THE THIRD annual Baring-Gould Folk Festival and Study Break gets underway on Monday in the villages of Bridestowe, Lewdown and Bratton Clovelly, bringing some of the best performers of English traditional music to the area.
Organised by Okehampton-based community folk arts organisation the Wren Trust, it promises to be seven days of excellent music and fun, giving local performers a platform to share their music with visitors from further afield.
The folk festival kicks off on Friday, October 26 at Bratton Clovelly Parish Hall with a folk club featuring festival guests alongside local performers. Celebrations will continue in the village throughout Saturday with concerts. a feast, workshops and informal sessions in various venues.
The festivities move to Lewdown on Sunday with morning events at the Victory Hall and Lewtrenchard Manor, followed by the annual Baring-Gould Conker Championship and afternoon farewell concert at the Victory Hall.
The weekend concludes with a thanksgiving evensong at St Peter's Church, Lewtrenchard, where the great collector of traditional folk tunes, Sabine Baring-Gould, was parson from 1881-1924 and wrote the words of the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers.
Festival guests include legendary squeezebox maestro, singer and songwriter John Kirkpatrick, internationally acclaimed singer and voice workshop leader Frankie Armstrong, Somerset-based acapella duo Roots Quartet and The Feast Band, a new five-piece band which brings together some of the most talented instrumentalists in Devon and the Wren Trust's own Marilyn and Paul Wilson.
Each year something new and distinctive is added to the festival and so the Saturday night event is to be made a feast of local food, song and dance.
The study break which runs from Monday to Friday is fully booked so watch out for informal evening music sessions at pubs around Bridestowe, Bratton Clovelly and Lewdown.