A TWO day walking festival with guided walks and treasure hunts is among the many activities lined up for the new year by the hard working Walking Newtown group.

The festival will run over the weekend of June 1 and 2.

Dr Mike Davies, chair of Walking Newtown, said: "Thanks all our members for their hard work in 2018.

“We’ve received wonderful support, too from the Newtown Town Council and look forward to a successful 2019 with Newtown’s first Walking Festival as a highlight.”

It has been a productive year for Walking Newtown with 414 volunteer hours of working on the footpaths, with 80 people contributing.

Not 80 different ones, of course – just the number of people on each workday.

The team installed another 10 gates, bringing their total to 59.

Lots of clearance work was carried out and another set of steps installed.

A spokesperson for the group said: "We also have several new volunteers trained for path work and we hope to see a lot of them out digging holes in 2019.

"Now, for 2019, we are organising and hosting Newtown’s first Walking Festival on 1st and 2nd June 1 and 2. Put the dates in your diary now.

"It will be an exciting event with a dozen free walks to choose from each day. There will be guided and self-guided walks based on our footpaths and two treasure hunts (one nature trail and one heritage trail).

Walks will include: challenge walks, shorter walks of six, eight and 10 miles, walks suitable for parents with buggies and people with limited mobility, dog friendly walks, foraging walks, heritage and history, family, pub and train walks, Welsh language walks, singing walks with a local choir and short ambles.

"We’ll need more money but we’ve already been awarded £500 from Skipton Building Society Grassroot. We were one of 165 successful groups from 743 applications.

"We’ve had lots of people offer help with the festival but there’s a terrific amount to do, including funding applications, promotion, design, walk leading, etc so anyone who hasn’t already volunteered and is willing to help, let us know.

"Here’s to a great 2019 and keep walking!"

You can contact the group via email at newtownwalks@hotmail.com