Port Eliot Festival 2015

The Port Eliot Festival of creative arts will take place between Thursday 30th July and Sunday 2nd August 2015 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 11 years years of its existence, has grown to offer a rich diversity of arts and entertainment encompassing music, literature, poetry, comedy, film and art.

Line-up

Latest additions Sarah Cracknell, 2-Tonic, 50 Degrees Choir, Abigail Collins, Art of Dance, Black Friday, Bread and Butter Theatre, C Force, Canoryon Lowen, Haggis and Charlie, Conner Mcintyre, Faerground Accidents, Gazzo, Grooveyard, Haunt the Woods, In Accord, Jake Calladine, Java Five, Kid Wave, The Loose Salute, Louis Eliot & the Embers, Louise Parker and the Funkatronic 5, Love Nor Money, Luke Turner, Mama Tokus, Playful Chorus, Pearl TN, Rambunctious Social Club , Gypsy Hill, Rory Butler, Simon Spoons, Suzie Mac, Tankus the Henge, The Lazybirds The Soul Agents, Strangelings, the Van Goghies, Vince Lee & Becca Langsford, Will McNicol, and Luke Selby.

They join Archie Bronson Outfit, Awesome Tapes From Africa, Kurt Jackson and John Sauven Stealing Sheep, Chris Watson, Andrew Weatherall, The Unthanks, Ezra Furman, Marika Hackman, Geata Krar Collective, Kid Wave, John Otway, Faerground Accidents, RSVP, Lail Arad, Eaves, Louis Eliot & The Embers , Mad Dog Mcrea, Vince Lee & Becca Langsford, Rory Butler, The Mostar Diving Club, My Darling Clementine, Police Dog Hogan, Mik Artistik's Ego Trip, Will McNicol and Luke Selby, Susie Mac, Tankus the Henge, Love Nor Money, Grooveyard, John Andrews, Virginia and Florence Astley, Patrick Barkham, Bizarre Rituals, Andy Childs, Mathew Clayton, Tim Dee & Philip Marsden, Remembered For A While: A Nick Drake Companion, Folklore Tapes, Pete Fowler Fumaca Preta, Gwenno, The Harlequin Dynamite Marching Band The Heavenly Jukebox, Hooton Tennis Club, Richard King, Clive Langer and the Clang Group The London Sound Survey, John Lewis Stempel, Nina Lyon, Matthew and Me Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou, Katharine Norbury, Marcus O’Dair, Red River Dialect Rob St. John, Emma Warren, Jane Weaver, Roy Wilkinson’s Pop & Nature Quiz.

Resident DJ: Stephen ‘Spoonful’ Parker. Also featuring Totnes' Drift Record Shop.

Tickets

buy tickets now >

The early bird offer has ended. Tickets are priced at £165 each (please note there's an additional booking fee).

Child aged 14 to 17 years inclusive tickets are priced at £70, as are those for children aged 8 to 13 years inclusive, children aged 7 years and under can attend for free.

Early entry Thursday

It is expected that once again full weekend ticket holders will be able to arrive from 12 midday on Thursday, 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. The main festival programme will commence at midday on Friday.

Family friendly

Families are especially welcome at the festival and there's a special supervised kids' area featuring performances, crafts, workshops and more.

There's a new area for younger festivalgoers called Pulse offering storytelling, live music, table games, jam sessions for guitarists, bass players, drummers and singers, a well-stocked tuck shop and a series of workshops (including Bangra and African Dance and hip hop and rap sessions). Open until midnight Friday to Sunday. Check the information board when you're onsite to see what's happening and when.

Cinderella

The shimmering blue ball gown Ella wears at the ball in Disney’s recent live - action feature will be on special display throughout this year’s Port Eliot Festival. Accompanying the gown will be the sparkling glass slipper which Ella wore. Costume designer Sandy Powell, who created the costumes for the film, will be reunited with the gown and slipper at Port Eliot. As well as discussing her Cinderella designs, in conversation with Tim Blanks, editor of Style.com, Sandy will give an insight into her latest work for 'Carol', starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, her third film with director Todd Haynes.

At Port Eliot, Ella’s ball gown will be on display in the blue Drawing Room, with the slipper shown alone in an adjoining darkened room, which will be lit by the torchlight of festivalgoers as they enter.

Wardrobe Department

As part of the Wardrobe Department line-up for 2015, festival goers will get first hand experience of life in Westeros in tv show Game Of Thrones with actress Gwendoline Christie who will talk about her role as Brienne of Tarth, loyal knight and feminist heroine. Thrones’ original production designer, Gemma Jackson, will reveal how she visualised and built all Seven Kingdoms. Costume designer, Michele Clapton, will discuss how she clothes everyone, from the courts of incestuous Queens, the denizens of brothels and religious fanatics, to the armour, furs and rags of warring armies.

The Wardrobe Department line-up also includes Sarah Mower, Alexander Fury, Jenny Dyson’s Pencil Atelier Barbara Hulanicki, Sandy Powell, Giles Deacon, Marques’Almeida, Molly Goddard, Beth Postle & Luke Brooks, Piers Atkinson, Susie Bubble, Katie Jones The Warren Sisters, Tim Blanks, Damien Cuypers, Joseph Lakrowsky, Flora Starkey Michael Howells, The Garden Gate Flower Company, The Flower Appreciation Society, MAC, Bumble and Bumble, Seasalt, and The Braid Bar.

The Wardrobe Department, is where festival goers of all ages will find themselves getting creative with the most inventive brains in British fashion and being transformed with wild mediaeval hair workshops, make-up, talks, a travelling pop-up art-fashion store, a host of 'Make & Take' workshops including fabric fish sewing, lobster pot making, Breton top embellishment, notebook making and origami boat-making, and another new garden this year, The Theatre of Fashion.

Workshops

Workshops in the Barn include Stars and Planets - astronomy demo with Dartmoor Skies; Wild Swimming Walks - tales from the Kenwood Ladies Pond Association; make your own vintage swimming cap with Fiona Chivers; Botanical Illustration - classes for children and adults with Sarah Jane Humphrey; Natural Dyes - forage, create natural dyes and print with Botanical Inks; Wild Brewing Techniques - a tasting and demo from 7th Rise; Occult Arts - the Boscastle Museum of Witchcraft show us their collection of charms, ritual objects and folk magic found in the West Country; bumblebee consultancy and natural beekeeping with Brigit Strawbridge; corset design and costume demonstration with Rachel Parton; knicker making with Lancaster and Cornish; smoking and curing meats with James Strawbridge; diorama making with Elizabeth Orcutt; cider and apple juice tasting with local producer Kerensa Aval.

Outdoors workshops include Daily wild swims with the Kenwood Ladies Pond Association; archery and canoeing with Nigel Kerr; survival skills and techniques with Survival Wisdom; Port Eliot Garden Tours with head gardener Mike Warr; Wild Brewing Techniques - foraging for brews with 7th Rise; Stories from the Shadows - night-time walks with Boscastle Museum of Witchcraft; gourmet wild food foraging with The Fat Hen; Pirate School with Survival Wisdom; outdoor cooking in Kotlichs with Trish MaCurrach; nightly stargazing with Dartmoor Skies and a bumblebee walk with Brigit Strawbridge.

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 yurt or teepee.

Comedy line-up includes Dom Joly, Shappi Khorsandi, Mitch Benn, Murray Lachlan-Young, Sara Pascoe, Jonny Fluffypunk, Simon Munnery, Elvis McGonagall, Kernow King, and Alex Edelman.

Guests

Latest speakers announced include Alan Johnson, Sarah Waters, Nina Stibbe, Alex Shulman, Shami Chakrabarti, Iain Sinclair, Simon Armitage, Kamila Shamsie, Matt Haig, Nikita Lalwani, Rachel Cooke, Ralph Steadman & Ceri Levy, Neel Muhkerjee, Owen Sheers, Hannah Rothschild, Rosie Boycott, Cathy Rentzenbrink, Rachel Holmes, Tim Dowling, Julian Baggini, Alex Bellos, Lisa Armstrong, Louise Carpenter, Tom Payne and Patrick Gale.

Guests also include John Lloyd, Tristan Gooley, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, and Tom Hodgkinson on the story of the ukulele, Chris Difford, Eddie Argos, Harry Mount, Will Hodgkinson, Laura Barton, James Wallman, James Mallinson and his film about Kumbh Mela, Alys Fowler, Mick Houghton on Sandy Denny, Clare Pollard, Dominic Frisby on Bitcoin, Andrew Simms, Crispin Hunt, Jules Evans, David Bramwell, James Dowdeswell, Katharine Hibbert, and Julian Mash as well as regular ancient philosophy classes, drawing lessons, ukulele classes, dancing lessons with the Mudflappers, Charlotte Hobson's Russian swearing lesson and the return of Frisbee Tree Golf with Ben Moor.

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.

Expect a return of The Badger’s Sett , run by knitting, crochet, embroidery, sewing and printing aficionados, Ros Badger and Christine Leech, will emerge near the 19th century Orangery, offering all sorts of crafts sessions.

Elsewhere, Anthropologie, will be hosting workshops in its (unsurprisingly) beautifully designed home at the festival.

Plus loads more including Kayaking, Sunrise Yoga, Tai Chi, Barefoot Tango, Foraging, Archery, screen printing workshops with Plymouth College of Art, special tours of the House, themed walks across the ancient estate, festival bookshop & signing tent, festival beer from Sharp’s Brewery and lots more that won’t be revealed until it happens.

Food on site comes from Posh Pasty Company who return as the Cornish Picnic & BBQ Smokehouse, a new restaurant serving up Cornish brunch, Posh pasties, classic cream teas, local charcuterie and exciting outdoor BBQ seafood. In the evenings, it will take bookings for gourmet Clam Bakes and Port Eliot Feasts. Other new food outlets this year: Hix’s Fish Dogs; Madmae Gautier; Rasher; Spit and Roast; the Oyster Shack; Got Game; Pea Souk; Dog Town London; The Cheese Truck; Le Vignoble Wine Bar; Comins Tea House; Green Smoothie Van; Pea Souk and Mama Mia... you'll find them among some returning favourites: Rum and Crab Shack; B Bar Thai; The Bowler; Churros Bros; Fresh Rootz; Grumpies Pies; Hogs R Us; Kua Aina; Lafafa; Luardos; Pazzo Pizzas; Woody’s Pizzas and Lemon Jelli.

Caught by The River

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.

The Hullabaloo

The Hullabaloo - Port Eliot's 100-year-old Rhododendron Garden will be transformed into a world of games, drama, imagination, music and treasure hunts as Cornwall's captivating Rogue Theatre invites children to take part in tales of fairies, pirates, witches, giants and elves.

Imagine a place where you can dance with trolls, take tea with a giant, make mischief with the pixies and knit dreams with a faerie. Only the wildest of imaginations will open the door to this fantastical other world, The Hullabaloo , nestled in the 100 - year - old Rhododendron Garden, where an international emporium of enchantment is waiting to whisk away children of all ages. Summoned up by the endlessly inventive Rogue Theatre , it’s a family - friendly feast of entertainment, workshops and activities.

Idler Academy

Down on the riverbank, the Idler Academy runs the UK’s ultimate free school. Encouraging philosophy, husbandry and merriment, the Academy’s delightfully eclectic approach to learning has two principles at its core: self - improvement and idling in equal measure. From getting up close and personal with the great Greek thinkers to learning about Luddites, mastering the art of doing nothing to understanding the peculiar habits of the sloth, this is learning with a difference.

Flower and Fodder Stage

Among the chefs, growers, gardeners and food writers coming to Port Eliot are Skye Gyngell, Thomasina Miers, Richard Bertinet, Rick Stein, Tom Parker Bowles Blanche Vaughan, Rose Prince, Jack Adair Bevan of The Ethicureans, Claire Ptak, Mark Diacono Jack and Jill Stein, Claire Thomson, Ben Tish, Sarah Husband, Benjamin Ranyard, Allan Jenkins ‘Fat Hen’ Caroline Davey with Mark Devonshire, Jason Goodwin, Chloe Fox, Susan Prior ‘Kitchen Coach’ Justine Kanter, Sean Borodale, Tony Howard, ‘Oyster Lady’ Katy Davidson Arbell Lowther, and Bill Bradshaw.

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.

More information will be here when available.

Latest Updates