ART and entertainment will go hand-in-hand this coming May bank holiday weekend.

Two of Dorset's biggest arts events are taking place over the same period, providing bags of entertainment and inspiration for all.

This year, the launch of Dorset Art Weeks takes place at the same time as Dorchester Festival - and both events meet up in the county town's gorgeously revamped Borough Gardens.

Dorset Art Weeks is the UK's largest open studio event. Stretching the length and breadth of the county, it has more than 330 artists and craftspeople throwing open their studios and galleries, inviting the public to come on in for a chat and a wander round.

Dorchester Festival is the town's annual entertainment extravaganza, which this year is taking place in the Borough Gardens.

It runs from Thursday to Monday, May 22 to 26 and combines free music and family fun with a number of prestigious performers including a workshop and audience with' actor, writer and director Steven Berkoff, a concert by Show of Hands and a reading by top author Louis de Bernieres.

A wealth of local talent is also taking part. There will be a reading of Ann Jellicoe's community play Western Women, with music from Tim Laycock, a performance by WOW Youth Musical Theatre from Weymouth, and a song cycle for soprano, piano and violin by Rick Birley, performed in St Mary's Church, Dorchester.

Linking the festival with Dorset Art Weeks is a gorgeous exhibition called Seeds, Fruits and Leaves, which runs from Friday, May 24 until Sunday, June 8.

The show is a mixed media collection of work by Helen Francis, Susan Sloan and Colin Tracy celebrating the Borough Gardens. It is the first exhibition to be housed in the newly refurbished Borough Gardens House near the bowling green.

The display has taken a year of intense research and work to put together and the three artists are thrilled with the results.

"It is inspired by the Borough Gardens and the exhibition is just one per cent of it, while the research has been the rest," said Helen, a textile artist who was strongly influenced by the Borough Gardens yew trees.

Photographer Colin added: "I took thousands of pictures and have got to know the gardens really well as the seasons unfolded. It is such a popular place - people do come and use it a lot. When the weather is good people come and lie on the lawn, children play and people meet each other. It's fantastic."

Susan explained that the gardens have been used for public recreation since Victorian times and added that it was a wonderful boost to the town to see them restored.

"All these things have come together in our exhibition," explained Susan, who creates delicate woollen textiles and often works together with Helen. "I tend to work in quite muted tones mixed in with a more vivid splash that represents the municipal colours of, for example, the garden railing."

The Borough Gardens will be the hub of Dorchester Festival, with a free day of music and fun on Saturday, May 24 the includes a Salsa band procession, salsa dancing at the bandstand, folk music, children's entertainment and a drum circle.

There is also a free days of fun in the gardens on Monday, May 26 which will include local music, a youth band showcase and more children's fun. For full details call 01305 266926 or visit www.dorchesterfestival.co.uk

Dorset Art Weeks runs from Friday, May 24 until Sunday, June 8.

Studios are signposted with yellow and red direction arrows and full details are available from www.dorsetartweeks.co.uk or by calling 01305 251007.