MASTER chocolatier Paul A Young was back in his home town as part of the Durham City Food Festival over the weekend.

Mr Young, whose family still live in the city, trained at New College Durham, and Leeds Metropolitan University.

He worked his way up through the kitchen ranks to become head pastry chef for Marco Pierre White at Quo Vadis and Criterion restaurants in London before beginning to specialise in chocolate.

He has opened three fine chocolate shops in London and won awards for his chocolates, which are handmade in the kitchens of his shops using only free ingredients.

His book, Adventures With Chocolate, won a World Gourmand Cookbook award.

He gave a tutored tasting in the food festival tent on Saturday and today (Monday) is returning to talk to catering students at his old college.

Over the weekend there were more than 100 food stalls on Palace Green as part of the Gourmet Food Marquee.

There were demonstrations by Mr Young, Michelin-starred chef Jean Christophe Novelli, who hosted TV's Chef Academy, Alan O'Kane, from Wynyard Hall Hotel, Bob Arora from Newcastle's Sachins Indian Restaurant, Oldfields owner Bill Oldfield among others. A continental market was held in the Market Place.