Noel Fielding leads the first names for Port Eliot Festival

Mighty Boosh comedian, actor and writer Noel Fielding leads the first names unveiled tonight for Port Eliot Festival held between Thursday 28th and Sunday 31st July 2016 in the grounds of the Earl of St Germans Cornish estate at Port Eliot in Cornwall.

Noel will present an exhibition of his watercolour paintings of his favourite Uber drivers, as well as appearing on the Park Stage.

The line-up of musicians comedians, and poets also includes Gwenno, Ryley Walker, Isy Suttie, Bo Ningen, Michael Chapman, Bill Ryder Jones, Andrew Weatherall, James Acaster, NZCA/Lines, Meilyr Jones, Vangoffey, Imarhan, Erol Alkan, Money, Sidestepper, Younghusband, and Murray Lachlan-Young.

Plus 78 RPM Orchestra, Erol Alkan, Amber Arcades, John Andrews, Florence And Virginia Astley, Bizarre Rituals, Black Peaches, James Blackshaw, Will Burns, Laura Cannell, Tim Dee, James Endeacott, Pete Fowler, Nick Hand, Darren Hayman, Ted Kessler, Paul Kingsnorth, Amy Liptrot, The Magnetic North, Rob St John, Stephen Parker, Martha Sprackland, Luke Turner, Simon Fisher Turner, Emma Warren, Andrew Weatherall, Roy Wilkinson, M.Craft, Money, Saint Sister, Sam Lee, Imarhan, The Milk, Sidestepper, Kernow King, Ceilidh Liberation Front, Tamu Massif, Lail Arad, Fenne Lily, Jalen Ngonda, Maniere des Bohemiens, The Mostar Diving Club, The Severed Limb, Goonzian Quartet, Haunt the Woods, J C Deathtrap, Java Five, Mad Dog Mcrea, Matt Harvey, Rambunctious Social Club, Rory Butler, Simon Spoons, Suzie Mac, The Black Tambourines, The Jolenes, The Organisation, The Roosters, The Wireless, Tankus the Henge, Vince Lee & the Big Combo, Wesley Gonzalez, and Will McNicol and Luke Selby.

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

These first music and comedy names will be joined by chefs Nathan Outlaw, and Mark Hix, food critic Matthew Fort, authors David Quantick, Geoff Dyer, Nina Stibbe, Sara Pascoe, Ali Smith, Jesse Armstrong, A.L Kennedy, Alexander Masters, and Helen Dunmore, plus screenwriter/director/author/actor and creator of Withnail & I - Bruce Robinson, garden designer Dan Pearson, clothing designers Piers Atkinson, Barbara Hulanicki, and Sandy Powell.

Also confirmed are Dartmoor Skies, Sarah Jane Humphrey, Lizzie Orcutt, Fiona Chivers, Ed Gillespie, Arthur Razor, Ruth Weaver, The Kenwood Ladies Pond Association, Jen and Sim Benson, Duncan Minshull, 78 RPM Orchestra, Alexandra Harris, Richard Hector Jones, Antony Harding, Jon McNaught, Martin Nesbitt, Dexter Petley, Bruno Vincent, Sally Clarke, Rose Prince, Jack Adair Bevan, Anna Jones, Alice Lascelles, Jeremy Lee, Alastair Little, James Morton, Claire Ptak, Mackiwa, Sam Pentecost, The Comedy Waiters, The Great Bullzini, The Primitive Noise, Virginia King, and WIlliam the Conqueror, Huw Morgan, Daniel de la Falaise, William Sitwell, Cloud Nine Marshmallows' Murphy Williams, Susan Prior, Miranda Sawyer, Bruce Robinson, and Sandy Powell.

Also confirmed across the site are Botanical Inks, Lancaster and Cornish, The Outdoor Kitchen, The Cider Box, Stuart Woodman (Woodman's Wild Food), Fentiman's, Saltash Creative Space, The Bead Factory, Tate St Ives, Lamplighter London, The Amazing Art Cart, The Grand Port Eliot Clothes Swap, Survival Wisdom, Faber New Poets, Caroline Davey & Mark Devonshire (Fat Hen & Curly Chef), Samantha Evans & Shauna Guinn (Hang Fire Smokehouse), Rose Prince, Kitchen Coach Justine Kanter, Jack Adair Bevan, Honey & Co, Claire Thomson, Ben Tish, Blanche Vaughan, Russell Norman, Tom Parker Bowles, Matthew Fort, Susan Prior, Olivia Laing, Juliet Nicolson, David Quantick, Erica Wagner, Geoff Dyer, Max Porter, Sam Leith, Sam Smit, Ali Smith , A.L.Kennedy, Alex Bellos, Alex Wade, Alexander Masters, Charlotte Hobson, Chris Cleave, David Bramwell, Decca Aitkenhead, Fiona Reynolds, Gavin Knight, Lynsey Hanley, Nina Stibbe, Patrick Kingsley, Richard Godwin, Rupert Thomson, Sara Pascoe, Sarah Moss, Tim Lott, Travis Elborough, William Sitwell, Rosalind Powell, Jamie Brisick, 50 Degrees Choir, Al Fresco, Art of Dance, Ballin Jacks, Becky Brine, and Eden Theatre.

The love of food has always been at the heart of Port Eliot and the festival’s Flower and Fodder Show has taken this to new levels. Lucy Hyslop, Port Eliot Co-Director and Flower and Fodder curator, explains, "This year we’re excited to have Nathan Outlaw, as well as a plethora of fresh and established authors bringing the very latest flavours and cooking creativity for every age and every palate. It’s early days, but for this summer, we’re set for a star turn by Egg scribe Blanche Vaughan, Spuntino and Polpo restaurant guru Russell Norman and a chat with Sally Clarke, among many. Our motto is simple: Come hungry, leave sated. Are you ready to tuck in?"

New features this year include a programme of workshops, demonstrations and practical skills sessions that has doubled in size, after an overwhelming amount of interest last year. Late night astronomy walks and talks, natural silk dyeing, botanical illustration classes, diorama making, Campfire cooking, survival skills, overnight campout for kids, headdress making, vintage swimming cap design, cider and cheese pairing, wild cocktail making, herbal first aid, yarn bombing, block printing, sound arts workshops, calligraphy and the Grand Port Eliot Clothes Swap will all be waiting in the Workshop Barn. Continuing the theme of doing rather than talking, Hole & Corner magazine will present its own stage in partnership with Plymouth University.

Lark's Haven is a newly created corner of quiet, where people suffering from a night at the front of the Park Stage or throwing shapes in the Boogie Round can find a forgiving hot tub with their name on, or a sauna, yoga or meditation class to prepare them for another night on the tiles. It joins returning favourites including Port Eliot’s night spot, the aforementioned Boogie Round, hidden behind a laurel hedge somewhere deep in the middle of the woodland site. The walled garden will host The Wardrobe Department. There they transform festivalgoers of all ages with off-the-cuff outfits, impromptu accessories, wild hair and makeup. Housed in a century-old Rhododendron garden, The Hullabaloo is a feast of entertainment, workshops and activities for children, provided by regulars Rogue Theatre. The Black Cow Saloon, The Idler Academy, and Caught By The River also bring more treats to the festival.

This year, Port Eliot unveils a major scientific conspiracy with The Eden Project and the British Science Association. The most startlingly unusual room in the House at Port Eliot, the Round Room, will become the festival’s first science lab. Experiments, lectures and debates will fill the room; an all-too-rare opportunity to chew over astronomy, bio-hacking, the science of sleep and memory or food science.

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Early bird 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 £100, tickets for children aged 8 to 13 years inclusive are priced at £70, and children aged 7 years and under can attend for free. A campervan pass is £60 with £40 for an electric hook up.

Family options and day tickets are also on sale.

Port Eliot is a combination of books, music, fashion, film, food, wildlife, water and conversations set around the ancient and beautiful stately home and mediaeval
monastery at St Germans in south-east Cornwall sit in more than 100 acres of woodland gardens and park.

Throughout the festival, visitors will also be able to roam the gardens and park - created by landscape gardener Humphrey Repton - which stretches down to a secret estuary of the river Lynher, above which stands Brunel’s railway viaduct.

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