THIS week gets off to a great start with a rearranged house concert at the home of Graham and Vanya Anderson at Pool Hall farm in Rushton Spencer, with the guest being Phil Beer, who is half of Britain's foremost acoustic duo, Show of Hands.

Over the past few years the idea of a house party has become quite popular with the host booking an artist and the audience chipping in to pay for the cost. These concerts are a chance to see the artiste performing in an informal setting and over the past few months I've been to a couple of these events and they have been great with a lovely atmosphere. The concert with Phil Beer has been rearranged following its cancellation a couple of weeks ago because of the snow (01260 226269).

Saturday sees another rearranged concert when Dave Rhead, organiser of the Leek Cuckoo's Nest Folk Club, continues his series of folk nights at The Red Lion in Cheddleton. These nights, which started last September, have proved popular with the resident band, The Herbs And Leekies, providing the support for the evening with a local singer providing the guest slot. This Saturday it is the turn of Dave Dove, from Congleton. He is joined by Cheddleton-based young fiddle player Robbie Sherratt who is absolutely amazing (01538 385260).

Also on Saturday two brilliant fiddle-players, Dave Swarbrick and Gina Le Faux, will be performing at The Royal Legion Club in Middlewich. It's good to see the regular folk nights taking off as Middlewich promotes a great folk festival every June. Ex-festival organiser Liz Rosenfield is responsible for promoting these concerts. The quality of these artists is first class with the legendary Dave Swarbrick (ex-Fairport Convention and Whippersnapper) always very entertaining, (01606 834969).

Sandbach Folk Club, which meets at The Market Tavern every Tuesday, this week has Manchester based group Zinrgari Swing paying a return visit, ably lead by Tony Nyland. Expect some fast and furious tunes coupled with some self-penned songs, the evening having a jazzy feel to it (07815721933).

On Wednesday Biddulph Folk Club is in action when leading folk singer Bob Fox is the special guest at The Biddulph Arms. Bob sings some great chorus songs and his charismatic stage presence and north east humour come to the fore. Although he has been a force on the folk scene for 30 years, over the last few years he has raised his profile with support tours with Fairport Convention. Ciaran and Chris Algar will be supporting (01782 514896).

Incidentally, the Biddulph club have landed a major coup for the area by booking the legendary Scottish traditional players Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham at Biddulph Town Hall on Wednesday, March 24, and advance tickets are now available (01782 514896).