UPDATE: Photo gallery at Dubs at the Hall festival in Holt

Hundreds of cheery campers wearing sunglasses and wellies have defied the miserable British weather and arrived in Holt for the annual Dubs at the Hall Festival.

VW camper vans and beetles packed high with tents, bedding and children began arriving at the venue early today (Friday), despite the heavy rain predicted to last all weekend.

Jason Jones, who is one of the organisers, said the event team had been determined the festival would go ahead and had experienced a last minute panic this morning when they realised how wet the weather was, despite working though blistering heat to set the festival site up the day before (Thursday).

He said: 'It started raining at 2am and didn't stop. We realised we had to do emergency groundworks. We got up at 5am and luckily we found a farmer with 60 bales of hay to sell at 7am so we have put that down with five tonnes of hogging from a builders yard. Our wives and children were all helping and some of the early campers and trade stands pitched in.'

Kevin and Kirsty Sadd, from Hellesdon, were among the first arrivals at the event with their modified VW Variant. Kevin said: 'I don't think anybody cares about the weather, it will still be brilliant. We are British after all. Sunshine is just a bonus.'

Graham and Tash Shepherd and their children Lulu, 10, and William, three, travelled to the festival from Blofield with their pink spotty camper called Trudie. Mrs Shepherd said: 'We are not put off by the rain at all. We are going to soldier through and have a good time.'

The festival will run until Sunday evening. It features live bands, stalls, games and a show 'n' shine competition, where owners can show off their VWs to win a prize.