Smoke & Fire Festivals Announce a New Five-Hour Culinary Journey: The Ember Lounge – Winter Chapter
A time unfolding – fire warms hands while food fills plates beside handmade touches rooted in nature’s quiet rhythm.
Smoke and Fire Festivals, Britain’s biggest BBQ gathering, prepares for 2026 with something different. Instead it unfolds like this – a five-hour experience called The Ember Lounge: Winter Chapter. Fire guides food here, yet there’s much beyond eating. Workshops happen right alongside the dishes being prepared. Being outdoors at Shimpling Park Farm in Suffolk adds another layer. Time passes through warmth and earth, not just schedules. Each moment links back to where things grow, how they’re shaped, and who gathers.
Falling into late daylight, then stretching into night’s soft hour, The Ember Lounge unfolds like a pause worth taking – a quiet gift for Valentine’s Weekend wanderers who value depth, warmth, and flavour.
A Multi-Layered Experience – Not Just a Meal
Behind the usual glow of full-immersive meals, The Ember Lounge pulls guests into how things are built – flavour by flavour, crop by crop. Over five hours, roles shift through experiences like:
Live Fire Theatre & Feast Led by Master Live Fire Chef Julian Brown – who worked with the group setting up Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat eatery in the Cotswolds – people will watch intense cooking happen right before their eyes. Heat from roaring flames shapes bold dishes, bringing out rich textures and deep flavours through fiery techniques.
Artisanal Sourdough Workshop – Over at Shimpling’s bakery, right on the farm, visitors get to watch how real sourdough comes together under the guidance of baker Dominic Biddle. Baked goods start with grain that’s been raised here, giving every loaf its own earthy touch.
Gourmet Mushroom & Fungi Discovery Session – A workshop unlike any other, diving into the strange charm of mushrooms and fungi – their hidden growth patterns, unseen impacts on soil, yet visible magic in cooking. Discover what makes Lion’s Mane stand out among fungal flavors, plus encounter the unexpected edible that eats its own kind for dinner farming trip begins here. Woodlands await just beyond the fence line.
Starting with the land itself, John and Alice Pawsey – fourth-generation regenerative farmers – walk visitors through wave-like fields and old-growth woods, showing how nature guides the growing of what ends up on the plate. When daylight fades, people make their way back to a softly lit barn – light from candles flickers, warm flames glow behind wooden beams, while smells of roasted food drift through the air – and now it becomes one long table where everyone shares meals alongside wines and cups of liquid warmth.
For anyone wishing to get hot and steamy, there is also going to be a sauna at the event! Booking advised!
A small package awaits each person later on, filled with items chosen just for them, a quiet nod to what was lived during those hours under low ceilings and open skies.
A quiet moment, small on purpose. Tickets are going fast, no extras around.
• Friday the thirteenth two thousand twenty-six brings us arrival at two o’clock in the afternoon. By evening, carriages will gather under dim lights by half past eight
• Saturday the fourteenth of February two thousand twenty-six by two thirty PM arrival then at dusk carriage rides begin around eight PM
A Word from the Founder…
“Now imagine flames licking at wooden beams while crowds roar – Smoke and Fire once quietly became the country’s biggest backyard cookout event. It now hosts sold-out days, filled with viral battles like the World Butcher Wars. Then there is the British Open Freestyle BBQ Championships®, drawing competitors from far corners just to see who dares the flames.
What sets The Ember Lounge apart? It feels closer to home. Not simply one more meal to attend. A moment when time bends slightly, drawing people into warmth, handcrafted detail, flame light, earth scent, and taste that lingers.
A flicker of hot ash, shadows dancing beneath rough wood – this place wraps you in quiet heat, shut out by cold winds. Savour each moment, pass a plate across shoulders, let memories settle like snow”.
He adds:
“Fire crackles through February nights when doors open to those looking for more than just romance. A sudden spark ignites every corner of the place where moments burn brighter than candles. People arrive expecting soft melodies or candlelit corners yet find themselves pulled into unspoken tales woven through each room. Time slips away like smoke carrying whispers of laughter and quiet epiphanies. Even after departure, the scent of wood smoke lingers behind closed windows and in the hollows of their chests.”
For details and tickets, check out https://www.smokeandfirefestival.com
Save 20% off ticket price with LOVEHEARTS at the checkout.
