Going local

I've just about recovered from my sister's wedding on Saturday. She was married in the beautiful village of Ashby St Ledgers, just up the road from Braunston. Neither she nor her husband have roots in this area, so none of the wedding guests were local. All seemed amazed by the beauty of the village and the area. Why the amazement? Well, I guess the proximity to multiple motorways on the wedding invitation didn't promise much. But also it seems to me that visitors generally don't seem to expect much of Northamptonshire. And then they're always pleasantly surprised by what it's got to offer.

That was one of our motivations for the Braunston festival - to make a song and dance about our local area, and the people connected to it. We've got Tim Butcher, who grew up near Braunston and remembers his mother getting her hair done in the salon opposite the bakery, where he was sent to buy doughnuts. Tim's first book, Blood River, was chosen for the Richard and Judy bookclub in 2008, and his new one, Chasing the Devil, is out in September. He's now based in Cape Town so we are delighted that he's returning to his roots to talk to us about his writing on Saturday 28 August, 7.30pm (tickets available from Braunston Village Shop). We're equally delighted to be featuring Northampton-based ilustrator Elissa Elwick, whose first book for children will come out next year (her event is a free family event in the Big Top in Jetty Field also on Saturday). Also from Northampton we have craftmakers from the Stitch and Make Studio (Sunday), and singing students from the Birmingham Conservatoire (Saturday). The singers will be serenading festival-goers from a canal boat and also helping with the Braunston Community Choir, alongside Alexander Walker, conductor of Daventry Choral Society. We're also featuring a number of local poets. On Saturday 28th August the Village Green will be stuffed full of local food producers - New Horizon fruit, juice and honey, Welland Valley Wines, Hoggley's Beer, Gallone's ice-cream to name but a few. And we've food stalls from two Braunston residents - Daxa's Deli and Wendi's Breads.

One of my jobs in the week before the festival is to collect the generator for our bicycle-powered smoothies. Doesn't sound that exciting, does it? However, our suppliers, Magnificent Revolution, are also supplying generators to Shambala - the Northamptonshire festival for the uber-cool - and that's where the generator renedezvous is to be. I can hardly wait!