Here is a date for everyone’s Christmas diary, writes Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival president Caroline Cranbrook.

On December 23 from 9.30am to 1.30pm, Snape Maltings are holding their brilliant Christmas Farmers Market. It takes place at their renowned music venue beside the banks of the Alde estuary at Snape. Famous for its friendliness, it has an amazing variety of high quality local products, many of which have been produced solely for this Christmas Market and are unique, representing the very best of Suffolk’s food and drink.

If there are any gaps in your Christmas menus or Christmas present lists, here is the place to fill those gaps with something which is delicious, different and made in Suffolk from Suffolk ingredients.

This Christmas Market can make your Christmas truly special. There will be 40 plus stalls and something for everyone – fresh vegetables and fruit, home-made pies, biscuits, pates and puddings, macarons, vegan and “free-from” bakes and cakes (including Christmas cakes and puddings), jams, authentic spicey pickles and sauces, chocolates and fudge – and newly cut flowers and greenery for table decoration.

If you have forgotten to order your turkey or goose, the Wild Meat Co is bringing oven-ready birds to the market, together with amazing two or three bird roasts and various “ballotines” combining different birds (serving from one to 20 people). Truly Traceable Venison & Game Pies will have their limited edition of venison shank pies, made from muntjac deer. Kenton Hall will be there with joints great and small from their splendid Longhorn cattle and Sutton Hoo with their free-range chickens.

Our famous Suffolk cheese-makers are coming, Fen Farm Dairy with their Bigod Brie and butter made with raw milk from their rare Montbeliarde cows and Suffolk Farmhouse Cheeses with Suffolk Gold, Suffolk Blue and Suffolk Brie made from their rich Guernsey cows’ milk. And there are even Christmas treats for your dog – Barkers of Suffolk will be selling hand-made canine cupcakes, cheese and bacon muffins and liver cake.

Festive drink will be available in abundance – DJ Wines from Monk Soham with their Bramble Whisky, Cherry Brandy and Sloe Gins, Barrell and Sellers from South Elmham will bring their special seasonal stout, dark and rich, and Hoxne Brewery will have a variety of traditional ales. There will be fruit juices from High House Fruit Farm and Edwards Drinks from Lavenham. Everything local, everything deliciously different.

The variety, quality and originality of Suffolk’s food and drink are a real tribute to our producers who have made Suffolk a food destination, widely acclaimed in the media. The Christmas Market makes Christmas shopping a pleasure to enjoy. So do be sure to join us.

And when you come to the Christmas Market, do visit the Snape Maltings shops, which are packed with an amazing array of food, toys, books, cards, clothing, houseware, crafts and antiques, as well as everything for the music lover.

For more information visit www.aldeburghfoodanddrink.co.uk and www.snapemaltings.co.uk.