Saltaire residents’ homes were transformed into art galleries over the weekend as hundreds of people visited the historic village for a feast of culture.

Kitchens, lounges and even bathrooms were turned into temporary exhibition spaces for people to view works by renowned local artists.

The Open Houses event is one of the most popular features of the Saltaire Festival, which started in 2003 to mark the 150th anniversary of Sir Titus Salt’s mill.

The festival – which includes art, dance, street performance and live music – now attracts about 40,000 people to the World Heritage Site each year.

To mark the start of the 2009 festival, organisers held a Strictly Saltaire South American ball at Victoria Hall, with a live performance by award-winning dancer Theo Awadzi and professional salsa instructor Jean-Paul Essiam.

On Saturday, the hall played host to the popular Makers’ Fair, which attracted craft stall holders from across West Yorkshire.

Visitors browsed stalls selling everything from jewellery, antiques and ornaments to knitted hats and scarves.

Mary North and Brian Evans of Cock Lane Pottery were selling blue and Raku copper lustre plates and pots made using a technique taken from 19th century Japan.

Families joined in outdoor art fun in the grounds of Saltaire United Reformed Church, where they painted sections of four seven-foot letters spelling the word “tree”, at the entrance to the church.

Inside, sculptor Jean Parker displayed her collection of terracotta, bronze and alabaster sculptures illustrating the feelings of grief and loss she felt when coming to terms with her own experience of cancer.

The exhibition, called Bald Statements and organised by church minister the Reverend Paul Breeze, is on show throughout the festival and runs until September 30.

There was Victorian street theatre by the Penny Plain Theatre Company, which brought its distinctive outdoor stage modelled on 19th century theatre booths to the grounds of Shipley College in Victoria Road.

The production, held in Hardcastle’s Mighty Excelsior Theatre, is a tribute to the company’s “dear departed carthorse”, Hamlet.

Tickets are still available for one of the highlights of the festival, an appearance from Yorkshire poet Ian McMillan, who will be reading from his latest work, Talking Myself Home, at Saltaire United Reformed Church on Friday, September 18.

For more information contact 01274 589144.

Information about events at the Saltaire Festival, which runs until September 20, is available on the website at saltairefestival.co.uk.