One of the county’s biggest folk festivals is coming back for another week of live music, dance workshops and free entertainment.

Broadstairs Folk Week is an annual celebration of local talent and top folk, rock, country and blues artists from all over the UK.

The festival, which takes place from Friday, August 11 to Friday, August 18, will see artists perform all over the seaside town, with concerts at the clifftop bandstand, the pavilion on the sands and many of Broadstairs’ pubs.

Live music on the bandstand, which comes from artists such as the Boxwood Chessmen, Luna Barge, Gaddzukes, the Captain’s Beard and Richie Triangle, is free for visitors to enjoy.

Headline concerts at some of the indoor venues, including Seth Lakeman Duo and Shake Me Up Sally at the Queen’s Road Baptist Centre and Four Gone Confusion and Gavin Atkin at Broadstairs Sailing Club, are ticketed and must be booked online in advance.

The full list of performances, including more than 130 pub gigs, can be found inside the Broadstairs Folk Week souvenir programme.

This year’s festival will also offer visitors the chance to get involved in more workshops than ever before, from circus skills to tai chi.

Visitors can join in with the Poets’ Breakfast, musical instrument and singing lessons, dance classes such as belly dancing and country dancing, knitting, sketching, hula hooping children’s crafts and more.

“Workshops are already proving very popular this year,” says Jo Tuffs, the festival’s artistic director. “The ukulele beginners and improvers are always busy, but people are also buying tickets to learn how to play the harmonica, mandolin, guitar, banjo, concertina, accordion, bodhran – which is great, because joining in is at the heart of the festival, and many of the tutors are playing at Folk Week too.”

There will be a variety of entertainment taking place alongside the bands, including dances and ceilidhs, fancy dress parties, singarounds and birdwatching walks.

The festival’s regular craft fair will also be open at Victoria Gardens from Saturday, which is where you can find the Festival Bar and produce from the likes of Folkestone-based Pork and Co and Whitstable’s Olive Hut.

There will also be street food stalls, fashion traders and music from the nearby bandstand.

For those who want to make the most of the week, the festival campsite is also available to book for this year’s event.

The campsite is a 20 minute walk to the centre of Broadstairs, or there are free minibuses that run to and from the main festival venues free of charge.

The site also offers food stalls serving breakfast and late night snacks, mobile shower units and some live music and workshops.

You can book tickets to this year’s events online here.

You can also find more information on this year’s festival programme on the Broadstairs Folk Week website.