MORE than 10,000 daring diners tested their taste buds at the county’s hottest event at the weekend.

The third annual Great Dorset Chilli Festival has been hailed a resounding success by organisers after a weekend of fiery fun that drew in “unprecedented” crowds.

The event, held in the grounds of St Giles House in Wimborne St Giles, featured a trio of Mexican Mariachi performers, birds of prey, and 75 different stalls.

Visitors packed out a demonstration tent to watch a series of talks about the tiny spicy fruit, as well as being treated to dishes prepared by local chefs.

Abigail Stevens of organisers SureFire events said: “It was a fantastic weekend.

“It was even better than we hoped it would be, so we’re all really pleased. We had the weather on our side too – Saturday was stunning, and although it clouded over a bit on Sunday, it didn’t put anyone off. The atmosphere was particularly great because visitors were having fun.”

But despite the popularity of the festival, Abigail said the aim is to keep it to a select few.

“There’s a limit to how big the event can become before we’re just another food festival, which isn’t our intention,” she said.

“We had an unprecedented number of visitors and regrettably queues for the car park built up on Sunday. But the response to the festival was fantastic, with the main comment being about the friendly and relaxed atmosphere.”

For many, the highlight of the festival was the gruelling chilli eating competition, which took place on both afternoons.

Brave contestants were subjected to 10 fiery rounds of increasingly hot chillis.

The last men standing were James Harrold and Jake Shergold of Bournemouth.

Amateur chefs also had the opportunity to enter the Dorset heat of the 2013 Chilli Cook-Off Championships in aid of children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent.

The winning team was Silly with Chilli, led by team captain See Inn Toh, who will progress to the UK finals.