CLOSE Encounters got the Ageas Salisbury International Arts Festival off to a start in the Cathedral Close at the weekend.

Saturday afternoon saw the children’s PlayDay with a tent full of art and sporting activities as well as a chance to try out unicycling, juggling and various other circus skills.

Performers carried on regardless of the rain, with theatre, song and dance on the cathedral lawns.

Local groups entertained on the Salisbury Live stage in the evening before Nuno Silva’s Soul of Fado provided a sensual contemporary fire and dance show complete with a flaming gondola.

The free event finished with fireworks against the backdrop of the cathedral.