Organisers on an award-winning Suffolk wood crafts festival say they have been overwhelmed with messages of support as they gear up for its return.
Weird and Wonderful Wood is being staged at Haughley Park, near Stowmarket, on the weekend of May 13 and 14.
Organisers were delighted earlier this year when the festival was voted East Anglia's best festival - as well as taking the Suffolk county crown at the East Anglian Festivals of the Year Awards.
It won an East Anglian Festival Network's (EAFN) poll which ran for the first 10 days of 2023 - beating Buckfest Music Festival (Cambridgeshire), CozFest (Essex) and Legends Of Rock Yarmageddon 10 (Norfolk) to take the top spot.
The event is run by Sarah Barker and Sue Taylor. They took over the reins last year from Sarah's mum, Tarby Davenport MBE, who founded the event in 1994.
Sarah said people from all over East Anglia have been expressing their excitement about the forthcoming event.
"I think people are very excited that Weird and Wonderful Wood is coming back," she said.
"People are so pleased to be coming back. EAFN has been great and I know that they were very impressed with the festival last year."
They have been "overjoyed" at the reaction since the festival award this year, she added.
"The response of visitors was just amazing - that we were voted the best out of over 700 festivals in the region."
The name of the festival has grown, she said, and was attracting the very best art and craft woodworkers in the country.
This year's two-day event will celebrate some of the finest artists in wood, instrument makers, designers, sculptors and furniture makers - and a host of other local craftspeople who will be demonstrating, exhibiting and selling their works.
The aim is to inspire, educate and entertain people of all ages and abilities.
The event will include arts and crafts, woodworking demonstrations, free workshops for children and entertainers from all over England.
These include stilt walkers, jugglers and acrobats. A music stage will host known artists and talented newcomers.
The event has an ethos of affordability and inclusivity with free entry for under fives and concessionary rates for pensioners, students and those with disabilities.
Children's workshops and activities are also free inside the event.
Performers include acrobatic troupe the Black Eagles from Tanzania, Dan the Hat, unicyclist Goronwy Thom, the Bureau of Silly Ideas, stilt-walkers the Vortexes, The Flying Buttresses and Foolhardy Folk.
The acoustic stage will include performances from poet John Hegley, The Levellers front man Mark Chadwick and Baka Beyond.
New workshops include prehistoric experiences with Memma the Cavewoman who will be showing how wood and stone were used by our ancestors.
Festival-goers can learn a host of other skills - including how to play the traditional Irish instrument the bodran, how to hula hoop or weave willow.
Local chefs, bakers and brewers will also be offering food and drink.
Tickets are available in advance and on the gate. The event starts at 10.30am both days, finishing at 6pm on Saturday and 5pm Sunday.
Day tickets are £14 (adults), £10 (concessions), £5 (children under 12) and under fives free.
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