DOZENS of budding artists put pens, pencils and paintbrushes to paper over the bank holiday weekend in an attempt to ‘capture the spirit’ of Barnard Castle.

That is after Barnard Castle Town Council put on an event as part of the Big Draw – the World’s biggest drawing festival.

The council provided drawing materials at Scar Top and set up pop-up easels at different places around the town to encourage as many people to get involved as possible.

Professional artist, Michael Horner, was also on hand to offer advice and tips.

Photographs were also encouraged and entries were then put on display with competitors hoping to win a cash prize.

Town mayor, Sandra Moorhouse, presented the prizes on Sunday (August 30) and said she was impressed with all 30 entrants.

“It was fantastic, we had so many different and interesting ideas about Barney but they nearly all had a beautiful blue sky so obviously it always shines in Barney,” she said.

“We set out to get people interested in drawing and more importantly to look at Barney because we all walk through it but people were looking to appreciate it too.”