BELGIUM chocolate makers, Korean dancers and a Mongolian musician will mingle with shoppers in Durham this weekend.

The colourful collection of international and local musicians will entertain the crowds in Durham's summer festival on Saturday and Sunday.

Acts such as the Burnt Hickory Baptist Youth Choir, from Atlanta, in America, and Korean dancers, from the School of Worship Dancing, will perform in the Market Place, Palace Green and Millennium Place in front of the Gala Theatre.

Other musicians taking part include Bayaraasaikhan Bad-ansuren, known as Bayar, from Mongolia, who plays a morin khuur, or horse head fiddle, which he carved himself, and Paul Martin, of Esh Winning, who will play the Northumbrian half-long bagpipes from the Border region.

The two musicians have been regularly swapping ideas since meeting at an international festival in Hungary last year.

Both will be dressed in traditional costumes and will be performing separately on Saturday.

Throughout the weekend, re-enactment group Regia Anglorum will be recreating Saxon life on Palace Green, while on Sunday, a medieval market will be staged in the Market Place.

Durham City centre manager Chris Rawlinson said: "We are delighted that there will be a strong international and historical flavour to this year's summer festival, adding colour and liveliness to the weekend's activities."

A park-and-ride service will operate from County Hall, at £1 per car, every five minutes on Saturday and every ten minutes on Sunday.

A full programme of events is available from the Tourist Information Centre, in Millennium Place.