HOW to keep warm this winter is just one of the many topics being discussed at Herefordshire’s energy and sustainability festival this weekend .

There will be h.Energy events taking place around the county on Saturday and Sunday, and at two key Herefordshire venues – Queenswood on Dinmore Hill and at De Koffie Pot in Hereford.

The festival, run by New Leaf, is in its seventh year and focuses on sustainable energy and stabilising climate change.

There will be a two-day programme of energy-related talks, plus electric and hydrogen cars at De Koffie Pot, with art and craft activities and a fun run at Queenswood.

Kate Gathercole, one of the volunteer organisers, said: “We’ve got fun things to do but we’re serious too. Herefordshire has made superb progress towards clean energy generation and reducing carbon emissions, but there’s scope for so much more that we want people to get excited about - cleaner transport, for instance, and community energy schemes – we’ll be discussing how to get more community-owned schemes up and running. And the backdrop, of course, is how to stabilise our changing climate."

Herefordshire still has one of the country’s highest levels of households that struggle to keep warm in winter.

Kate added: “When people are choosing between heating and food – and that happens too often – cold homes become dangerous, especially for the elderly and vulnerable. We have a talk on the Saturday at De Koffie Pot about getting practical, free help with this, so we really urge people who have relatives or neighbours they are concerned about to come and find out more before winter starts.”

The festival is smaller this year as organisers say they are running on a shoestring, but despite this, there is still plenty to do.

There will be workshops focusing on Make, Do & Mend at De Koffie Pot and on Saturday at 10.30am and at 7pm there will be a puppet show, The Selfish Giant, from Sealegs Puppet Theatre.

At Queenswood there will be a 5km fun run through the woodland setting, or a art walk led by artist Celia Johnson. Herefordshire Wildlife Trust will be providing craft workshops in the woodland and degree students from Hereford Art College have created land art installations.

Kate said that despite the lack of funding h.Energy 2017 is still free of charge.

To see the full programme go to www.h-energy.org.uk - or go along to De Koffie Pot or Queesnwood, 10am – 4pm each day over the weekend.