Whitby Folk Week, Website You may find this useful at some stage.

The festival is awash with Mudcatters every year, in fact some years a list is put up in one of the pubs, on which you can "sign in", but it isn't compulsory.

The dance side of folk is well represented; daily displays by several sides, of which a small number will also be running a week-long series of workshops. At the weekends the dance element generally expands with additional teams who come for just one or two days.

Workshops are a major morning feature of WFW, anything from Alexander Technique, via harmony singing, through dance and instumental to Tai Chi and tricks you can do with a bit of string.

How does it compare with others? Well in recent years I have not attended many others, but I would say that it is bigger than most, and that few others take over any town quite as completely.

Accommodation is likely to prove your main headache. Self-catering tends to get booked up for that week by people who agree "same time next year" when paying for this year [I have friends who have used the same flats for 20 years] but new places do come on stream so it is worth a try. B+Bs and small hotels are numerous; similar comments apply as with self-catering. Camping/caravanning on the festival campsite are possible if you are interested and buying a week's season ticket, locals sites are few in number, and tend to be full.

I do not recommend staying out of town and hoping to drive in, parking here is a year-round battle, with Folk Week its climax. During WFW even policemen have been known, when asked about somewhere to park, to reply "Have you considered Scarborough?". We are supposed to be getting a park+ride scheme one day, but I don't think it will be this year, maybe this decade.

There are nice walks in the area, and I can confirm that Joe has missed a good one, Robin Hood's Bay is a lovely spot and the cliff path lovely on a fine day. In bad weather the path is a very bad idea, but the regular bus runs until surprisingly late for a rural route, and even a taxi can be reasonable if filled to capacity.