seasons.

? Claire Ptak is a baker, cook, author and food stylist.

? Honey & Co is the brainchild of husband-and-wife team, Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich. This year sees the publication of Honey & Co: The Baking Book, the highly anticipated follow up to their award-winning cookbook, Honey & Co: Food from the Middle East.

? Alice Lascelles is a journalist, writer and hard liquor expert, probably best- known for her cocktail columns in The Times and Sunday Times.

This year will also see the inaugural outing for Russell Norman’s Food Fight, a chance to tackle team captains Tom Parker Bowles and Mark Hix as they go up against each other in a fiendish and fiercely competitive food quiz, aided and abetted by Matthew Fort and Bill Knott.

The ‘flower’ side of things comes to the fore in the Flower and Fodder Show. Audience members of all ages are invited to enter all sorts of competitive classes, which include flower arrangements inspired by the stories of Roald Dahl and Shakespeare and the garden designs of Capability Brown, as

well as putting forward their best pasties, cakes, buns, jam tarts and boozy preserves.

Much of this year’s workshop programme is inspired by the search for good food and drink. Workshop subjects include foraging, mixology, wild cocktail making, learning all about the most powerful food on the planet with the Cornish Seaweed Company, cider and cheese pairing and campfire cooking.

Festival director, Catherine St Germans, said, “From our very first festival, we wanted good quality food here. In the early days, we brought street food to Port Eliot by being the first festival to ask traders from Borough Market, who had never been to festivals before, to come to ours. Then we brought top chefs and cooks into the house to cook in the Regency kitchen, using the copper batterie de cuisine, and still do today. This year we’ve outdone ourselves!”

Tickets and full festival and line-up info: www.porteliotfestival.com or @PortEliotFest