Roll up, roll up, there's lots of free festival fun for everyone!

Eastern Daily Press: NNF14 - The Garden Party - Lords of Strut.NNF14 - The Garden Party - Lords of Strut. (Image: Conor Buckley)

Throughout this weekend Norwich's Chapelfield Gardens will be packed full of a colourful kaleidoscope of entertainment for all the family as the Norfolk and Norwich Festival's popular Garden Party returns to the city park.

The weird and wonderful acts will also be spilling out onto Millennium Plain on Saturday and Sunday when circus acts take to the stage with Acrojou's show Frantic.

Ahead of all this city centre fun, on Friday an array of performers are heading to Diss to entertain the crowds at a free family day in Mere Park and around the town centre.

'There will be everything from a robotic fire-breathing horse (Paka Johnson) to great spectacle by Great Yarmouth circus company Lost in Translation,' said festival director William Galinsky.

'If you enjoyed the People's Tower then you'll love this weekend. It's a chance to kick back, relax and enjoy some great outdoor entertainment - and it's all free which is really brilliant.

'We believe the sun is going to shine so come along, bring a picnic and hopefully you will have a lot of fun!'

Alongside the free daytime events there will also be a free evening show – Grime by Ramshacklicious – outside the Adnams Spiegeltent in Norwich at 8.40pm on Saturday and Sunday.

The festival's free outdoor programme is sponsored by Lafarge Tarmac.

•Diss Family Day is Friday 3pm-8pm. The Garden Party in Norwich's Chapelfield Gardens and Millennium Plain is 11am-6pm Saturday and 11am-5pm Sunday.

• The festival runs until May 25. Visit www.nnfestival.org.uk

Friday's Diss Family Day

• Anchor Aweigh – Seachange Carousel Collective – 3pm-5pm and 5.30pm-7.30pm.

• Wet Picnic – The Lift – 3pm and 5pm.

• Lords of Strut- The Only Way Is Lords – 3.30pm and 5.45pm.

• Paka Johnson – 'Out And About With A Whinny And A Canter' - 4.15pm and 6.15 pm.

• Lost In Translation – La Ballade De Bergerac – 7pm.

Shows will take place around the Mere Park and town centre. Times are approximate and subject to change.

Norwich's Garden Party

Saturday

From 11am until 6pm, Chapelfield Gardens:

• Norwich Puppet Theatre workshops – 11am-5pm (£3 per workshop).

• The Astronaut's Caravan – an amusing journey through space and time – 11am-5pm.

• Anchor Aweigh- Seachange Carousel Collective – a life on the ocean waves awaits in this people-powered nautical carousel – noon to 2pm and 2.30pm-4.30pm.

• Wet Picnic – The Lift – step inside, choose a floor and prepared to be whisked away – 11.15am, 1.15pm and 4.15pm.

• Haywood Hix – Works – sculptural machinery combined with slapstick clownery – noon and 2.15pm.

• Lords of Strut – The Only Way Is Lords – wannabe celebrities Famous Seamus and Sean-tastic perform to a soundtrack of guilty pleasures – 12.30pm and 2.45pm.

• Paka Johnson - 'Out And About With A Whinny And A Canter' – 1.15pm and 3.30pm.

• Lost In Translation – La Ballade De Bergerac – circus show inspired by early science fiction and the life and times of poet and inventor Cyrano de Bergerac – 5pm.

Millennium Plain:

• Acrojou – Frantic – an explosive circus spectacle exploring our relentless devotion to busyness – 3pm and 4.30pm.

Adnams Spiegeltent

• Family Film Morning – watch some classic Looney Tunes cartoons from the golden age of American animation – 11am-12.30pm.

Norwich's Garden Party

Sunday

From 11am to 5pm, Chapelfield Gardens

• Norwich Puppet Theatre workshops – 11am-5pm (£3 per workshop).

• The Astronaut's Caravan – 11am to 5pm.

• Anchor Aweigh- Seachange Carousel Collective – noon to 2pm and 2.30pm-4.30pm.

• Lost In Translation – La Ballade De Bergerac – 11.15am and 2.45pm.

• Wet Picnic – The Lift – 12.15pm, 2.15pm and 4.15pm.

• Haywood Hix – Works – 1pm and 3.45pm.

• Orkestra del Sol – 1.45pm

Millennium Plain

• Acrojou – Frantic – noon, 2pm and 4pm.

Adnams Spiegeltent

• Family Film Morning – 11am-12.30pm.

All times are approximate and subject to change.