The three-day Great Yarmouth Christmas Fayre is underway.

The annual event will fill the town centre with handmade crafts and gifts, local food, live entertainment, fairground rides and festive spirit from today until Sunday.

Entry to the fair is free and, in a wider boost to entice shoppers into Yarmouth, there will be free parking in all borough council town centre car parks after 4pm and all day Sunday up until Christmas.

This year, Great Yarmouth Minster will celebrate the fair by hosting specialist craft and food stalls.

In what is believed to be the largest parish church in England there will be a collection of unique handmade and locally produced goods, including: pottery, glassware, woodturning, gift crackers, toys, jewellery, soaps, vases, greeting cards, digital art, knitwear, paintings, sun-catchers, bags, cakes, puddings, pastries, cup cakes, breads, preserves, pickles, sweets and much more.

School choirs, bell ringers and local performers will provide a full schedule of festive entertainment in the church all weekend and there will even be donkeys filling in for Santa's reindeer and offering rides outside the Minster on Saturday and Sunday.

In the Market Place, fair-goers can enjoy a Christmas-themed Great Yarmouth Food Festival. The regular specialist food event provides opportunities to buy local produce from local suppliers as well as one or two appetising treats from further afield.

The food festival will compliment Yarmouth market's wide range of stallholders including market gardeners, fishmongers, butchers and the famous market chip stalls.

There will also be fun fair rides over the Christmas Fayre weekend.

The Santa's Christmas Roadtrain will be running a free shuttle service from the Market Place to the Minster between 10am and 4pm today, Saturday and Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Priory Centre will be home to the visiting Norwegian craft traders as they make their annual visit to Yarmouth's fair.

The Norwegians will be providing a unique opportunity to purchase from a selection of their wares including: handmade pewter, wooden games and puzzles, Norwegian designed knitwear and headgear, cookies, cheeses and cooking Norwegian waffles everyday.

They will also be bringing with them a selection of films and slides about their homeland's culture and landscape that will be shown on a big screen in the Priory's Noble Hall.

Raising money for local causes, the Santa's Grotto will be in the Priory Centre with young children expected to line up for their annual 'good or bad' chat with Father Christmas.

On Sunday, the fair with finish with a closing parade lead by Father Christmas on his sleigh. It will start at 2.45pm from the Town Hall and end with a special ceremony at the Minster at 3.00pm

nThe Great Yarmouth Christmas Fayre opens at 9am today, from 9am to 5pm on Saturday, and 9am to 4pm on Sunday.