The shops may have had their decorations up for weeks but the festive period gets well and truly under way in Medway this week with the opening of the Dickens Christmas market.

The German-style market at Rochester Castle Gardens will be opened by Vanilla Ice on Wednesday, November 30, at 4.30pm as part of the town’s Christmas lights switch-on.

The Ice Ice Baby singer, who stars in the pantomime Peter Pan at the Central Theatre, will light up 10,000 twinkling fairy lights over Rochester High Street and market, as well as 3,000 sparkling baubles on the market’s 25ft Christmas tree.

Then the smell of roasted chestnuts and gluhwein will take over as the market, which runs for three weeks on Wednesdays to Sundays, gets under way. The market is returning for a second year following the success of last year when more than 140,000 people visited.

Aside from grabbing some Christmas gifts from the huts selling handmade goods, there will be entertainment each day. Guitar, saxophone and electric fiddle player Roy Goulding will be a fixture on the marquee stage for most of the market’s tenure at the castle. There will also be performances from the Rock Choir on Sunday, December 4 and 11, Rainham Ladies’ Choir on Wednesday, December 16 and the Gillingham Male Voice Choir on Saturday, December 17.

You can also take the kids for a ride on the carousel and pay a visit to Santa’s grotto. The grotto will open every day of the market, which will run until Sunday, December 18, and costs from £4.99, depending on the number of children and day. Admission is free to Rochester Dickens Market.

For more details, go to www.dickenschristmasmarket.com