ANTICIPATION is rising at Traquair House as it prepares to welcome The Great British Bake Off star Dame Prue Leith.

The restaurateur, food critic and author will appear on stage on the morning of Sunday, August 27, as part of the annual Beyond Borders festival.

And the heat is cranking up in the kitchen of the Garden Café, in the walled garden, among the staff and young team of bakers who will put their white chocolate and pistachio cake to the test.

Café manager Linda Fraser said: “We will be on our A-game this festival. Forget Paul Hollywood – we want the Prue Leith handshake.”

Leith will be appearing with veteran BBC correspondent Jim Naughtie and social and cultural commentator Peter York.

They will take a deep but light-hearted and comical dive into how British culture has changed.

Leith is no stranger to Scotland. Although born in South Africa, she went on to marry John Playfair who used to live in Edinburgh and has come to love the country and its cakes well.

Food and style have always been good markers of a country’s culture so Naughtie will be drilling down into how Scotland and the UK palate and social mores have changed over the last 20 years, including post Brexit.

It promises to be an entertaining hour of discussion and anecdotes, with Leith and York signing books in the festival bookshop run by Biggar’s Atkinson-Pryce Bookshop.

Catherine Maxwell Stuart, 21st Laird of Traquair, said: “Festivalgoers will have the chance to decide which cakes are the best along with Prue before relaxing in the walled garden over lunchtime where they can soak up the last of the summer’s rays while listening to some music on the marque stage.”

Alastair Campbell will then appear as he is grilled by a Peebles High School sixth-former and student from Edinburgh Napier in the last session of the festival.

“Now that’s the real dessert,” said the founder of the festival, Mark Muller Stuart.

The full Beyond Borders International Festival programme and box office is available online at bbintfest.com/.

For full ticket information visit bbintfest.com/booking-information/.

If you have any questions, queries, have any accessibility requirements, or if you would like help booking your tickets contact info@beyondbordersconsulting.com or phone 0131 290 2686 on Tuesdays between 9.30am-5.30pm.