Port Eliot Festival 2011

Port Eliot Festival is held between Thursday 21st until Sunday 24th July 2011 in the grounds of the Earl of St Germans Cornish estate at Port Eliot in Cornwall.

Set in the very same location as the legendary Elephant Fayre, back in the Seventies and Eighties, the festival started up as the Eliot Lit Fest early in the millennium and, in the seven years of its existence, it has come to be regarded as one of the most original, magical, Bohemian events of its kind anywhere in the country.

The festival offers a rich diversity of arts and entertainment encompassing music, literature, poetry, comedy, film and art.

Line-up

New additions Glenn Tilbrook, Annie Nightingale (DJ set), Geoff Travis (DJ set), The Fisherman's Friends, Colorama, Tallulah Rendall, James Walbourne, The Seahawks (DJ set), Hip Hop Karaoke, Jonny Trunk (DJ set), ahab, The Belles of London City, Black Friday, Busk Stop, Chris Lochery, Errol Fuller, Fathers and Daughters, Gaz Mayall, Haggis and Charlie, Herbie Treehead, Tim Ten Yen, Michael Campari, Fitz and Cara, Grooveyard, Two Tonic, and The Roosters.

They join British Sea Power, Bellowhead, Andrew Weatherall, The Jim Jones Revue, Caitlin Rose, Secret Sisters, Frank Turner, Hannah Peel, Sea of Bees, The Rockingbirds, Laetitia Sadier, Willy Vlautin, Ed Harcourt, Gravenhurst, Treecreeper, Guy Pratt, Gaggle, Lulu & The Lampshades, RSVP, Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou, Deaf School, Diamond Family Archive, Louis Eliot and the Embers, Conquering Animal Sound, Geraint Watkins, Mik Artistik's Ego Trip, Wilfredo, Lush Life, Manières des Bohemiens, The Half Sisters, Antony Elvin, The Severed Limb, Frootful, The Langley Sisters, Mad Dog Mcrea, A Beach Supreme, The Fifty Degrees Choir, and more. For the line-up details as available please click here.

Authors include Sam Bain & Jesse Armstrong, Hari Kunzru, Hanif Kureishi, Jon Ronson, Katie Kitamura, Paul Murray, Rosie Boycott, A.C. Grayling, Oliver Burkeman, Lucy Siegle, Kevin Sampson, Luke Wright, Caitlin Moran, Emma Kennedy, Patrick French, Simon Garfield, Owen Sheers, Katie Hickman, Rob Young, Joe Dunthorne, and James Attlee.

Tickets

Early Bird tickets for Port Eliot Festival 2011 are now sold out. A weekend ticket will be priced at £140 for adults, £55 for children (8yrs to 15yrs inclusive), tickets for children of 7yrs and under are free. Campervan tickets are priced at £20. To buy tickets, click here.

Early entry Thursday

Full weekend ticket holders will be able to arrive from 12 midday on Thursday 21st July, giving those festival-goers the chance to discover the most beautiful camping spots, explore the enchanting setting and take in special entertainment laid on in the festival bars dotted around the Estate. In addition, the main festival programme will commence at the earlier time of 12 midday on Friday 22nd July.

Family friendly

Families are especially welcome at the festival and there's a special supervised kids' area featuring magic and puppet shows where youngsters can create their own stories and artwork while, for teenagers, the Mucking About With Words Tent incorporates slam poetry sessions with DJs, dance and much more besides.

Camping

Festival-goers can pitch their tents in the stunning grounds of the Port Eliot Estate free included in the entry price or hang out in relative luxury by hiring a beautifully decorated yurt or teepee.

On site

The festival will also offer the opportunity to take in a séance or a massage on the estuary, dance the night away, and sample the varied selection of food stalls.

Martin Scorsese's Paradiso Outdoor Cinema

Nightly double-bills chosen specifically for Port Eliot by Martin Scorsese screened from twilight on each evening of the festival in the festival's Paradiso Cinema. Festivalgoers will sit underneath the stars, some in specially designed Cadillac cars, to enjoy a series of films chosen to complement the setting and the themes celebrated by the festival – train films, musicals, film noir and literary adaptations. In amongst the screenings will be discussions of Martin Scorsese's work, chaired by film writer Tom Shone.

Caught by The River

For the third year running, Caught by The River, the online haven for music, nature, rambling, gardening, poetry, film, art and angling, will take up its position in the quarry in front of the boathouse looking over the Lynher estuary. Offering music, DJ sets, conversations, readings and archive radio broadcasts. Guests include Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis, former British Sea Power manager Roy Wilkinson, legendary music PR man and author Mick Houghton, former editor of Zigzag magazine Andy Childs, exotic record purveyor Jonny Trunk, writer John Niven and journalist and broadcaster Emma Warren.

Food

This year's festival will feature cookery demonstrations, discussions and invitations to tuck into beautiful food all around the site. Highlights include: Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall restaurant; Thomasina Miers, Peter Gordon, Daniel de la Falaise, Chris Sherville - resident chef at Port Eliot, brings his tented fish restaurant in the walled garden, Fat Hen Forager - Caroline Davey, Lindsey Bareham, Stefan Gates, Josceline Dimbleby, Rose Prince, The Good Food Producers Guide and The Lost Kitchen.

The Port Eliot Flower Show

The idiosyncratic Port Eliot Flower Show will be curated by acclaimed resident production designer of Ballet Rambert Michael Howells, judged by gardener Dan Pearson and milliner Stephen Jones and organised by the Women's Institute. Special events, include a discussion on flowers in music, a round-table discussion involving head gardeners from three great gardens in Cornwall. This year's categories include Lend Me A Tenor (a black and white arrangement), Somewhere Over the Rainbow (a scarecrow), Veg Factor (a vegetable sculpture to depict a singer), Overture and Beginners Please (a miniature arrangement for an actress's dressing room), Salad Days (an arrangement of vegetables) and Interval (a table arrangement for an interval supper).

Fashion

A new fashion stage, curated by Sarah Mower and featuring photographer David Sims. Wild swimming in the St Germans Estuary.

Take a dip

Festivalgoers are invited to leap into the estuary of the river Lynher - a particularly beautiful part of the site - whenever the mood takes them. All ages are welcome to dive in and enjoy themselves at high tide. Last year, hundreds jumped in the river.

The Idler's Academy

The Idler's Academy of Philosophy, Husbandry and Merriment, established by Tom Hodgkinson, editor of cult magazine The Idler, features demonstrations and performances from a whole host of characters. This year, the Academy's workshops will range from limerick writing to learning Latin.

The Poetry Takeaway

The world's first purpose-built mobile poetry emporium comes to Port Eliot. The Poetry Takeaway produces free, made-to-order poetry, delivered fast to festivalgoers by a group of the UK’s leading performance poets and writers. Every customer is given a personal performance of their particular poem, along with a handwritten copy, open or wrapped.

Martin Parr's Port Eliot Exhibition

Martin Parr will roam the festival, taking photographs throughout and creating a live exhibition in the basement of the house at Port Eliot, which will evolve alongside the festival.

More information will be here when available.

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