WITH music and laughs galore, plus books, art, exhibitions and a season of festivals, there’s plenty on offer at Winchester Discovery Centre this spring and summer.

The Jewry Street venue’s gallery features two high-profile exhibitions this season, starting with Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry’s Walthamstow Tapestry from May 17 to July 6. Inspired by antique batik fabrics from Malaysia, the vast textile can be read from left to right as a story depicting life interlaced with brand names and subtle messages.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year, in association with the Natural History Museum and BBC Worldwide, runs from July 12 to September 21 and showcases 100 awe-inspiring images depicting animal behaviour from across the globe – now in its 49th year.

City Space gallery celebrates local architecture and urban design in Live Work Play between June 14 and July 6, when Hampshire-based architects will exhibit some of their robust, elegant and ingenious designs. With neighbours Theatre Royal Winchester celebrating their 100th anniversary, family-friendly Putting on a Show will take visitors behind the theatrical scenes to try their hand at make-up, special effects and costume design from July 12 to September 7.

A new version of Pinocchio will be performed for ages four plus on May 11. Hiccup Theatre explode onto the stage with live music, puppetry and physical storytelling. Young families can also look forward to a sing-a-long re-imagining of Old MacDonald Had a Farm with a twist, as a friendly scientist and his time machine help Old MacDonald find his lost animals.

In literature, Val McDermid, best selling crime author and creator of TV’s Wire in the Blood, visits to talk about her modern re-imaging of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey on May 11. Soon after, a preview of Winchester Poetry Festival, EPIC! With LiTTLe MACHiNe, takes place, featuring live music, drama and comedy (May 14).

Known as ‘The Welsh Springsteen’, Martyn Joseph brings an Americana-inspired taste of folk to the music bill on May 8 before Winchester favourites Threepenny Bit host a Summer Ceilidh on May 30. The raucous eight-piece band’s big stomping sound and caller promise to have audiences dancing all night.

Winchester Chamber Music Festival with the London Bridge Ensemble return between May 1 and 4 – followed by the Winchester Guitar Festival on June 13 and 14 featuring a Young Artists’ Concert.

Robin Ince is In and Out of His Mind on June 6 as the Sony Gold Award winning comedian, Radio 4 regular and science enthusiast presents another in his line up of unhinged stand-up comic lectures. Another familiar voice from Radio 4 takes to the stage on July 16, when Mark Thomas explains his Work in Progress, with plenty of laughs surrounding the story of a friend being spied on by a large corporation.