​If you're in Richmond over this long weekend, Thursday 2 June - Sunday 5 June, you're going to be spoilt for choice!

• Richmond Castle opens all weekend, 10:00 - 17:00. On Friday and Saturday, join re-enactors to experience life in the time of the Norman Conquest. Heft a sword! Taste the food of the 11th century! Watch as the men train to keep their fighting skills in trim! Book online for faster entry.
• Artisan Market, Friday, in the Market Place. 40 or so stalls of food, drink, crafts and gifts of all kinds. With the funfair also running (see below), if you're coming by car you'll need to plan your parking!
• Richmondshire Museum is open daily 10:30 - 16:30, except Sunday. Story-telling, refreshments and children's activities are planned for Friday.
• The Green Howards Museum, dedicated to Richmond's military history since 1688, will be open as usual on Friday and Saturday, 10:00 - 16:30. It will be closed on Thursday and Sunday.
• The Station. Our beautiful Victorian railway terminus, now a multi-purpose visitor attraction, is open as usual, 09:00 - late, daily. Enjoy films and art, as well as fun and games for children, a traditional fairground, and festive food and drink.
• Richmond Town Council is hosting a number of free Jubilee events: on Thursday, two open-air cinema shows for children and families; and on Friday, a Jubilee Walk and kids' fun day, with sports, craft activities, story-telling and game stalls. Three cheers for the Council!
• ALL OUT weekend at the Cricket Club. Live music, drinks, street food in the Tipi Bar on Friday and Saturday nights. On Sunday, a Family Festival Day, 12:00 – 18:00, with face-painting, banner-making, sports, fancy dress…. Entry free to all events, with small costs for the arts activities.
• Richmond Meet Procession, 10:00 on Sunday. Floats and fancy-dress procession. You'll find it OK - just follow the noise and the crowds!
• Murphy's Funfair will be in Richmond Market Place, daily, from mid-day until late, with all your favourites: waltzer, dodgems, rotor, limbo dancer, funhouses, trampolines, train ride, flying jets, formula ride, cups and saucers, hook-a-duck..
• Richmond Information Centre is open daily, 10:00-16:00, for books, maps, directions and friendly advice.
• The Georgian Theatre Royal will, sadly, be closed.

The very popular Little Bird Artisan Market returns to Richmond's huge, cobbled Market Place on Friday 3 June. You'll find food, drink, crafts and gifts of all kinds among the 50 or so colourful stalls. No mass-produced goods whatsoever; everything is small-scale and locally crafted.

Plan to spend a happy hour browsing and tasting your way round the market before enjoying the rest of the town's attractions: castle, waterfall, walks, ancient alleyways and more... There'll be a Jubilee Walk, Jubilee activities at The Station, and Jubilee fun at Richmondshire Museum (see Richmond What's On for details).

Don't forget to visit Richmond Information Centre in the Victorian Market Hall, where you can explore our wide range of maps and guidebooks or simply get advice.

Parking in or near the Market Place may be difficult, so we suggest Nun's Close Car Park, which is a pleasant five-minute walk away. It's a flat walk, which is a bit of a rarity in Richmond!

Amazingly, the Swaledale Festival is now 50 years old*. Having started as a small-scale classical festival and summer school, it has grown and grown to a full two-week bonanza of folk, jazz, brass, world and classical music, with guided walks and lively talks (the now-famous Reeth Lectures among them). Most events take place in and around Reeth, but there are several in Wensleydale and quite a few in and very near Richmond. Tickets are available for all the Richmond events below:

31 May, The Brodsky Quartet, St. Mary's (celebrated chamber group)
1 June, The Eminent Duo, Easby Church (violin/guitar duo)
1 June, Evelyn Glennie, St Mary's (stellar percussionist)
5 June, Halle Cellos, St Mary's (eight cellos!)
6 June, Aurora Percussion Duo, St Mary's (percussion wizardry)
8 June, Musica Poetica Freiburg, Georgian Theatre Royal (Baroque ensemble)
8 June, Peter Donohoe & Noriko Ogawa, Influence Church (four-hand piano greats)
9 June, Acoustic Triangle & Friends, Influence Church (classically influenced jazz)

For information and online ticket sales, visit swalefest.org.

* and its origins can be traced even further back, to the Richmondshire Festival in 1965.

This Lucky Dip doesn't actually come from What's On Richmond - because it was never submitted! What were they thinking of..? Anyway, it looks so good we think you'll want to know.

Two leading musicians from Royal Northern Sinfonia - Mike Gerrard and Iona Brown (photo) - will give a free recital at St Mary's Church at 3pm on Saturday 21 May. Yes, free. But if you want to make a donation to the excellent Henry Dancer Days Children's Cancer Fund, that will be very welcome.

No tickets needed. Cake and coffee available. See you there?

Many people will have fond memories of the BBC4 TV programme which followed this bus as it chuntered gently through the glorious countryside of Swaledale, Wensleydale, Widdale and Chapel-le-Dale, picking up walkers, farmers and market-goers as it went. (Writer's note: my wife was on it once when it stopped for five minutes to allow the passengers to watch a lamb being born in a field beside the road.)

Well, the bus - or buses, because there are two slightly different services, the Northern DalesBus 830 and 831 - is back. Services restart this Sunday, 15 May, and will run every Sunday until 23 October (as well as Bank Holidays in the case of the 831).

Both services run through Richmond, Reeth, Muker, Hawes, Ribblehead and Ingleton, and competition for seats can be stiff - but if you're boarding in Richmond, you start with an advantage!

The full timetable is on our Buses page. Parp, parp!

This week's dip into What's On Richmond has pulled out the Richmond Wander - a fabulous way to learn about the military past of this town, from Norman battlements to prisoners of conscience and modern times, with trains and boats and planes thrown in! Even if you have visited Richmond many times before, you’re sure to learn something new.

The Wander starts from the Green Howards Museum; the walk lasts about an hour, and is led by a knowledgeable guide. It is suitable for all ages but please note, as the Museum's website coyly puts it, that "you can’t go very far in Richmond without encountering a hill..."

The Wander is at 14:00 on Wed, 4 May. Tickets are £3. You can book here, or call 01748 826561.