Folk superstar Seth Lakeman headlines next weekend’s Ireby music festival which is a complete sell out.

Lakeman returns to the festival along with indie pop favourites CoCo and the Butterfields, the rousing Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys and upcoming Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar.

New to the two night event which runs from next Friday afternoon until Sunday lunch, are the Goat Roper Rodeo Band, all-female bluegrass band Midnight Skyracer, Gaelic maestros Imar and the ‘nu-folk’ of Calan.

This year’s festival is extra-special as creator and organiser Charles Devlin is stepping down after 17 years.

He said: “It has progressed from a small tent in a back garden to an annual sell out event attracting over 700 fans and dozens of incredibly talented local, national and international musicians.

“It has been a fantastic 17 year roller coaster ride, a huge enjoyable and at times challenging team effort but now we need to re-claim our time, move on and ride a roller coaster elsewhere.”

Paul Adams, director of Fellside Recordings added: “I can say without hesitation that it is a wonderful event. Small, beautiful, great atmosphere, always a lovely crowd. When you couple that with a wide range of music - often some brilliant surprises - it all adds up to a special experience.”

A new committee is already preparing for 2020’s festival.

Tickets will be on sale from early September.