ONE of East Lancashire’s biggest food festivals is bracing itself for a visitor from across the Atlantic - Hurricane Bertha.

The storm is predicted to hit the UK by Sunday or Monday, although forecasters said exactly where it would land was still not clear.

It means that organisers of the Clitheroe Food Festival, as well as the Trawden Show, are hoping the rainclouds will stay away.

A Met Office spokesman said: “At the moment the majority of forecasts suggest Bertha will track to the south of the UK. A much smaller number of outcomes suggest Bertha will move across the UK which could bring some strong winds and heavy rain. Because these outcomes are in a minority, however, they are less likely.”

The region has been told to expect warm sunny spells, interrupted by showers, with the heaviest and more frequent falling on Saturday, but ‘nothing too unusual for this time of the year’, the Met Office added.

Food enthusiasts will descend on Clitheroe on Saturday for the festival of local food produce, where more than 100 producers will take to the stage.

All the chefs hail from Lancashire, and each will offer visitors the chance to watch first class cookery demonstrations and tast-ings throughout the day.

In Trawden, visitors will take part in several activities on Sunday, including a military-style assault course and archery. Rock It dance troop are set to perform, while Harambee Surgery is organising children's races and, Trawden Celtic will be organising a free penalty shootout.

The first Colne Summer Market is also due to be held on Saturday, at the outdoor market space next to the indoor market from 10am to 4pm.