It DIDN'T rain, it poured and it poured and it poured, but only the night before and not on the weekend of October 3 and 4. Organisers of BosFest 2010, held in Boscastle, Cornwall's Real Food Art and Crafts Festival thanked their lucky stars they asked a weatherman to open the event.

ITV West Country's Bob Crampton said at the start of the festival that he couldn't be absolutely confident of sunshine for the whole of the event, but in the end the glorious weather brought out record crowds.

"We are still doing the sums," said festival treasurer Chris Searle, "but it's quite clear we had more people passing through the marquees than ever before and we should be in a position to pay out a lot of money to local organisations."

Among those who benefited from the festival are: Boscastle Primary School and brand new pre-school; football and gig clubs, all of whom got together with the help of the festival committee to organise a grand gala night to get things off to a terrific start last Thursday. The night featured entertainer Shane Solomon and Atomic 80s.

On both Saturday and Sunday the crowds flocked into the two giant marquees on Boscastle's harbour car park, pushing takings well above expectations for many of the exhibitors who'd come from all over Cornwall and other parts of the West Country.

There was standing room only in the chefs' stage area as the very best of the county's chefs put on stunning demonstrations.

Andy Appleton from Fifteen Cornwall, together with two of the charity's trainees got the cooking off to a terrific start, to be followed by Paul Harwood from Rick Stein's St Petroc's Bistro and then the first female chef to grace the festival stage, Emily Scott showed why her Harbour Restaurant in Port Isaac was such a success.

Day two of the festival on Sunday brought Cornwall's most sought after celebrity chef, Nathan Outlaw, to the stage, together with Paul Ainsworth from Padstow's No 6 Restaurant and Scott Roberts from the Wellington Hotel in Boscastle.

But the chef who perhaps worked the hardest over the whole weekend was Adrian Oliver. The chef/proprietor of Margot's in Padstow once again proved he could have quite a career in stand-up comedy as well as cooking.

Adrian took up the chefs' challenge on Saturday and Sunday, when selected members of the audience were each given £10 to spend within the festival and return with ingredients from which he prepared a meal.

On both occasions he stunned the audience by turning out amazing food from recipes made up on the spot and produced within forty minutes.

"It was quite a challenge, but good fun and well worth doing," said Adrian. "I'm not sure any of the dishes will end up on the restaurant menu but everyone seemed to enjoy it."

Business was equally as brisk throughout the food, art and crafts marquees with a number of new exhibitors this year and a wide variety of top quality produce to choose from.

"We're particularly pleased to have had support this year from Skinner's brewery and Eventz* UK who provided the marquees, lights, cameras and sound system," added Mr Searle, "and others like Visit Cornwall, Speedyhire and Cornwall Council have also helped us to make it such a success."

With a free park and ride bus service to events, open gardens and venues put on by  individuals and local organisations  throughout the village, the event organisers, Boscastle Chamber of Trade and Commerce, agree it's going to be a tough act to follow, but as the marquees went down on Monday morning, plans were already being made for next year's events, starting in April with Walking Week.

See this week's 'Post' for more photos from the event.