THE first ever Vegan Fair to grace Wiltshire took place on Sunday and proved to be a huge success at Chippenham's Neeld Community and Arts Centre.

More than 750 people descended upon the fair, which was made up of dozens of stalls were set up at the venue, in Borough Parade, from 10am-4pm, featuring food producers, makers of beauty products, charities and speakers.

This was all made possible thanks to organiser Ian Somerville and his army of volunteers who helped make this idea, that was conceived five months ago, become a reality.

"For a first attempt I thought it went really well and pretty smoothly. Obviously there are things to work on but this is definitely the start of something promising," he said.

"The time is right to have a festival such as this, what with the huge rise in the number of vegans that are in the UK over the last decade.

"Some of the stalls on show were fantastic. People really enjoyed themselves and got a good appreciation of something that is quite small but definitely on the up.

"The goal is to try and make it bigger and better each year but also maybe do smaller, more regular markets too.

"I have been to the Bristol version many times and it really is a fantastic event and if we can harness some of that winning formula they have, this could be the beginning of something special.

"These are a superb way for people to experience veganism and raise people's awareness about how you can live a more ethical lifestyle."

There was also sweet treats from producers such as Fusion Bakes and Cakes and The Vegan Cakery and for those visitors with a less sweet tongue there are vegan hot dogs from V-dogs or fine vegan dining by Asparagasm.

Visitors attended various talks, spoke to nutrition experts, food producers or animal rights campaigners as well as looking at vegan tattoos and enjoying a makeover using cruelty free products.

Volunteer Poppy Leeder added: "It was absolutely jam-packed. I found it difficult to get around the place it was so rammed. What's more we had people travelling from as far as Wales and London.

"It is great that there is something like this for vegans as they generally have to travel quite a way for something like this."