All the fun of the green fair

5 July 2010

The first of three 'green' fairs to be held as part of an initiative to promote rural tourism in east Kent and northern France takes place in Herne Bay this week.

The event in the Memorial Park is on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 July and will be followed by similar fairs in Boulogne later this month and Folkestone next year.

On Friday, the focus will be on educational activities for local and Folkestone schoolchildren. A six-hour family fun programme on the Saturday will include music and entertainment by bands and groups from both sides of the channel, displays and workshops as well as a farmers' market and a stand selling seafood from Boulogne.

And on both days, there will be a 'green roadshow', housed in a circus big top and smaller tents, which will feature solar-powered roundabouts, electric cars, renewable energy displays, a whales and dolphin tent and a scrap stall.

The fairs are part of the Transmanche Green Network (TGN) project, funded by the European Union, to help the prosperity of Reculver, the Romney Marsh and the Arena Centre, near Boulogne. The three areas will share £670,000 for projects that encourage 'green' tourism and improve conservation management.

Partner organisations in the TGN project are Canterbury City Council, Kent Wildlife Trust, Shepway District Council, Discover Folkestone, Hythe & Romney Marsh, Communaute d'agglomeration Boulonnais and the Boulogne, Shepway and Canterbury Co-operation Organisation.