Join us in wonderful, whimsical Wandiligong
on April 30th & May 1st 2011

The 11 th annual Nut Festival will be held in the nut capital of Victoria at Wandiligong .

The festival will mix a lot of fun and the arts with important messages about the nutritional value of nuts and how they can be used in gourmet cooking.

The setting for the festival is the breathtaking Wandiligong Valley, a landscape classified by the National Trust for its goldmining heritage and described as being “in the same postcode as paradise” by former Age editor Michael Smith in his book Downsize Me.

In April and May, walnuts and chestnuts fall from the trees in orchards, backyards and along the lanes of Wandiligong where they are gathered by pickers, residents and visitors. The Wandiligong Nut Festival celebrates this harvest by hosting a two-day festival.

Wandiligong is a small, semi-rural settlement of about 400 people located approximately 350 km north-east of Melbourne at the foot of the Victorian Alps.

The festival, begun in 2001, was initially just a low-key, local affair but has now grown to include a market, art, music, and food and wine events.

Highlights this year include the “ The Largest Nut" Competition. - The three categories are Walnuts, Hazelnuts and Chestnuts to be displayed and judged at Alpine Park on Saturday 30th April, and food demonstrations given by Anthony Simone (Simone's) andFrank Martinez, (Sole e Luna) with wine-matching by local vignerons.

The Nut and Chestnut Expo will explain why hazelnuts, walnuts and chestnuts (which are actually a starchy fruit) are such healthy foods. Different varieties of raw and roasted hazelnuts, walnuts and chestnuts will be available for tasting and different ways of preparing and cooking them demonstrated.

Music and art flourish in the rich, tree-clad valleys of Wandiligong and Bright. Local artists feature in the Art Marquee. Amateur and professional musicians perform at the market. And for the children there is art and craft in the Art Marquee, a jumping castle, games and dance.

Many of these events are in beautiful Alpine Park surrounded by mountains and historical pine trees. Listen to music, watch cooking demonstrations, taste chestnut soup, try your hand at still-life sketching, go on a farm walk, chuck a nut to raise money for Prostate cancer research or just relax in whimsical Wandiligong.

A feature of this year's festival will be the children's entertainment at Alpine Park on Saturday. Vic Health's Centre for Active Recreation Network ( CARN ) will conduct activities, you can also meet the CARN Croc.

On Sunday afternoon nutty revellers can end their day at Wandi Pub by joining us in nut-based competitions and take part in a 'nutty auction' to raise money for Prostate Cancer Research."