As well as the European Stone Festival, the Freiburg Technical College event that travels around Europe and is this year being held at Lincoln Cathedral 22-23 June, there are stone festivals coming up at Gloucester, Bristol and Barnard Castle this year.

Gloucester hosts the first of the main events on 25-27 May at the Llanthony Secunda Priory in Gloucester’s historic docks. 

The event is being organised by Carrie Horwood of Cat’s Eye Carving, who is producing a sculpture in the form of a figurehead as a raffle prize as well as running have-a-go sessions on the Saturday and Sunday of the event so the general public can get an idea of just how satisfying (and difficult!) stonemasonry is.

Then comes the Bristol Festival of Stone 2-8 June at Bristol harbourside.

This will see the return of Bristol-born John Maine’s important sculpture, Monolith ll, to the city after two decades. It was commissioned by Sun Life Assurance with assistance from the Arts Council in 1980.

Crafted from 12 tons of Carrara marble, the sculpture has been cleaned and restored by Phidias Neoclassical, Trevor Dring’s highly respected stonemasonry business in Bristol. 

The Bristol Festival includes a stone carving competition, demonstrations of stone carving, lectures and masterclasses, backed up by street theatre and live music.

Then, after the European Stone Festival of 21-23 June, it is the turn of VAR (Vernacular Architecture Revival). It held its first Stone Festival at Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle last year and it is back there for another this year on 21-29 September. 

A group of young sculptors will be working under the guidance of an established professional and courses in creative stone skills will be available to members of the public. A programme of talks, walks and demonstrations on various aspects of stone will help raise awareness of the deep influence stone has had on the cultural DNA of the North Pennines.