THE Shildon Continental Market begins in the town today, with a Queen's jubilee theme, and continues over the weekend.

Traders from around Europe will be making their fourth visit to Shildon as they create their own corner of the continent in County Durham.

The event is expected to top the 100,000 visitor mark since the market first came to the town.

Sedgefield Borough Council's new mayor, Councillor David Newell will open the event in the Market Square at 9am and it continues tomorrow and Sunday.

The market will have a golden jubilee flavour and the town's traders will celebrate the jubilee by decorating their shop windows.

Traders are expected from Holland, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy and France.

A spokesman for the visitors said: "Shildon is somewhere we look forward to visiting every year.

We are always made welcome in Shildon and once the weekend is over we always start planning for our next return.