To people passing through Melbourn, it may look like someone is filming a new costume drama series for the telly, like Grantchester.

Villagers dressed in outfits from the early 1900s wander around from place to place, including shops, the library and the post office, staging scenes from James Joyce's epic work, Ulysses .

It's called Bloomsday, and the idea is to re-enact a day in the life of one of the novel's characters, Leopold Bloom.

Melbourn residents dressed up as characters from James Joyce's Ulysses

In the novel, set in Dublin in 1904, Bloom's peregrinations around the city and the people he meets are described in detail, mirroring on a more mundane scale the journey in Homer's epic poem the Odyssey

A few years ago, a Bloomsday festival was held in Ireland, and the idea has since spread to other parts of the world.

Melbourn, in South Cambridgeshire, is believed to be the only village in the UK where it takes place. It was first held there two years ago, and is happening again this week, culminating on Friday (June 16). In the village pharmacy, Bloom will collect a prescription for his wife as in the novel, and in the library he will check the newspaper ads, before calling at the post office to leave his business card.

Time for a cuppa: people taking part in Bloomsday in 2016 (Picture: Keith Jones)

There will also be live music, at the United Reformed and All Saints' churches.

Melbourn's Bloomsday coordinator Hugh Pollock said: "It's more usually held in capital cities and major cultural centres around the world.

Music plays a big part

"Participants are invited to wear full or partial clothing - around 1904 - of any kind, or simply 'Come As You Are'. It starts early and finishes late, indoor and outdoor across Melbourn village. Many scenes from the novel are relocated into their Melbourn equivalent: the library, the Co-op, the butchers, the post office, the chemist.

"Melbourn basks in the reflected glow of Cambridge and London in such cultural matters - but a few residents decided to raise the banner of plucky underdog Melbourn village, and all in support of an important international charity, WaterAid.

A reading from last year's Bloomsday event in Melbourn

"If this can be done in Melbourn village then every village can find inspiration to lift the spirit of their own community in support of a worthy charity."

Details of happenings are on the festival's Facebook page .