The historic town food tour with a celebrity gin bar and famous old courtroom

With a plethora of independent cafes, restaurants and bars housed in an array of quirky historic buildings, Knutsford in Cheshire is a town with a lot to entice foodies in. And now a dedicated Taste Knutsford food tour has been launched which helps visitors pack in to seven or eight such establishments all in one day.

The historic market town is spread out across two distinct streets - Princess Street and King Street that are also known locallly as the "top" and "bottom" street. Here you'll find a pretty patchwork of period buildings with independent shops and eateries to explore.

And there's plenty of showbiz sparkle in Knutsford these days too - with two celebrity-owned bars in the hospitality mix here.

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Boyzone star Shane Lynch runs the D13 bar on King Street, while on Princess Street you'll find the popular craft beer and gin bar and bottle shop Dexter and Jones, run by ex-Corrie star Adam Rickitt and GMB presenter wife Katy Rickitt.

The town itself is situated right next to the entrance to Tatton Park - where you can head to walk off all the food and drink calories from a food tour across the historic deer park.

We headed to test out one of the Taste Knutsford tours, which take around three hours in small groups of around 12 people. They select around seven to eight places to stop from a stable of 18 local businesses that rotate on the tour.

We started with breakfast at The Courthouse, an eye-popping restaurant based inside the former Knutsford Crown Court. As settings go for a lunch or dinner there's few like this one and one of the perks of doing a food tour is you get to find out plenty about the history of the venues you head to.

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