The star of two popular BBC1 television programmes is to be the guest celebrity at this year’s Isle of Man Food & Drink Festival.

Gareth Wyn Jones is the subject of ‘The Hill Farm’, a documentary about three generations of his family who tend Tyn Llwyfan in North Wales, and ‘The Farmer and the Food Chain’, in which he explores ways Wales can develop its food industry.

He has also appeared on Channel 4’s ‘Come Dine With Me’.

In 2013, he won the 2013 NFU Cymru/Principality Welsh Rural Community Champion Award. The following year, he was shortlisted for the Farmers’ Guardian Farming Hero Award in the British Farming Awards.

He will speak about his life in farming and his TV career as he gives cookery demonstrations at the festival on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September.

The festival is organised by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, which has a ?50 million strategy to grow the value of the sector to the economy, Food Matters.

‘With Gareth’s knowledge of hill farming, food, supply and procurement, his experience ties in perfectly with our own drive to develop food and drink, the biggest showcase of which is the festival,’ said Richard Ronan MHK, Minister for Environment, Food and Agriculture.

‘As well as his appearance at the festival, Gareth will also meet farmers, via the Manx National Farmers’ Union.

‘Gareth champions the value of food and drink to the economy of Wales and will bring valuable experience to us as we continue to enlarge our own industry.’

Follow Gareth on Twitter @1GarethWynJones