Attendees of Wiltshire’s largest music festival may be worried as they wake up to grey skies in the county.

Rain this morning is forecast to continue later in the day during the first day of WOMAD, in Malmesbury.

The world music and arts festival take place from Thursday, July 25 to Sunday, July 28 and has drawn 40,000 people in previous editions.

Speaking with this newspaper, Chris Smith, festival director, said: “The weather is really key.

“It is the difference between this being the biggest or just wet and muddy.”

Some rain is forecast for the early and mid-afternoon.

The rest of the festival weekend’s weather, Friday to Sunday, is expected to be sunny and in the twenties.

Chris said: “The weather forecast is very positive moving forward, despite our current autumnal state. So we feel very positive about the weather.”

The event draws musicians from over 50 countries, and still calls Wiltshire its “mothership” despite taking place in other countries.

It calls itself the place to “hear the best music you’ve never heard before”.

Last year, the festival was wet, with organisers calling for attendees to bring wellies and rain jackets. No such warning has been issued this year, with organisers instead looking forward to the sunnier three days.