A NEW day-long family folk festival organised by Arts University Bournemouth students is being held in Poole later this month.

The Folkish Festival takes place at Upton Country Park on Sunday, April 24 from 12pm to 9pm with live music, street food, a real ale and cider bar, crafts stands and children's activities.

It has been organised by a group of six third-year BA (Hons) Creative Events Management Course students as part of their final year project, but they hope it could continue in the future.

Jamie Lilycrop, project manager for the Folkish Festival, said: "We started planning it in May last year. We looked at around 15 venues in Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset but we thought that Upton Country Park is out of the way enough to be a nice little secluded area for the folk festival. It's also big enough for us to have food traders.

"Our target audience is couples who like folk music, with a specific aim for people aged from 25 to 65, but everyone is welcome as there will be things for the whole family to enjoy.

"We have found that there is not another event locally which has such a broad range of music. We really believe that while there are some events around that might have one really high profile act, we have got some high profile acts, some local acts and some up-and-coming performers."

A host of acts are on the bill including Rusty Shackle, Tankus the Henge, CC Smugglers and Threepenny Bit, as well as the Poole-based band Harpin On’ and Chiani Ribeiro from Swanage.

Jamie said that the line-up is filled for this year, but they welcome acts getting in touch to register an interest in taking part in future festivals organised by the team.

Tickets cost £20 for adults, £10 for under-16s and free for under-fives in advance from Tawny's Wine Bar in Swanage, Banks Wines and Spirits in Winton or the website. Free car parking is available on the day and for more information, go to Folkish.co.uk