A POPULAR festival with a family-friendly ethos has sold out for the first time in its sixth year.

The Deer Shed Festival, in Baldersby Park, Topcliffe, near Thirsk, has reached its 8,000 visitor capacity with seven weeks still to go until the weekend from July 24 to 26.

Headline music acts for the weekend include political singer Billy Bragg, Northumbrian folk group The Unthanks, and US singer John Grant, and the event also includes arts and science workshops, cinema, comedy and theatre.

A spokesman for the festival said: “There’s almost something uneasy about selling out with so much time to go - there’s that niggling in the back of your mind that you could have sold more tickets and created a bigger festival.

“However, Deer Shed Festival prides itself on its family-friendly atmosphere and that means open green spaces and opportunities to let your little ones run around without losing them amongst thousands and thousands of festival-going strangers.

“The Deer Shed Festival offers you a comfortable festival experience with showers, decent toilets, and a camping conditions which won’t see you lying your canvas-weekend-home over someone else’s tent pegs.

“There’s still plenty to do before the festival starts and lots of awesome surprises still being planned. One thing is for sure: Deer Shed 6 is going to be the biggest and the best Deer Shed yet.”