A festival celebrating the life of farmer, conservationist and broadcaster Eric Freeman will be held on Saturday (May 11).

The Eric Festival at Everes’s Farm, Chapel Lane, Redmarley, will include heavy horses, Cotswold sheep shearing, a parade of Gloucester cattle, tug of war competitions, a steam engine and horse-drawn wagon rides. 

There will also be live music with more than a dozen groups and singers performing throughout the day. 

Mr Freeman, who died last year at the age of 91, was famous for championing the Gloucestershire landscape, heritage crafts and country customs. 

His son, Clifford Freeman, says everyone who loves the countryside will be welcome at the event which starts at noon and runs until late.

He said: “The Eric Festival will be a showcase of his passions and pursuits from rare breeds and Morris dancing to the Forest poets and old-fashioned farmhouse cider.

“It’s all the things he cherished – we’ll honour his heart-felt determination to preserve the best of rural Gloucestershire so that the old ways, the traditional skills and the local dialect could be passed on to the next generation.”

Eric Freeman was born in Newent in 1932 and was one of the founders of the British rare breeds movement.

Tickets will be available on the gate at £10 for adults, £20 for families and £5 for students.