VISITORS to a market town are being urged to rediscover its history and attractions this weekend with two days of events.

Residents and businesses in Bedale have joined forces to stage the weekend in a bid to reinvent the town as a destination for all seasons.

It is hoped the event, organised by the Bedale tourism group set up under the Renaissance Market Towns programme officially launched two months ago, will be the first of many.

Major attractions, including Thorp Perrow Arboretum, working farm Big Sheep and Little Cow, Aerial Extreme, Bedale Museum and St Gregory's Church, will be open throughout the weekend.

Shops in the town are staying open on Sunday and there will be a quiz where the answers have to be found in shop windows. First prize is vouchers worth £150 for entry to the local attractions.

Towler's newsagents will have a photographic display of the old town, and in another window visitors will be able to see the Renaissance Market Towns vision for the Bedale of 2030.

Catherine Megson, spokeswoman for the town's business and tourism group, said: "Bedale is a town for all seasons. We have the countryside here, we have got history, we have got fun, we have got unusual and distinctive shops - there is something different every season."