THE FIFTH annual Pie Festival hosted by the Hodge family has raised £2,200 for the Eden Valley-based charity Hospice at Home.

The Mill Inn at Mungrisdale attracted more than 500 people to its celebration of the pie, which offered a choice of 22 different varieties.

Jim and Margaret Hodge, with their daughters Amanda and Lynne are award winning pie makers and, from creating home-made traditional pies from locally produced ingredients for their pub menu, they have developed a business producing more than 1,200 hand-made pies a week and had to relocate their pie-making to bigger premises at nearby Threlkeld.

Their pies are so popular with their customers in the Mill Inn that every autumn they host the Pie Festival with a marquee in the garden to accommodate those who want to enjoy the festivities.

Amanda said: "The Pie Festival is great fun, and gives us the opportunity to develop new recipes. It is a real team effort and we are delighted to be able to raise money for Hospice at Home through the weekend and other special events we hold throughout the year."

Margaret added: "We would like to thank everyone who supports us - customers, suppliers and all the staff. As well as the Pie Festival, which is the biggest event, we also raise money with a Burns Supper and St George's Night."

Hospice at Home's Keswick fund-raising representative Carole Handy and deputy chairman of the volunteer fund-raising committee, Annie Binny, said: "We are very grateful for all the hard work and fund-raising everyone at The Mill Inn has done on behalf of Hospice at Home."

The fifth Annual Pie Festival is already planned for November 2, 3 and 4 with all proceeds once again, in aid of Hospice at Home, a charity providing nursing care for termin-ally-ill people in their homes, covering 1,500 square miles and a population of 188,000 from Longtown in the north to Kirkby Stephen in the south, Alston in the East to Silloth in the west. The local charity provides nursing services to suit the needs of the individual patient, their families and carers, for those suffering from cancer and other diseases, regardless of age, belief or financial circumstances. All patients' services and support are totally free of charge.

The hospice charity celebrates its tenth anniversary this spring with the launch of a year-long appeal to secure the future of the nursing service in north and east Cumbria.