Sporting moleskin breeches, a wool waistcoat and felt hat, Peter Gott is instantly recognisable to visitors at the Westmorland County Show.


As host of the Cumbria Life Food Theatre his voice is equally memorable as he maintains two days of banter and witty asides and shares his stories and deep knowledge of food with audiences.
For Peter is not there just to entertain, he also sees his job as being able to inform and educate, whether it is the ingredients critical for traditional Cumberland sausage, the impact of increased animal feed costs on food production or the importance of bringing on the next generation of chefs.
Many assume that he is from farming stock. For almost 40 years he did have his own farm and still operates under the brand of Sillfield. 
But, as evidenced by his gift of the gab, his background is in markets, in particular Barrow Market, the location of his first job and where he still spends his working days.
He turns 70 in 2025 and more than 50 of those years have been spent in Barrow Market.
It came after a private school education, which saw him doing drama and getting up to mischief with comedian and actor Rowan Atkinson. He has worked with many celebrity chefs over the years on programmes including ITV’s This Morning with Phil Vickery, Rick Stein’s Food Heroes, Jimmy’s Farm, Jamie’s Kitchen and Saturday Kitchen and even presented a programme for BBC Open University called Bringing Home the Bacon.
“I still believe in local food and food production, local abattoirs, different breeds and high quality,” he said. “There is so much highly processed food out there and we are all seeking clarification what it’s all about. Behind the scenes there is a lot of commercial gain.
“Our sausages are gluten free with no MSG, nutmeg instead of antioxidants, no flavour enhancers other than spices, no colouring and a high meat content.
“They have a five-day shelf life because anything longer would need extra preserving ingredients and if you aren’t going to use them straightaway you can freeze them.
“A lot of standard sausages contain rusk from bread that is highly processed by industrialised corporations. I think a lot of the intolerances we are seeing now are because of the cocktail of ingredients in processed foods. We used to have a big variety of microbiology and now we don’t.”
Heading back to his stall in Barrow Market, he added: “I strongly believe in the Slow Food movement, which encourages and promotes local food and artisan food production.
“Markets, farmers’ markets and shows are the only places where people can buy food from the producers and talk to people with the knowledge about how it’s been produced.”