THIS weekend sees the return of one of the district's most intimate festivals.

Bellingham All Acoustic Music Festival, also known as Baafest, will take place at Brownrigg Lodges on the outskirts of the village from Thursday until Sunday.

Despite having capacity for just 300 people, the intimate festival is a firm favourite for folk music fans and artists from across the country.

More than 70 musicians will play across three stages, including well-established performers such as Whapweasel, Brook Williams, and Wes Finch and Jools Street.

In addition, a number of new acts will be hoping to impress the audiences, including , Chris Cleverley, Hareshaw Linn, and Chloe Chadwick.

Alongside the music will be a number of workshops for guitar, singers, and ukuleles, as well as the annual Sunday celidh, which will be hosted by North Tyne group Tarset Ceilidh Band.

Furthermore, food outlets and stalls will be on hand for hungry festival goers, along with some hand built recycled attractions such as a cancrusher and trebuchet.

Festival organiser and engineer Paul Mason will be demonstrating the attractions. Paul will also be performing in a pre-festival concert in the Assembly Hall on the Festival night.

The concert, which takes place on Thursday night, will see Paul alongside Fiona Lander hosting "Landermason and friends."

The well-known musical duo will be playing a selection of songs from their new album, as well as sharing the stage with some other musicians for a song or two.

The second pre-festival concert takes place on Friday, with the ever-popular student concert giving young musicians a platform, with Abbey Tilley, Jason Arnup, Eleanor Cole, and Andrew Langford just some of those taking part this year.

A further hour can be spent in the company of Anthony John Clarke, a respected songwriter, performer and entertainer.

Tickets for Baafest can be purchased at www.baafest.co.uk or by contacting the Festival Office (01434) 220646