Newry, Mourne and Down District Council will oversee the final event of a PEACEPLUS-funded food and culture programme at Saintfield’s Rowallane Garden on Sunday, 29 November, between 1pm and 4pm. The Winter Feast closes Shared Table: Tastes & Traditions of Rowallane and Beyond, a programme delivered by ArtsEkta with funding the Council secured through PEACEPLUS.
The programme sits within the Council’s Local Action Plan under its Thriving Together initiative. PEACEPLUS itself is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), with support from the European Union, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of Ireland, and the Northern Ireland administration.
Additional reference context is available at https://www.newrymournedown.org/communities-come-together-through-food-and-culture-at-rowallane-winter-feast.
The event is free, though advance booking is essential. Tickets will be released at 9am on Monday 2 November 2026, via the ArtsEkta website at https://artsekta.org.uk/events/the-winter-feast/
What changed: the final gathering reflects an administrative decision taken earlier in delivery. The original Harvest Feast, scheduled for 24 October at Rowallane, was cancelled due to severe weather. Rather than drop the event, organisers rescheduled and reimagined it as a winter gathering, keeping its focus on food, cultural exchange and community connections.
The delivery model has been built around participation from different community and cultural backgrounds. Through food and storytelling workshops, cultural recipe sharing, local food heritage activities, creative experiences and visits exploring food and nature, participants have been discovering traditions from County Down alongside foods and customs from around the world. The programme is designed to encourage people to share their own experiences while identifying what communities have in common, from recipes passed through generations to the role of food in family life, hospitality and celebration.
Set against the winter surroundings of Rowallane Garden, the Winter Feast will celebrate seasonal flavours and food traditions through live music, storytelling, artisan producers, creative workshops and cultural experiences. Visitors can expect live entertainment alongside three food demonstration and sampling stations covering local food heritage, seasonal dishes and flavours from around the world. A curated artisan food market will showcase independent producers and food businesses, while hands-on winter and nature-inspired workshops will offer creative activities for visitors of different ages.
Council leadership has framed the programme as a civic investment in community relations. Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Glyn Hanna, said, “Shared Table is a wonderful opportunity for people from across the Rowallane area to come together, meet others and celebrate the rich food traditions and cultures that exist within our communities.
“Food has a unique ability to bring people together, and through PEACEPLUS we are creating opportunities for residents to share experiences, learn from one another and build new connections. I look forward to The Winter Feast at Rowallane Garden, which promises to be a fantastic celebration for the whole community.”
Meanwhile, oversight of the wider funding stream sits with the Council’s PEACEPLUS communications structure. A PEACEPLUS newsletter is published every two months, highlighting projects being delivered throughout the district as part of the Co-Designed Action Plan. Residents who wish to receive future newsletters can email [email protected] and ask to be placed on the PEACEPLUS database. Further information on the administering body, SEUPB, is available through the PEACEPLUS website.
Taken together, the Winter Feast illustrates how cross-border funding delivered through local government structures is being translated into community-level programming, with the Council, its delivery partner ArtsEkta and the SEUPB each holding a defined role in bringing the Shared Table programme to a close. Whether the Council extends this delivery model in future funding rounds remains an open question.