A CELEBRATION of the British countryside is one of the topical themes of this year's Stratford Poetry Festival, which has just kicked off its run spanning two months of Sundays.

Archers fans can see five of their favourite stars take to the stage for an evening called Come Rain, Come Shine - a celebration of the English Countryside in words and music - which takes place at the Shakespeare Centre on July 29.

On August 5, at the Shakespeare Centre, a familiar face is heading another evening in appreciation of the countryside - former cabinet minister Kenneth Baker will be presenting Language and Landscape: the Landscape of the British Isles in Verse, read by Barbara Leigh-Hunt and Richard Pascoe.

Lord Baker, also a writer and anthologist, has devised the programme which includes verse written in praise of the British landscape by the likes of John Clare, William Wordsworth and Ted Hughes.

There is also another theme running through the festival, explained director Roger Pringle. He said: "The hundredth anniversary of Queen Victoria's death seemed a good pretext for having one programme about the women poets of her long reign and another celebrating the most famous 'poetic' friendship and marriage of the period."

The first of these evenings takes place this Sunday, at the Shakespeare Centre. Called Winged Words: Victorian Women Poets, it will see Patricia Brake, Anne Harvey and Charlotte Harvey take to the stage to present a wide-ranging programme by leading female voices of the time. They include famous names like George Eliot and Christina Rossetti. Anton Rogers and Elizabeth Garvie will be joined on piano by Timothy King for the second collection, entitled simply The Brownings. The evening will be based on the poetry and letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, set in the context of the period.

The Brownings can be seen on August 26 at the Shakespeare Institute.

For more festival information and ticket details, contact the Shakespeare Bookshop in Henley Street on 01789 292176.