Larmer Tree Festival is a three-day music, comedy and arts festival held annually at the

Larmer Tree Gardens The Larmer Tree Gardens near Tollard Royal in south Wiltshire, England, were created by landowner Augustus Pitt Rivers in 1880 as pleasure grounds for "public enlightenment and entertainment". They were the first private gardens opened for publ ...

near

Tollard Royal Tollard Royal is a village and civil parish on Cranborne Chase, Wiltshire, England. The parish is on Wiltshire's southern boundary with Dorset and the village is southeast of the Dorset town of Shaftesbury, on the B3081 road between Shaftesbur ...

on the

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

border in England. Described as "one of the most family-friendly festivals around", it takes place in the

Cranborne Chase Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The area is dominated by, ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Past editions have included performances from

Paloma Faith Paloma Faith Blomfield (born 21 July 1981) is an English singer and actress. Her debut studio album, '' Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?,'' was released in 2009 and was certified double platinum in the UK. The album spawned the sin ...

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First Aid Kit A first aid kit or medical kit is a collection of supplies and equipment used to give immediate medical treatment, primarily to treat injuries and other mild or moderate medical conditions. There is a wide variation in the contents of first aid ...

Tom Odell Thomas Peter Odell (born 24 November 1990) is an English singer-songwriter. He released his debut extended play, '' Songs from Another Love'', in 2012. It won the BRITs Critics' Choice Award in early 2013. Odell's debut studio album, ''Long Wa ...

, KT Tunstall, Tom Jones,

Kae Tempest Kae Tempest (formerly Kate Tempest; born 22 December 1985) is an English spoken word performer, poet, recording artist, novelist and playwright. At the age of 16, Tempest was accepted into the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in ...

, Jools Holland and Gomez. The 2020 festival was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the event was not held in 2021 or 2022.

Location

The festival is held in the

, a Victorian

pleasure ground In English gardening history, the pleasure ground or pleasure garden was the parts of a large garden designed for the use of the owners, as opposed to the kitchen garden and the wider park. It normally included flower gardens, typically dir ...

founded by

Augustus Pitt Rivers Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers (14 April 18274 May 1900) was an English officer in the British Army, ethnologist, and archaeologist. He was noted for innovations in archaeological met ...

, and has remained small by choice, with a total capacity of 5000 audience members per day. The Larmer Tree itself was an ancient landmark tree on the ancient boundary between Wiltshire and Dorset. The festival takes place in a setting of lawns and gardens, dotted with Indian pavilions and Roman temples, with free-roaming

peacocks Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are ref ...

and

macaws Macaws are a group of New World parrots that are long-tailed and often colorful. They are popular in aviculture or as companion parrots, although there are conservation concerns about several species in the wild. Biology Of the many differe ...

, which also feature in much of the festival's branding.

Organisation

The first festival was held in 1990, founded by James Shepard, who was joined in 1993 by Julia Safe. Rob Challice joined as director in 2015, having previously managed the festival's music programming. Following the 2018 festival, James Shepard and Julia Safe stepped down as directors. Rob Challice continued in his role, joined by new directors Lauren Down and James Strathallan. Nearly 500 volunteers from the local area, covering 13 different roles, help out before, during and after the event, and it has links with many local organisations. The festival organisers try to minimise its environmental impact, by such measures as recycling as much as possible and insisting on the use of biodegradable trays and wooden cutlery by the catering outlets at the event. They also encourage festival-goers to take green living measures such as lift-sharing by signing up to GoCarShare or Freewheelers, recycling and saving water on site.

Events

''See Larmer Tree Festival line-ups for line-up listings.'' The music line-up crosses four stages – Main Stage, Peacock Palace, The Social and Village Inn. The festival predominately features acoustic folk, indie-rock, jazz, country-folk, world music, reggae, roots and blues, plus the Late Night Larmer programme which includes DJs and disco beats. The Village Inn is the place for swing, ska and skiffle. The comedy covers all bases with past performers including Josie Long,

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and

Nish Kumar Nishant Kumar (born 1985) is a British stand-up comedian and television presenter. He became known as the host of satirical comedy ''The Mash Report'', now known as ''Late Night Mash''. He has also presented BBC Radio 4 Extra's topical comedy ...

, new comers, Edinburgh Festival Fringe previews and live podcast recordings. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

caused the cancellation of the 2020 event, and it was not held in 2021 or 2022. In late 2021 the organisers blamed COVID-related disruption to suppliers and contractors, and potential financial risks.

Facilities

The festival always try to encourage the use of local produce where possible. All the caterers use biodegradable trays, wooden cutlery and paper plates. The audience can't buy single-use plastic bottles on-site, but there are water taps all around the festival. The festival offer a number of boutique camping options from traditional Gypsy-style caravans to luxuriously furnished Bell Tents. There are campsites to suit everyone including Quiet Camping, Family Camping, General Camping, Accessible Camping, Day Camping, Van Field with a panoramic views of the

. The campsite next to the festival ground is free, with free hot showers. In 2006 the festival toilets won the ''UK Festival Awards 2006 Portaloo Sunset Award For Best Toilets''.

Awards

In 2008 the Larmer Tree Festival was nominated for five awards by

UK Festival Awards The UK Festival Awards are awarded annually, with various categories for all aspects of festivals that have taken place in the UK, and one category for European festivals. The Awards were first established in 2004 by Steve Jenner and his team a ...

: Best Small Festival (for festivals of 10,000 festival-goers or less); Best Lineup; Grass Roots Festival Award (for "the king of anti-commercialism"); Family Festival Award and Best Toilets. The festival made the shortlist in three categories: Best Small Festival, Family Festival Award and Best Toilets, and won the Family Festival Award when the results were announced at the awards ceremony in London on 30 October 2008.

References

External links

*
BBC page about the 2008 FestivalBBC page about the 2007 Festival, photographsBBC page about the 2006 FestivalBBC page about the 2005 FestivalBBC page about the 2004 FestivalBBC page about the 2003 Festival
{{Coord, 50, 57, 6.82, N, 2, 4, 59.86, W, type:event_region:GB-WIL, display=title Music festivals in Wiltshire Music festivals in Dorset Recurring events established in 1991 1991 establishments in England