eFestivals exclusive: Wychwood Festival announces workshops & activities for all the family

Wychwood Music Festival 2016

Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th June 2016
Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL50 4SH, England MAP
£160 for the weekend, with camping

Daily capacity: 7,500

We can exclusively reveal at this summer's Wychwood Festival the organisers are pulling out all the stops with one of the most comprehensive programme of workshops & activities for all the family at Cheltenham Racecourse, in Gloucestershire over the weekend of Friday 3rd until Sunday 5th June 2016.

Wychwood Festival today unveils a huge family programme for 2016, featuring an array of workshops, performances, talks and more. The mighty offering includes dance workshops, yoga, circus classes, late night cabaret, arts and crafts to name just a few. Wychwood’s Literature Festival in partnership with Waterstones, back with Sophia Bennet, Michelle Roberts, Paul Stickland and many more leading authors, while Cheltenham Poetry Festival brings some of the most exciting names in spoken word to perform and share their skills in unmissable workshops.

Workshops across the weekend invite festival-goers to get involved in a number of weird and wonderful activities. The hugely popular Circus Workshops from Solo Circus and Circus Kaos will amaze crowds, showcasing a wide array of circus tricks from juggling and stilt walking to spinning plates and Unicycles. RU-Slack put festival-goers' balance to the test as they teach the ways of 'Slacklining'. Kids only classes are on hand to share skills of ukulele playing, yoga and samba, while adults can take advantage of singing and choir lessons, writing workshops and more.

Dance features heavily this year, with workshops for 1920's favourites Charleston and Swing Dance. Samba shows and workshops showcase a unique fusion of Brazillian, African and Western beats played on everything from drum kits to dustbins through to congas and other world instruments. Other dance workshops on offer include Bhangra, Shim Sham, Glamba, Bollywood, Yoga, Belly and Break Dance to get the whole family throwing shapes.

Those looking to get hands on creative will love the arts and crafts offering at Wychwood this year, which includes everything from jewellery and head dress making to knitting, basket making and painting.

Passion 4 Laughter make an appearance, turning Wychwood into a theatre, using different characters to tell a whirlwind of stories with the help of acrobatic and physical tricks, all in the name of Street Theatre. Comedy Club 4 Kids will also host some of best comedians on the UK circuit doing what they do best. More shows for all the family come courtesy of Captain Barnacle Pirate Pantomime, poetry and choir performances, bubble shows and more.

Wychwood also announces its Literature Festival Line up welcoming top authors such as Georgie Woolridge alongside her popular adult colouring workshop plus Chris Edge explores the parallel universe, Abi Elphinstone shares stories of her travels in Mongolia and Michelle Roberts heads to the festival fresh from her space picture book with astronaut Tim Peake. Other authors include Jo Correrill, Sophia Bennet, Lyn Gardener and more.

Cheltenham Poetry Festival join Wychwood this year, bringing with them a feisty feast of stand-up, hip hop, comedy and poetry including punk poet Jim Higo, stand-up poet and singer Claire Ferguson Walker, Miserable Malcolm aka The Poet of Doom, hip-hop and spoken word artist JPDL, singer-songwriter Chris Hemingway, spoken word performer KA Poetry plus stand-up poet Samantha Samms. All performers will also be imparting their wisdom in writing and performance workshops for Wychwood festival-goers.

The family programme and literature line up join an already amazing musical offering with The Waterboys, 10cc, Bill Bailey all set to headline. Revellers can also expect performances from Idlewild, Peter Hook & The Light, The Selector, Ms Dynamite and Matt Berry & The Maypoles, CBeebies superstar Justin Fletcher and Wychwood veteran Craig Charles plus new comers Tiger Club, Haelos, Honne, InHeaven, Cash + David and more.

Taking to the taking to the comedy stage over the weekend will be Gary Delaney, George Rigden, Tim Goodings, Andrew O'Neill, Pun Man, and Tiernan Douieb, plus many more.

For the line-up details, and day splits as available see the Wychwood Music Festival line-up page.

buy tickets now >

The early bird offer has ended. An adult weekend ticket is priced at just £135, a disabled (2 for 1 with carer) ticket is priced at £135, Youth/Concessions weekend tickets are priced at £110, a teen (aged 10-15 yr) full weekend ticket is priced at £65, children aged 5-9 years weekend tickets are priced at £25 and under 5 year olds go free with an adult.

An adult camping ticket is an additional £25, concession camping tickets are priced at £14 camping for children aged under 16 years is free, and a campervan ticket is priced at £65.

Day tickets are priced as follows:
Friday Adult £45
Friday Concession £34

Saturday Adult £59
Saturday Concession £44

Sunday Adult £49
Sunday Concession £34

Any Day child (aged 10-15 years) £24
Andy Day child (aged 5-9 years) £12
Any Day child (aged under 5 years) free

Adult Day Camping £11
Concession Day Camping £6
Under 16 Day Camping £free
Campervan/Caravan Day Camping £25