I LOVE the Book Festival – I love the atmosphere within the gardens and how i’ts such a different calm space from the Fringe festival going on elsewhere…I love the bookshop and the children’s book shop is even more fantastic with lots of space to sit down and get lost exploring new books…I also totally love the fact that everyday they have a room dedicated to children filled with storytelling, arts and crafts, face painting, books to read and activities to get stuck into all for FREE! This means that even if you haven’t managed to get tickets to some of the events, you can still comfortably while away a morning or afternoon there and the kids will be fully entertained…

The Book Festival opens this weekend and as usual Julia Donaldson will be doing some events – she is always fantastic, performing some of her well known books and singing songs – it’s great fun for the whole family – you may still be lucky enough to get tickets on the day if there are returns :

Flumflums and flying baths – this event on Saturday 9th includes live drawing with illustrator David Roberts – there will be trolls, fish, dinosaurs and possibly even the Gruffalo.

From Superworms to Scarecrows – this event on Sunday 10th is with illustrator Axel Scheffler and will feature Room on the Broom in Scots with translator James Robertson.

Over the opening weekend the storybox which is the childrens area will feature ‘The Secret Stories of toys’ – with toys from the Museum of Childhood, each toy has a story to tell, drop in to discover toys from the collection and create some of your own. Both Saturday and Sunday 1.30pm till 4pm.