THE Wye Valley River Festival sailed into the wet and windy Lower Wye Valley this weekend with a number of watery wonders.

Ross-on-Wye celebrated on Sunday (May 1) with storytelling, dancing and a giant heron. The rain didn’t seem to deter the revellers, who embraced the events with gusto. Wye Serai ran from 12noon to 6pm alongside the river in Ross and included music from the George Choir in Newnham and comic performances from the Water Ones.

Bishopswood Village Hall and riverside field was the setting for a barbecue breakfast on Monday (May 2). The event included skittles, a puppet show, Bishopswood Bake-Off, apple-bobbing and a bouncy castle.

Lower Lydbrook also welcomed all things river related on Monday. The village stepped back in time to the years between 1300 and 1700. The grounds of the Garden Café hosted the seventeenth century Bartholomew Fair, complete with bread riots and piracy on the Wye. Crafts stalls, local arts and crafts, singers and musicians provided gentler entertainment. The River A and E ambulance was on hand to check the health of the river.

A sound installation was set up on Monday on the bridge in Redbrook. Until this Friday (May 6), shimmering cymbals bathe the river in light as local stories, voices and sounds entertain those crossing over.

The Wye Valley River Festival runs until May 15.

•See this week’s Review for more photographs.