ART, history and hillwalking fans should all find a visit to Otley Courthouse rewarding over the coming weeks.

Artist Andy Beck will be displaying works from his The Wainwrights in Colour project - which resulted in a book of the same name - at the venue on Friday, January 18.

Mr Beck spent more then a decade on the scheme which involved painstakingly recreating every illustration from guidebook author and illustrator Alfred Wainwright’s seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells.

He ended up producing 1,500 watercolour sketches (based on the monochrome originals) in what he describes as a ‘homage’ to Wainwright.

The artist will talk about his inspiration for the work, and what it entailed, while showing examples when he appears at the Courthouse at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £10 (concessions £8).

History buffs, meanwhile, can hear all about the early years of Queen Elizabeth II from Professor Kate Williams on Friday, February 8.

Prof Williams, the co-presenter of BBC Two’s Restoration Home and a contributor to many historical TV shows, will discuss Young Elizabeth: The Making of the Queen from 7.30pm.

The two hour event will explore how Elizabeth’s father had initially refused to let her volunteer as a nurse during the Blitz, but gave in when she was 18 and allowed her to work as a mechanic and truck driver for the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service.

Prof Williams will also explain how the 25-year-old queen’s forward-thinking approach created a lasting role for herself amid the turbulent 20th Century - and one that continues in the 21st Century.

Tickets for the talk cost £16. They - and tickets for The Wainwrights in Colour - can be booked by visiting www.otleycourthouse.org.uk, calling (01943) 467466 or popping into the Courthouse, on Courthouse Street.