This weeks happenings

Miscellaneous

Health fans can learn all the secrets of reflexology, alternative therapies and the remedial powers of jewellery at Kirkby Lonsdale's Health and Craft Fayre on Saturday. From 10am-4pm in the Institute.

ULVERSTON'S Coronation Hall will be the venue for a coffee morning on Saturday from 10am-noon. As well as tempting cake stands, bric-a-brac and bookstalls, you can relax with one of the back and shoulder massages on offer.

HOUKLER Hall Herbs, at Blawith, near Ulverston, is throwing opening its doors on Saturday to allow members of the public to check out the healing herbs grown in the lovely medicinal garden, and see the preparation rooms where tinctures and oils are made on site. A walk to Blawith Common will follow with medical herbalists pointing out the best natural remedies growing in the wild. From 2pm, call 01229-885070 for more details.

THE tenth annual Historic Vehicle Day takes place at Grange-over-Sands Memorial Playing Fields on Sunday, with a gleaming pageant of vintage models, birds of prey, a jazz band and country singers.

THE Parkinson's Disease Society is holding a drop-in session at Kendal's Shakespeare Centre on Tuesday from 1.30pm-3.30pm.

A BAY Sands Ride will take place on Thursday, August 12, and horses and their riders will congregate at 1pm at Kents Bank Road train station. The ride will be guided by Queen's Guide to the Sands Cedric Robinson and organised in support of the British Art Foundation. Riders are asked to donate a minimum of £10 to the charity. For more details call 015395-31374.

CONCERTS

ON Saturday the Chilingirian String Quartet will play a concert at Kendal Parish Church as part of the Lake District Summer Music Festival. From 8pm. Call 08456-442144 for tickets and details of other festival events.

A LAKE District Summer Music Concert will take place at Hawkshead Parish Church on Tuesday (8pm).

PIANIST Leon McCawley will present The Ivory Collection, a concert of music by Mozart, Schumann and Janacek, at Ambleside Parish Church on Monday (from 8pm).

A MATINEE Musicale, showcasing talented young artists performing popular favourites, will take place at Windermere's Carver Church on Wednesday morning from 11.30am. Tel 0845-6442144 for more details.

THEATRE

ALICE Through the Looking Glass, a performance by open-air theatre company Illyria, will take place at Brantwood, Coniston, on Tuesday (7pm). With the grounds opening at 6pm, why not take a picnic and make a night of it. Details on 015394-41396.

SET in 1940s America, Strangers on a Train tells the story of two strangers who meet on a train. But as the source for Alfred Hitchcock's film of the same name, this gripping psychological thriller has much more to it than that. At Theatre by the Lake, in Keswick, on Tuesday and Wednesday from 8pm. Box office on 017687-74411.

EXHIBITIONS

FOXHOUNDS are the focus of animal-loving artist Mary Ann Rogers's exhibition of fine watercolours at the Upfront Gallery, at Hutton-in-the-Forest, which opens on Wednesday. Recently voted as one of the top ten living artists in print, Mary Ann's colourful and popular displays really capture the movement of the agile creatures. Details on 01768-484538.

POTFEST 2004 welcomes 150 potters and their wares to Skirsgill Mart, at Penrith, this weekend. With ceramic artists hailing from as far away as Japan, this promises to be something of a visual delight. Log on to www.potfest.co.uk FORMER Carlisle teacher Marie Wood is currently showing Drifting Back - a fine collection of sculptures, paintings and drawings inspired by the sea - at Ivegill's High Head Sculpture Valley.

BENDER, an intriguing photographic exhibition portraying action figures in various poses, is currently on show at Lancaster's Folly. With little green men and Barbie-type figures, the exhibition's talented creator, Nigel Grimmer, has captured adult concerns and experiences of belonging, isolation and alienation. Open Tuesday-Thursday 11am-5pm and 11am-4pm Friday and Saturday until the end of the month. Meanwhile, the gallery is also hosting Home-Maker, an award-winning interactive domestic installation by artist Jeanie Finlay, which explores what makes a house a home.

PART of the Lake District Summer Music Festival, a Summer Music Exhibition of works by Cockermouth-born artist Dorothy Bradford, opens at St Martin's College, in Ambleside, on Sunday. Open 10am-4pm for the duration of the festival (until August 14).

A MAJOR exhibition celebrating the creative skills of Tim Stead is on show at Barrow's Dock Museum. With sculptures, furniture, photography and poetry, the wood-workers' talents are worth a view. Open Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm and weekends from 11am-5pm. Details on 01229-894444.

A THREE-DIMENSIONAL exhibition of Lake District paintings by Bowness-born artist John Hewitt is the current offering at Preston Patrick Gallery, Crooklands. Call 01229-773380 for more information.

BLACKWELL, the Arts and Crafts House at Bowness, is housing the Anderson Collection of Art Nouveau. This stunning new exhibition, featuring furniture and objects from the 20th century movement. Open daily from 10.30am-5pm. More details on 015394-46139.

AN EXHIBITION of 35 distinctive paintings by one of the most significant British figurative artists of his generation, Walter Sickert (1860-1942), is on show at Abbot Hall Art Gallery, in Kendal. Included in The Human Canvas are self-portraits, nudes and architectural subjects and each work is accompanied by an in-depth interpretation, making for fascinating viewing. Open Monday-Saturday from 10.30am-5pm, call 01539-722464 for more information.

WIRE and bronze sculptures, installations, collages and prints of human torsos, animal heads, and strange and wonderful creatures all feature in an exhibition at the Storey Gallery, in Lancaster, this week. You can view the inspiring body of work by internationally-acclaimed artist Sophie Ryder until the end of the month (Monday-Saturday 10am-4pm) or check out the selection on show in the city centre. Details on 01524-844133.

FORMER county and district councillor Edward Acland is displaying his artwork in the Brewery Warehouse, in Kendal. Another Story reveals his longing for society to recognise that our extravagant consumer way of life is slowly despoiling bruised planet Earth and looks closely at everyday surroundings. Tel 01539-725133.

A NEW textile exhibition at Farfield Mill, Sedbergh, displays work made from a variety of materials from wool and silk to hand-made papers and embroidered lace. Select Fibres features the work of five textile artists whose work is linked by felting techniques and a passion for fibres and colours. Open 10.30am-5pm each day, call 015396-21958 for more information.

ARTISTS and writers have joined forces to produce a virtual model of the new Storey Creative Industry Centre - where it is hoped exhibitions and presentations will be held - at the Folly, in Lancaster. The fully interactive exhibit can be seen until the end of the month. Further details on 01524-388550.

SOME rare Blake drawings, last seen in the UK in 1914, are on display at The Wordsworth Museum, in Grasmere, as part of an exhibition on Milton's Paradise Lost. Works by Medina, Romney, Turner and original editions of Milton's work will also feature. Call 015394-35544 for more information.

THE complete body of Lucian Freud's published etchings are currently being displayed at Kendal's Abbot Hall Art Gallery. Including some rare early prints and several new and unpublished works, the 60 pieces cover a variety of subjects from portraits and nudes to studies of nature. Open 10.30am-5pm Monday-Saturday. More information on 01539-722464.

THE Sugar Store Gallery at the Brewery Arts Centre, in Kendal, is displaying the work of Libby Edmondson. Based on the famous gardens of Levens Hall, the talented painter has produced a riotous explosion of colour on canvas. More details on 01539-725133.

WORKS by local photographer Rob Daniels can be seen at the Community Shop, in Morecambe, as part of the relaunched Folly Community Art Scheme. Two abstract and beautiful bodies of work will be on display - An Aesthetic Evaluation of the Cooling Tower, and Six Works on Water. Open 10am-4pm Monday-Friday, call 01524-413064 for more information.

THE Alfred Wainwright Exhibition continues at Kendal Museum this week. Tel 01539-721374.

THE Severn Studio at Brantwood (the former Coniston home of John Ruskin) has been literally transformed by the talented Pamela McTurk. Her rich and diverse exhibition, Transformed, is a thoughtful collection of paintings on show daily (11am-5.30pm) until September. More information on 015394-41396.

TALKS

THANKS to the Wordsworth Trust, Louis de Bernieres, author of the bestselling Captain Corelli's Mandolin, will present a talk at the Thistle Hotel, Grasmere, on Tuesday evening (6.30pm). More details on 015394-35544.

ONE of the best known and most popular voices of the airwaves, Chris de Souza, will present an entertaining talk for music-lovers on Monday. The session will challenge listeners to reconsider the way concerts are presented and help prepare young artists for their future careers. At the Wordsworth Hotel, in Grasmere, from 10am.