AS I write this article, snow covers the ground, the earth is as hard as iron and spring seems far away. I suspect, though, after this patch of cold weather has passed and the “Beast from the East” is done, we are in for some better days ahead.

Our thoughts turn to spring with warming sunshine and the beginnings of those lovely long Yorkshire afternoons, and we've got lots of events and fun activities to come.

Malton has a new event to look forward to this spring - Malton Gin Festival.

The brainchild of Jim of McMillan’s of Malton, this new festival partners with The Talbot and the new Rarebird Distillery in Talbot Yard to bring visitors a marathon of gin.

Visitors can buy a ticket which will then get them access to a wide range of different gin tastings, talks and other gin related fun.

April 27 to April 29 is the date of Malton Gin Festival, so get your fever-tree at the ready and enjoy.

Spring also sees the return of Beertown, back in all its glory.

Malton’s craft beer celebration has quietly been growing for several years and is now one of the most well-regarded craft beer events in the UK.

The festival is run collaboratively by Malton’s two brewery’s Bad Seed and Brass Castle Brewery, who are no stranger to national champion beers themselves.

This self-proclaimed “theatre of beer” raises money for local charity Ryedale Special Families and attracts serious craft beer enthusiasts from across Yorkshire and further afield.

Running from May 17 to 19, this is the perfect warm-up for what is coming later in May.

And what a spectacle we have in store for you come the Spring Bank Holiday (May 26 and 27) – the Visit Malton Food Lovers Festival celebrates its 10th year and with it we are planning the very best event ever in our history.

With Michelin stars Tommy Banks, Andrew Pern and James Mackenzie representing the absolute best of Yorkshire on stage, the demonstrations will be outside this year under a large covered area offering visitors the chance to enjoy the demos free of charge.

The 180 stalls will be doing exactly the same thing as the chefs – that is showing the UK how Yorkshire is the culinary centre of Britain.

With mountains of produce and treats, Malton Food Lovers Festival is set to be amazing. As always there will be an enormous and eclectic street food offering, masses of live music, talks, tastings, live demos, cookery lessons and more.

The festival is growing into a few new areas of town and we are very much expecting there to be a whole new activity area in front of The Talbot too.

Looking through the long list of exhibitors, I see lots of returning favourites, including Henderson’s Relish and Smoking Blues

barbecue.

There are also some extra surprises in there too, including a couple of German’s who are pledging to teach us Brits a thing or two about tea – alcoholic tea no less.

It all sounds pretty tempting, even for me writing it, so if you can’t wait then make sure you pop along to the Visit Malton Monthly Food Market which runs on Saturday, March 10 and will have 40 producers, street food a plenty, live demos, food tours, trips to Talbot Yard, live music and, as always, a stellar atmosphere. See you there.

For more information, go to visitmalton.com