Porlock Vale

Dramatic costumed Tales of Porlock, Past and Present. In the recently restored Solar of this 15th Century building, with harp and flute.

The players: Christine de Vere Hunt, Penny Kelham, Tess Nixon and Christine Greenwood. John Thorne, Nigel Greenwood, Andrew Reese. Tony Richards, Mark Palmer and Dennis Corner.

Time: 7.30 pm
Venue: Dovery Manor Museum
Price: £5.00, Wine and hors d'oeuvres included.

Sir Christopher Ondaatje shares one of his passions – big cats - and recounts tales from his new book, ‘The Glenthorne Cat and Other Amazing Leopard Stories’, then invites you to join him for cheese, wine and a chat; sale and signing of the book.

Time: 7.30 pm
Venue: Large Hall
Price: £5 (Refundable on purchase of book). Free for Friends of Porlock Festival

Local artists have opened their studios and showrooms to display their techniques, work, and collections, including silver jewellery, basket making, pottery, artist blacksmith, painting, textiles and felting, glass and glass blowing demonstrations. Many items will be for sale. Porlock Weir will also open its doors to ‘The Boat Shed’, a museum of boating memorabilia and Quay Cottage, a Vintage Toy Museum with a collection of Pelham Puppets.

Time: 10.00am – 5.00pm
Venue: Leaflet guide/map available at Porlock Visitor Centre. (01643 863150)
Price: Free

Michael Gaitskell, maker of fine stoneware at nearby Wootton Courtenay, President of the Westcountry Potters Association, talks about the significance of handmade pottery as a symbol of human creativity.

Time: 2.30-4.00pm
Venue: Large Hall
Price: £3
Email: www.millpottery.co.uk

A light-hearted evening of two halves. To keep us laughing Tony James, mariner, journalist and author (of twenty six books) draws from a lifetime of heroic failure in meeting his life plans. Followed by light jazz and swing from ‘Gentle Jazz’ to get our feet tapping.
Bistro setting.

Time: 7.30 pm
Venue: Large Hall
Price: £6, bar, free nibbles.

As Friday above PLUS Wood sculpture at Piles Mill 10.00 – 4.00 (check separate leaflet)

Time: 10.00am – 5.00pm
Venue: Leaflet guide/map available at Porlock Visitor Centre. (01643 863150)
Price: Free

Story Telling for 3-7 year olds - Specially written and performed by Chris de Vere Hunt and Tim Nixon local legends and stories are woven into a lively entertainment for children 3-7 years.

This event will be videoed

With financial support from the Exmoor National Park Sustainable Development Fund, provided by DEFRA & from Somerset County Council

Time: 10.30 – 11.30am
Venue: Large Hall
Price: Free. Entry by ticket available from Porlock Visitor Centre. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Enjoy a day of poetry reading at the end of the Coleridge Way. Includes Fire River Poets, Terrible Work, Minehead 4, Exmoor Writers open microphone. Guest poet Elisabeth Bletsoe. Musical interludes from ‘Slap Jack’. Bring a picnic and drink. Plenty of local fooderies close by.

Time: 11.00 am - 4.00 pm
Venue: Jubilee Garden (behind Porlock Visitor Centre), Small Hall if wet.
Price: £3
Contact: Further information from Tilla Brading, 01643 708160 or
Email: tilla.b@virgin.net

David Leech, the leading authority on this subject, presents a talk, demonstration and exhibition about the history and development of Pelham Puppets in a comfortable and informal setting on the quayside.

Time: 11 a.m.
Venue: Anchor Hotel, Porlock Weir
Price: Free, but tickets required for talk and demonstration

Local walk around Porlock Bay and historic farmland with aspects of climate change with National Trust Countryside Manager. Leisurely pace, bring sturdy footwear.

Time: 2.00 - 4.30pm
Venue: Meet at Visitor Centre
Price: £ 2

Authors with new releases give brief talks and sell and sign their books. Further details from Porlock Visitor Centre nearer Festival time.

Time: 4.00 pm - 5.00 pm
Venue: Small Hall
Price: Free entry, no tickets needed

Margaret Drabble hosts an evening with Valerie Grove and Rose Tremain, in which they talk about their work.

Margaret Drabble has published seventeen novels, most recently The Sea Lady (2006), and edited two editions of The Oxford Companion to English Literature (1985, 2000). She is married to the biographer Sir Michael Holroyd and lives in London and Porlock Weir.

Rose Tremain CBE has won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Sunday Express 'Book of the Year' Award, the Whitbread Novel Award and the Prix Femina in France. Her novel ‘Restoration’, short-listed for the Booker Prize, was made into a film in 1995. She lives with biographer Richard Holmes in Norfolk and London.

Valerie Grove has had a long career in Fleet Street as columnist, interviewer and literary editor. She has written five non-fiction books, including biographies of Dodie Smith and Laurie Lee. The paperback edition of her latest biography ‘A Voyage Around John Mortimer’ is published in July 2008 ‘

Book sales and signing in the interval

Time: 7.30 pm
Venue: Large Hall
Price: £8, bar, free nibbles.

Story Telling for 3-7 year olds - Specially written and performed by Chris de Vere Hunt and Tim Nixon local legends and stories are woven into a lively entertainment for children 3-7 years.

This event will be videoed

With financial support from the Exmoor National Park Sustainable Development Fund, provided by DEFRA & from Somerset County Council

Time: 10.30 – 12.00am
Venue: Large Hall
Price: Free. Entry by ticket available from Porlock Visitor Centre. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Same as Friday (check separate leaflet)

Time: 10.30 am - 12.30 pm
Venue: Leaflet guide/map available at Porlock Visitor Centre. (01643 863150)
Price: Free

Entertaining and thought-provoking final day event. Join media people - Roland White, Sunday Times columnist, Dan Hall, former BBC Commercial Executive and now Head of Development for Dangerous Films and Simon Hall, past Environment Correspondent and now Crime Correspondent with BBC South West and author of murder mysteries - to hear about their work and to join in questions, lively discussion and debate on some of the issues around the media today.
Musical interludes and book stall.

Time: 2.00 pm – 4.30 pm
Venue: Large Hall
Price: £6, light afternoon tea included

Dramatic costumed Tales of Porlock, Past and Present. In the recently restored Solar of this 15th Century building, with harp and flute.

The players: Christine de Vere Hunt, Penny Kelham, Tess Nixon and Christine Greenwood. John Thorne, Nigel Greenwood, Andrew Reese. Tony Richards, Mark Palmer and Dennis Corner.

Time: 7.30 pm
Venue: Dovery Manor Museum
Price: £5.00, Wine and hors d'oeuvres included.