LIST: MUSIC FESTIVALS IN THE UK
This is a list of mainstream outdoor music festivals held in the UK.
| 2000 Trees | Upcote Farm, Gloucestershire 12 & 14 Jul 2012 |
Small eco festival in the Cotswolds, now becoming "established". Launched in 2007 with 50 bands playing to 1,000 visitors. Last year it was 4,500 visitors. |
| Beacon Festival | Skipton, Yorkshire 17-19 Aug 2012 |
Small (2,000 people) boutique festival in the Yorkshire Dales (Formerly Moor Music Festival). |
| Beautiful Days | Escot Park, Fairmile, Devon 17-19 Aug 2012 |
Family music festival celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. |
| Bestival | Robin Hill, Isle of Wight 6-9 Sept 2012 |
Cool festival that has won an award for 'Best medium-large music festival' several years in a row. New Order will be the headline act on the Saturday night. |
| Big Chill | Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Herefordshire Not happening in 2012 |
... maybe next year. V popular, large and laid-back festival in a valley in the Malvern Hills. |
| Blissfields | Matterley Estate, Winchester, Hampshire 29 June -1 Jul 2012 |
Family friendly boutique festival launched in 2001. |
| Chagstock | Whiddon Down, N. Devon 20-21 Jul 2012 |
Friendly small scale festival. Started in 2003 as a private event for around 100 people, and went 'public' in 2007 on a 30-acre site on the edge of Dartmoor. |
| Corbridge Festival | Corbridge, Northumberland 7 July 2012 |
Small, family friendly, one-night (2 days) festival in Northumberland. You can pitch your tent on the Friday night. The programme starts Sat morning and runs till sunday evening. |
| Cropredy | Cropredy nr Banbury, Oxfordshire No dates yet for 2012 |
Fairport Convention's annual music festival (officially named 'Fairport's Cropredy Convention') has been attracting loyal music lovers (these days around 20,000 of them!) to the village of Cropredy each August since the 1970s. |
| Download | Donington Park, Derbyshire 08-10 June 2012 |
An opportunity to see loads of major rock bands (formerly the "monsters of rock" festival) over a busy weekend. |
| End of the Road | Larmertree, Dorset 31 Aug-02 Sep 2012 |
Not only end of the road...it's held at the end of the season too, on the same site as the Larmertree Festival (see below). One man's dream project, EOTR was voted best-newcomer when it launched in 2006. |
| Glastonbury | Glastonbury, Somerset No Glasto this year (2012) |
The "largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world" picks up again on 26 Aug 2013 with the world's biggest acts in a multiple arena site 1½ miles wide. |
| Green Man | Glanusk Park, Brecon Beacons 17-19 Aug 2012 |
Folk music festival in Wales. |
| Guilfest | Stoke Park, Guildford 13-15 Jul 2012 |
Award-winning medium-sized festival. Good for families. |
| Hop Farm | Paddock Wood, Kent 29 Jun-1 Jul 2012 |
Boutique festival with major acts (The Eagles and Prince last year). The 'back to basics' USP is that the festival has no branding, no sponsors and no VIPs. Ticket-holders are supreme. |
| Larmer Tree | Nr Shaftesbury, Dorset 11-15 July 2012 |
Boutique festival, popular with families (and popular with me! - Ed). They've won best family festival and best festival toilet awards, and they're 22 yrs old this year. |
| Latitude | Henham Park, Suffolk 12-15 Jul 2012 |
Small music, comedy, poetry, and arts festival |
| Leeds Festival | Bramham Park, Leeds 24-26 Aug 2012 |
Sister festival to the Reading festival with plenty of big name bands. |
| Loopallu | Ullapool, Scotland 21-22 Sep 2012 |
Small festival, eight years old, in the remote north-west highlands with a big rep - helped in some part by featuring Franz Ferdinand's only summer festival gig in 2007! |
| Lounge on the Farm | Canterbury, Kent 6-8 Jul 2012 |
Popular small family festival launched in 2006 that has quickly grown. |
| Reading | Reading, Berkshire 24-26 Aug 2012 |
Serious, large scale festival with top acts. |
| Relentless NASS | Shepton Mallet, Somerset 6-8 July 2012 |
Probably best described as a skateboard & BMX festival with music, but for this list I call it a music fest with some action sports. :) |
| Shambala | Secret location, Northamptonshire (prob!) 23-27 Aug 2012 |
Started in 1999, with 150 people in a field with a farmer's trailor for a stage. Now it has grown by word of mouth into a popular family festival with loads of activities and good bands. You don't get to know where it is until you buy a ticket, and you don't know who is playing till you get there! |
| Sonisphere | Knebworth, Herts 6-8 Jul 2012 |
**Cancelled for 2012 (29 Mar 12)** Over 37 years (2012) the biggest and best known rock legends have appeared at Knebworth. |
| Standon-Calling | Ware, Herts 3-5 Aug 2012 |
Small stylish festival held in the grounds of a 16-century Hertfordshire manor house with big name bands and hand cream in the portaloos! |
| Summer Sundae | De Monfort Hall & Gardens, Leicester 17-19 Aug 2012 |
Popular boutique festival that's been around since 2001 getting a good reputation for attracting big names. |
| Wakestock | Abersoch, N. Wales 6-8 July 2012 |
Relentless Nass likes to describe itself as "the UK's only action sports and music festival"... but Wakestock has been doing it for ages! A waterside festival combining wakeboarding and music in Cardigan Bay. |
| Womad | Charlton Park, Malmesbury, Wiltshire 27-29 July 2012 |
Popular world music festival |
| Wychwood | Cheltenham Racecourse, Gloucestershire 8-10 June 2012 |
World music festival, good for families. |
| Y-Not | Pikehall, Derbyshire 3-5 Aug 2012 |
Small, intimate 3-day global music festival, now in its seventh year. Winner of "Grassroots Festival Award" and "Best Toilets" at the UK Festival Awards, 2011. |