SIEGE warfare and medieval jousting are on the menu for a milestone year at one of county's biggest festivals.

To celebrate the 760th anniversary of the famous battle between Simon de Montfort and Prince Edward, organisers are turning the festival into a three-day event from Friday, August 1 to Sunday, August 3.

Mick Hurst, director of the Battle of Evesham, said: "On Friday we've got a 13th-century tourney, which is basically the first style of what people know as jousting.

"We're going to build a completely separate arena to hold the tourney with a royal box for the king and queen to watch from."

And the exciting changes continue into the weekend.

"We're going to build a replica of Kenilworth Castle on the battle arena," Mr Hurst said, "It won't be 1:1 scale, but it will be big enough for what we have planned.

"After the battle, the armies of Simon de Montfort retreated to the castle and were followed by the royalist forces who sieged the castle for 174 days.

"We are going recreate this and use the castle for siege warfare demonstrations."

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The 2024 Battle of Evesham saw record numbers of crowds and re-enactors taking part, but Mr Hurst wants to set two more records at the next event: "This year, we had 735 people taking part as re-enactors but we want to get over 800 in 2025 and maybe even reach 1,000.

"And if the weather is nice we should easily beat the 40,000 attendees that came last year."

Despite the massive production costs, the festival will remain free entry: "We want to keep it as a festival for the community so people can donate if they'd like."

The festival will also be raising funds through its new park and ride/stroll scheme, which will give visitors the chance to walk or take a shuttle bus to the arena.

With more to prepare for than ever, organisers are looking for some help from history-loving volunteers: "If anyone has any spare time to help out over the long weekends, that would be fantastic."