Around 80 top artisan craft and food and drink producers from the region are expected at the two day event and this year all the stalls will be inside marquees on the grassed courtyard, so everyone can shop to their hearts' content, whatever the weather.

There will be plenty of food on offer from the finest organic meats and free range poultry to speciality jams, pickles, oils and sauces, mouth-watering homemade puddings, cakes and traditional confectionary, regional cheeses, locally grown fruit and vegetables, artisan breads and savoury snacks.

A host of new foodie names will this year be joining Festival stalwarts, including Durham Greenlane who specialise in wild hedgerow jams, jellies and preserves; Northumberland Poultry; Hot Stuff Chilli Company; Northumberland Sausage Company and Boulevard, which is based on North Shields Fish Quay and supplies fresh herbs and smoked sea salt.

Crafts will include hand-made soaps, jewellery, colourful knitwear, cards, atmospheric landscape and wildlife prints, hand-made teddy bears, wooden products, recycled slate items, beautifully coloured handmade baskets and ceramics.

The Wallington Christmas Shop will also be open too, alongside the Gift Shop and Clocktower Cafe, for those of you who want to start your Christmas shopping early!
Families can enjoy following a seasonal food trail around the grounds and having a go at some nostalgic fairground-style games such as a coconut shy, hook-a-duck and hoopla.

Once the shopping is complete, visitors can then sit down in a 'Food Court', a new addition to the Festival for this year, and tuck into fish and chips, ice cream or a hog roast while watching the world go by.