Tickets are going fast for this year’s Eskfest which organisers promise will be the best yet.

Just 200 weekend tickets remain out of the original 1,000.

The three day event features 60 bands and performers as well as comedy, poetry, speakers, a film club and activities for youngsters.

The not-for-profit festival has sold out for the past three years and organiser Tom Smith says this fourth event will be the best yet.

The Eskdale Valley event is growing in popularity and reputation and attracting bigger names as performers.

Tom says: “We are quite happy to keep it the size we are. We’re a bit out of the way, people have to travel to us and we get a good crowd.”

Though the line up was only just announced at the start of the month, weekend camping tickets for the event which runs from July 4-6, have already sold out. Festival-goers can stay at two other campsites nearby and there is a regular shuttle bus to and from the site.

“This fourth event is one we are most proud of,” adds Tom. “Our motto is ‘not bigger, just better’. We mean that we are not trying to be the biggest festival ever with tens of thousands of people, but we do attempt to make EskFest one of the best festivals going. Like a concentrated juice, we try and squeeze all of the best bits of a much larger festival into a more intimate, beautiful setting - meaning more great memories and less miles of muddy walking!”

Northern funksters Smoove and Turrell headline, supported by rising indie rockers King No-One and Man and the Echo . New for this year is a workshop series including archery, wood carving, mask making, circus skills and more, a ‘brain-food’ tipi called ‘The Thinking Hat’ with films, stories and speakers, an extra stage, and a Thursday night programme which will feature comedy, a flash pub quiz and local bands.

The nearby Woolpack Inn is also running an ‘Official Afterparty’ on the Sunday evening after the festival .

Only 200 weekend tickets remain for the festival, with adult tickets £50, under 12s £25 and under 5s free.

For tickets, go to the festival Facebook page or to www.eskfest.com.