The Green Walk Open House Arts & Crafts Weekend

On Green Walk, off Wood Road, Whalley Range, this weekend an event takes place which is sort of beautiful in its eccentricity.

If you get chance go along, the festival is fun, and it also gives you an excuse to look round other people’s homes. The whole thing is brilliant for families and kids too.

Forget Royal Wedding street parties every thirty years, this feast of arts and crafts is an annual streetside/in-house jamboree.

In its fifth year the idea is to show-off the work of local artists in a local setting. Eight home-owners in this pretty Whalley Range cul-de-sac will be throwing open their doors for the weekend to display work by potters, painters, photographers, jewellers, artists, textile workers and more.

A wide range of arts and crafts is on offer, all displayed in the home. At number 20, for example, paintings and photographs fill the walls of the sitting room and kitchen, while across the green at number 23 there will be exhibitions by ceramicists in the front room, artists in the hall and ethnic jewellery in the kitchen.

And just like any modern exhibition space, there’s also a Gallery Café: a marquee on the central green will serve hot drinks, home-made soup and stew, and a selection of delicious home-baking.

The full list of exhibitors is as follows: Sue Fletcher, ceramics; Berrin Golding, crafts and vintage clothing; Ian Saville, wooden furniture and music stands; Janet Isherwood, small sculptures and watercolours; Carol Mowl, hand-made felt and hand-dyed wool products

Michelle Olivier, ceramics; Gemma Truman, glass art; Sue Langford, photographs; Matt Worden, paintings;Jane Cordingley, ceramics; Rowena Ardern, textile designer; Richard Woods, metal sculpture; Amanda Suarez, ceramics; Sylvia Glover, ceramics; Shelagh Hewitt, hats; Ruth Enstone, ceramics; Linda Gardiner, photographs; Amy Brook, embroidery

Ian Barrett, jewellery; John Hamilton, paintings; Clare Eaton, crafts and ceramics;Amanda Evans, ceramics; Norma Neild, ceramics; Cath McAlonan, crafts and jewellery; Moira Cahill, ethnic jewellery and scarves; Nicolas Marsh, sculptures; Jim Wright, paintings; Amanda Robins, wire jewellery; Lisa Watson, jewellery and textiles; Ian Chadwick, glass art

Barbara Chadwick, ceramics; Joan Wilson, paintings; Neil Sinclair, beds and coffee tables from reclaimed wood.

If you get chance go along, the festival is fun, and it also gives you an excuse to look round other people’s homes. The whole thing is brilliant for families and kids too.