A POPULAR beach town hosted a sand sculpting competition this week and some of the work created was truly amazing.

SeaFest was held at St Bees on Sunday 31st July by Cumbria Wildlife Trust.

The event was attended by 200 people and their were a range of activities available for people to engage with.

Lucy Mather, Project Manager of Cumbria Wildlife Trust and organiser of SeaFest said: "We were delighted with our first ever SeaFest! It was a fantastic year for the Beached Art competition, with 19 families taking part, and some of the best sand sculptures we have ever seen!

"The judges had a tough time deciding the winners."

The other activities on offer were all to highlight our connection to the ocean.

These included: beach yoga, sustainable seafood demonstrations, marine themed arts and crafts, guided walks and wildlife watching.

Four lucky families won prizes for their outstanding sand artwork depicting: a bottle nose dolphin, a hermit crab, a turtle and a jellyfish and a piece titled wave riders.

All prizes offered fun family days out in the local area like Maryport Aquarium and a visit to Whinlatter Forrest.

Mrs Mather continued: "The sustainable seafood tasters, a new addition this year, were a roaring success, with over 200 portions of delicious local seafood being given out, and attendees gathering tips on how to cook creel-caught langoustine, local lobster, and even fillets of fresh seabass."

All of the produce was caught by local fishermen Andy Bell who is working with Cumbria Wildlife Trust to develop sustainable fishing methods.

In hope that this will protect the sea habitats around the Cumbrian coast.

Visitors were able to go around the rock pools and Maryport Aquarium brought some se creatures, like crabs and starfish along, for people to handle.

Plastic waste was used to make mosaics to be displayed.