Home cooks in search of a food festival with a difference may want to think about a trip to Harvest, which has been arranged by Blur star Alex James.

The rock star turned farmer will be opening up his Oxfordshire estate to host four days of music and food in September.

"My family are looking forward to a celebration of all our favourite things - food, the farm and music," he commented, with food experts such as Richard Corrigan, Mark Hix and Yotam Ottolenghi scheduled to be on hand.

Among the features of the festival will be pop-up restaurants, cookery master classes and even a farmer's market selling local produce.

It was announced earlier this week that proposals are in place to impose a tax on fast food outlets selling unhealthy foods in a bid to cut obesity across the UK.

A pilot project is currently underway in Oldham, Manchester.