Complete guide to summer festivals

Shropshire and the West Midlands play host to a fabulous feast of festivals each year, showcasing everything from top music talent to weird and wonderful events around the region.

Check out our photo gallery guide and you'll find plenty of reasons to venture outdoors this summer.

Ludlow Festival is an arts-packed annual event set across various historic venues and showcasing a glorious mix of walks, talks, classical concerts, unmissable plays and a feast of local crafts and wares.

This year's highlights include productions of Shakespeare's Richard III starring John Killoran and Oliver Beamish, lectures given by Colin Dexter, Gabrial Woolf, Prof. S. Wells and Lady H. Spencer-Churchill, plus performances from Opera Babes, the Queen's College Oxford Choir and the Ukelele Orchestra.

Dates: June 21 - July 6

Locations: Various (see website for details)

Website: www.ludlowfestival.co.uk

Cannock Chase Forest Festival is a thriving live music event which forms part of a self-sustaining campaign by the Forestry Commission to bring new audiences into woodlands.

Set against the enchanting backdrop of the Cannock Forest, this year's festival will play host to three music heavyweights - The Charlatans, The Zutons (above) and the legendary Status Quo.

Quo's lead singer Francis Rossi says the band is looking forward to playing in the forest, and assures fans they'll be "rocking all over the woods!"

Dates: June 27 - 29

Location: Birches Valley Forest Centre, Cannock Forest

Website: www.forestry.gov.uk/musicnextpage

Lichfield Festival provides a showcase for creativity in the West Midlands, and celebrates a myriad of homegrown talent at venues throughout the city.

Acts will include Midlands-based performer Rosie Kay and her current project The Wild Party, Lichfield-based Stone City Voices, Birmingham-based jazz trumpeter and composer Bryan Corbett, organist Thomas Trotter and The Lichfield Festival Chorus with tenor Mark Padmore.

Dates: July 3 - 13

Location: Various (see website for details)

Website: www.lichfieldfestival.org/2008

Birmingham International Jazz Festival claims to squeeze 'more jazz per square mile than New Orleans' into its annual 10-day jazz feast, where the coolest cats from the UK and overseas play a diverse mix of jazz at various locations throughout the city.

The event is now in its 24th year and attracts musicians from all over the world, from South Korea to Venezuela to the Netherlands.

Star performers include the legendary Digby Fairweather, the Dixieland Crackerjacks, Roy Williams and King Pleasure.

Dates: July 4 - 13

Locations: Various (see website for details)

Website: www.birminghamjazzfestival.com

Leasowes Music Festival, touted as 'one of England's remotest music festivals', is nevertheless a uinque and popular event which takes place in a converted barn in splendid countryside wedged between the rocky Stiperstones and the rolling Long Mynd.

Its tranquil and informal setting provides a unique backdrop for all genres of music, from classical compositions to swinging saxophone-led jazz, making Leasowes an unmissable festival experience.

Dates: July 4 - 26

Location: Leasowes Bank Farm, Ratlinghope, Shropshire

Website: www.leasowesmusicfestival.co.uk

The International Musical Eisteddfod at Llangollen is a world-renowned arts festival which brings together music, song and dance from across the world in a week-long event.

Previous Eisteddfod's have played host to the likes of Luciano Pavarotti (in 1955 and 1995), Placido Domingo (in 1968), as well as world-renowned sopranos ranging from Kiri Te Kanawa to Bryn Terfel.

Confirmed acts this year include West End star Elaine Page, chart-topping soloists Opera Gala, classical group All Angels and a host of day sessions with top international music and dance artists.

Dates: July 8 - 13

Locations: Various (see website for details)

Website: www.international-eisteddfod.co.uknextpage

Indieco Sunday Social is a brand spanking new festival, bringing together cutting-edge bands for a day-long celebration of the country's finest indie music.

An impressive line-up includes Mercury Music Prize nominees the New Young Pony Club (above), along with the Mystery Jets, The Holloways, Envy & Other Sins and The Anomalies.

After the open-air concert, there's be a festival After Party at the Buttermarket featuring DJ sets from some of the day's bands.

Dates: July 13

Locations: Quarry Park and The Buttermarket, Shrewsbury

Website: www.musichall.co.uknextpage

Festival @ The Edge, or FATE as it's known to seasoned festival goers, is a magical mix of old and new tales from top international story tellers, told through performance, music, comedy and poetry.

This compelling two-day event, which takes place in a picturesque greenfield site on Wenlock Edge, also features a range of family-friendly workshops and sessions, along with storytelling bonfires, on-site camping and a CAMRA real-ale bar.

Dates: July 18 - 20

Location: Stokes Barn, Much Wenlock, Shropshire

Website: www.festivalattheedge.orgnextpage

Wolvestock Country Music Festival, now in its 14th year, is an eagerly-anticipated country music event packed with live acts, line dancing and plenty of other attractions over the weekend.

Visitors can take daily dancing lessons and there'll be a campsite, fun fair, trade stalls and licenced bars.

Dates: July 26 - 27

Location: East Park, Wolverhampton

Website: www.wolvescivic.co.uknextpage

Farmer Phil's Festival is the brainchild of music-savvy Shropshire farmer Phil Harding.

Now in its eighth successful year, the two-day knees-up takes place on his farm in the rolling Shropshire hills, and features a veritable line up of bands on an impressive 'revolving' stage engineered by Phil himself from an 8-cow rotary milking carousel!

This year's acts include Chumbawamba, Hazel O'Connor, the Greenland Whalefishers, tributes to Bob Marley and the Sex Pistols, and a Battle of the Bands competition.

Dates: August 15 - 16

Location: Near Gatten Farm, Ratlinghope, Nr Shrewsbury

Website: www.farmerphilsfestival.co.uknextpage

The V Festival at Weston Park has become one of the UK's biggest and best-known live events, bringing together a myriad of chart-topping indie and pop acts in a two-day festival.

This year's line up includes the Stereophonics, Amy Winehouse, the Kaiser Chiefs, The Kooks, Newton Falkner, The Hoosiers, Travis, Maximo Park, Kings of Leon, Muse, The Twang, Alanis Morisette, Duffy, the Pigeon Detectives, Ian Brown, The Verve, Squeeze, David Jordan, Scouting for Girls, The Charlatans, Lenny Kravitz and The Feeling, plus many more. Pictured is the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl at last year's V-Festival.

Dates: August 16 - 17

Location: Weston Park, Nr Albrighton, Staffordshire

Website: www.vfestival.comnextpage

Shrewsbury Folk Festival is a hugely popular event for folk lovers and families alike. Originally held in Bridgnorth, it is now based in Shrewsbury following increasing demand from the visitors it attracts from all over the world.

The event packs in a host of undiscovered and renowned artists and entertainers from the likes of the Doonan Family Band, Richard Thompson, the Oysterband, Lunasa and the Ukelele Orchestra, to name but a few.

There'll also be a wonderful mix of colourful marquees, tents and stages hosting a range of extra events and workshops, along with craft stalls and a fantastic tented bar, and festival goers can even hire a fully furnished, authentic Tipi for the duration of the show.

Dates: August 22 - 25

Location: The West Midland Showground, Shrewsbury

Website: www.shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uknextpage

The third annual Bridgnorth Music Festival is held in aid of Hope House Hospice and showcases top local talent at various venues throughout the town.

The festival combines a mixture of rock, folk and indie bands with classical and choral concerts, culminating in an open-air concert at The Quayside. Pictured at last year's festival is Highley singer Andy Gould.

There'll also be a special event to mark the end of the eight-day festival - an overnight ghost hunt at Bridgnorth's spooky Theatre on the Steps with paranormal investigator Phil Whyman from Living TV's Most Haunted and Scream Team shows (pre-booking essential).

Dates: August 22 - 30

Locations: Various (see website for details)

Website: www.bridgnorthmusicfest.com