THE Milton Room’s spring season opens on Friday with singer and songwriter Martin Heaton.

Martin, who lives in Pickering, has written songs and played guitar since he was a boy, going on to perform in local folk clubs as a solo artist and also playing alongside other musicians in a country-rock band.

He will be appearing at the Malton venue on Friday, at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5 or £6 at the door.

On Sunday, Dan Webster described as “a hybrid of Damien Rice, Seth Lakeman and Tom McRae” takes to the stage.

Dan’s music is influenced by sounds and story-telling traditions of American and British folk music in its broadest sense, Americana and rock and roll. As a live performer he inspires attention, pulling you into his work with finely-crafted melodies and lyrics – delivered with a powerful and honest vocal.

Tickets for the concert, which starts at 7.30pm, are £9 and £10 at the door.

On Friday, February 20, Blanchard’s Balloon is presented by Open Umbrella Theatre, with a family show at 2pm, followed by an adult performance at 7.30pm.

A punchy, historically accurate family comedy following the unusual and fascinating lives of Sophie, John Jefferies and most importantly Jean-Pierre Blanchard, who invented the hot air balloon.

He stormed The Bastille, landed on the moon, sang “What a Wonderful World”, won the Tour de France and was a popular 1980s toy, or so he would have you believe. Watch them as they escape into the crazy world of “true balloonacy’ Full of slapstick, music and revolution.

Blanchard’s Balloon is a Skopera: Skiffle-Opera, with music made with homemade objects and short punchy songs packed with humour.

Ryedale Special Families present The Beached Boys on Saturday, February 21, at 7.30pm.

Listen in amazement as Dave, Paul, Kevin, George and John recreate the summer sounds of Brian, Mike, Carl, Al and Dennis, who made up the inspirational California group The Beach Boys.

Favourite hits like Little Deuce Coup, I Get Around, Surfin’ Safari and Help Me Rhonda should get you yearning for the sun and surf.

Brief Lives by Patrick Garland and presented by Other Lives Productions is on Tuesday, February 24, at 8pm.

Old John Aubrey takes his audience by the hand and, with a twinkle in his eye, leads them through a day late in his life, launching into wicked tales.

He regales you with tales of his contemporaries – Oliver Cromwell, Charles II, Nell Gwyn – and stories gleaned as a child from folk who knew the likes of Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh.

By turns he is a stand-up comic, a philosopher, a lodger in a garret room suffering crying babies and other noisy co-tenants. Once he starts speaking to you he is like the Ancient Mariner - you cannot choose but hear.

Finally in February, Canadian folk singer Ian Sherwood takes to the stage on Friday, February 27, at 7.30pm.

The winner of contemporary Singer of the Year at the 2013 Canadian Folk Music Awards, Ian has won a whole host of awards.

A presenter on CBC radio describes him as “a natural performer who entertains as much with his wit and stories as with his songs”.

For tickets, phone the Milton Rooms on 01653 696240 or go to themiltonrooms.com