Hinderwell-based blacksmith Katie Ventress opens doors for Staithes Festival of Arts and Heritage

You can look round the forge at Station View, Hinderwell, on Saturday September 16 and Sunday September 17, from 10am to 5.30pm, with anyone welcome to pop in.

Katie said on her Facebook page: “The fire will be ticking over and I will be tinkering away and ready to have a chat to anyone who wants to take a look around, ask some questions and see a few small examples of my work.”

There are a couple of parking spaces directly outside her open doors but people are asked not to park in front of the coastguard unit next door.

The popular festival makes a welcome return this weekend after a four-year break with more than 100 artists from far and wide holding exhibitions in 60 cottages and galleries.

As well as painters, this year's festival features ceramicists, jewellers, photographers, textile artists and sculptors.

This year's festival features the launch of a Staithes: A Life Story - a book written by documentary maker and journalist Grant McKee, who was one of the founders of the event.

There will also be a rare opportunity to view previously unseen postcards, photos and model boats collected by the late Willie Wright, a fisherman who Grant referred to in his book as a ‘true man of Staithes’.

Other fixtures in the programme include both cliffs either side of the village being illuminated, an appearance by Yorkshire antiques auctioneer and TV presenter Caroline Hawley who will be valuing items brought along by ticketholders while sharing stories of her career and a printmaking workshop run by American outlaw printmaker Sean Starwars who is flying in from Mississippi.

A series of heritage talks celebrating the history of the village has been curated at St Peter's Centre including talks on the Staithes Group of Artists by Staithes Gallery owner Al Milnes, the Alum Industry by Peter Appleton, The Neolithic Saltworks at Loftus and reportage from former Whitby Gazette reporter John Tindale.

There’s the added spectacle of seeing the surrounding cliffs illuminated, sculptures lit up and a heritage light trail winding its way from the harbour and along the beach.