TELEVISION'S Time Team presenter Phil Harding will launch the county's first festival of archaeology in Devizes at the end of July.

The festival has been organised in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Devizes-based Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society.

It is also a response to the increase in interest in archaeology since Channel 4 programme and BBC's equivalent, Meet the Ancestors.

From July 27 to August 2, an exhibition of the archaeological work carried out in Wiltshire will be set up at Nursteed Community Primary School in Brickley Lane.

As well as exhibits, there will be visits from groups of re-enactors who will demonstrate how people lived during various periods in county history.

The organisers of the festival, the WAF2003 Project Board, has set up a programme of 24 guided tours and lectures, most of them free, covering periods from Neolithic times to the present day.

In addition, there are three guided tours of Stonehenge, including private access to the stones, on July 29 with Mike Pitts, on July 30 with Andrew Lawson and on August 1 with Brian Davison. These tours cost £10 each.

The organisers describe the festival as "a unique concept" offering "an introduction to archaeology in Wiltshire that will provide both fun and education for children and thought-provoking information for adults".

Katy Whittaker, the chairman of WAF2003 and inquiry and research services officer for English Heritage, said that the organisers were all involved in archaeology in some way and wanted to share their enthusiasm for the subject.

She said: "It has taken about two years to organise this but if it turns out as well as we hope, it will all have been worthwhile.

"There has been an enormous growth in interest in the subject and we have organised the festival in response to that as well as celebrating the 150th anniversary of the society.

"We have absolutely no idea how many people will come along but if it is a big success we will want to follow it up as soon as possible.

"It is a lot of hard work and reliant on funding, so we can't expect to do it every year, but there are lots of opportunities for people to take their interest further if it is fired up by this festival."

Full details of the festival are available in the programme brochure now available at Wiltshire Heritage Museum and libraries.