ANCIENT skills and curious crafts dating from Anglo-Saxon days will be demonstrated during a three-day woodland festival.

The event will be held at Dalby Forest, near Pickering, and displays will include trug making, charcoal burning and wool spinning.

There will also be demonstrations of chainsaw carving.

The festival is being organised by the Friends of Dalby Committee.

Spokeswoman Joan Hignett said: "Some of the skills being shown are so rare now that most people will never have the opportunity to see them in practice.

"They go back centuries, such as the trug making, an old form of wooden basket making, or the pole lathe, which was used to spin wood well before the advent of electricity.

"Charcoal burning, while dating from the Stone Age, has incredibly modern uses now, from carbon dating to barbecue fuel."

The festival will run next week, from Friday to Sunday, from 10am to 5pm.

Admission is free, but entry to the forest by car is £7 a day.

Access is via Thornton-le-Dale, on the A170 Helmsley to Scarborough road, or from the Scarborough end via Hackness village.