MY life gets better and better and better, says magician Paul Daniels. Who else is one week presenting an award to the best toilet cleaner in Britain and another week judging the best of British sausages?

Who indeed? Ladies and Gentlemen... world renowned magician Paul Daniels and his lovely assistant and wife Debbie McGee.

But what brings the dynamic duo to the cafe in Low Pavement? Why, British Sausage Week of course.

They came to the chic confines of Jass Cafe – a building which Paul describes as a "temple to modern design" – to judge the five sausages that have made it to the East Midlands regional final.

"It's the sign of a good sausage for anybody who gets that far," Paul said.

The king and queen of magic were chosen as judges for their enthusiastic love of the staple British foodstuff. Paul says it's not proving to be a chore.

"Certainly, the range of sausages has been astonishing," he says. "One of the best we tried was a pork sausage with orange marmalade. Then we tried pork and chilli, which was very good. We tried one with pumpkin in this morning. It just goes on and on."

Debbie adds: "We've tried so many interesting and really lovely sausages. We've tasted some unbelievable flavours."

So what do they look for in a sausage?

"First of all, the appearance," Paul said. "Does it attract you? Do you think 'oh, that's a good-looking sausage?' Does it split when you cook it? It shouldn't."

Debbie muses: "Texture, is it easy to cut or does it fall apart? Then of course flavour, taste and smell. We'll give it points for each of those categories then we add them up and we have a winner."

There are several taboos in sausage-making that can ruin the experience.

"Somebody put cheese in one," Paul says. "That's fine, but that can affect the smell. Someone put pineapple in another, and the acid from it really didn't suit the meat."

Contestant Scott Palmer, of Boston Sausage in Lincolnshire, describes the competition as "magic!"

"Obviously it's brilliant because Paul is a legend of our time," he said. " But hopefully he'll give us the thumbs up which would make it even better."

Mr Palmer opted to enter a hearty and traditional sausage. "It's our flagship traditional Lincolnshire sausage," he said. "It's fourth generation so it's been around for many years. It's a consistently good sausage – perfect for a good meaty breakfast or any occasion, really."

The overall winner was the Taylors' Special Country Sausage from Richard Taylor of Owen Taylor and Sons Ltd, at Leabrooks, Alfreton. How did victory taste?

"Smashing. I'm absolutely ecstatic," said Richard. " I knew we had an extremely good sausage. It's selling extremely well and to come here and win a competition like this is really quite fantastic.

"It's great news for our staff who have put so much effort into making such a cracking sausage. It's absolutely first class."

Richard tells of the secret to his successful sausage."I'd say it's the consistency in the standard of the pork, how it's fed and the attention to detail," he said. It's critical to get it at the right time of the mix."

Already an award-winning butcher, Richard thinks the future looks bright.

"We plan to develop the brand of Owen Taylor, which is going quite successfully at the moment," he said. "We won the Supreme Pie Championship last year, along with this award this year, it's all been fantastic."

Ever the performers, Paul and Debbie bring events to a jovial climax.

"I've not said this anywhere else," Paul insists to the crowd, "but it really was the best range of sausages that we've tasted on this tour."

There you have it. Well done, Nottingham.