SPONSORED EDITORIAL

Organisers of the Canterbury Festival are busy bracing themselves for the huge annual event next week which includes the much-anticipated arrivals of several headline acts such as The Shires, The Feeling, The Christians and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

The county’s biggest international arts festival will be taking place between Saturday, October 20 and Saturday, November 3 and, apart from music, will cover over 200 events including theatre, comedy, magic shows, poetry and art.

And this year’s fortnight of top entertainment in one of Britain’s most historical cities promises to be bigger and better than ever before with more famous names set to take part!

One of the country’s most successful country music acts, The Shires, will be one of the hottest tickets at the festival and will take to the stage at The Marlowe Theatre (7.30pm) on Thursday, 25 October.

Credited as being the first British country act to have a top ten album and the first to receive an award from the American Country Music Association, ticket prices to see them start at £31.25.

The Feeling are touring for the first time in over two years and 12 years after the release of their celebrated million-selling album Twelve Stops and Home. You can also catch them at The Marlowe Theatre with tickets available from £25.25 for Sunday, 21 October (7.30pm).

On the back of a successful tour last year and their new album Sings & Strings, The Christians will be performing on Saturday, 20 October (8.30pm) at The Festival Spiegeltent with tickets priced at £26.25.

Elsewhere, you can catch Sophie Ellis-Bextor who will be performing at The Marlowe Theatre on Saturday, 27 October (7.30pm) with tickets to watch the Brit Award nominated singer, songwriter, model and Strictly star available from £31.25.

The Canterbury Festival is widely recognised as one of the most important cultural events in the South East.

As an independent charity, the festival brings a rich mixture of performing arts from around the world to audiences each autumn.

To find out more about all the different events going on during the festival, click here.