If you loved Tow­ersey fes­ti­val, you’ll want to find Found

Back in 2012, a friend intro­duced me to Tow­ersey fes­ti­val. The event was a huge and essen­tial part of her fam­i­ly’s life; every year they would descend on the Tow­ersey vil­lage site with an army of rel­a­tives and friends in tow and set up camp. On my arrival at the site, I was struck by how strong the fes­ti­val’s com­mu­ni­ty was and I loved the easy, safe and friend­ly vibe. I think part of the attrac­tion was its inde­pen­dence, which has become an even more spe­cial aspect now that cor­po­rate fes­ti­vals have become so ubiquitous.

I also dis­cov­ered lots of artists and they have absolute­ly stayed with me. Only the oth­er week, Cerys Math­ews on her BBC6 Sun­day morn­ing show played a tune by the won­der­ful Orkney duo Salt­fish Forty and hear­ing the atmos­pher­ic fid­dle sent me right back to Tow­ersey. Anoth­er com­pelling act were the tall-hat­ted – you know what’s com­ing next – Spooky Men’s Chorale with their humour and won­der­ful har­monies. I also saw a mem­o­rable per­for­mance by Seth Lake­man. The crowd were jump­ing around as one, the stomp­ing of our feet caus­ing the floor to bounce in time to Seth’s rous­ing songs. 

My friend Tes­sa Gordziejko, who intro­duced me to Tow­ersey remem­bers the event:
“Tow­ersey was always a fam­i­ly gath­er­ing. We went for years as our chil­dren grew from kids to young adults. It was eclec­tic folk, from chilled trad acoustic music in the con­cert tent with a pint of beer; to high ener­gy bands like Peat­bog Faeries, Edward the Sec­ond, The Paper­boys and Croft Num­ber 5 in the dance tent. And of course the ceilidh tent. In the evening, most­ly tip­sy novices fol­low­ing the callers and bump­ing into oth­er peo­ple. In the after­noon the trad dance purists were less tol­er­ant of us duffers.”

Tow­ersey was renowned for the ceilidh ses­sions. Being a novice, I don’t think I had appre­ci­at­ed how exhaust­ing a ceilidh ses­sion is. I start­ed out full of enthu­si­asm but after a while I could only sit on the side­lines and mar­vel at the dancers, many who were con­sid­er­ably old­er than me.

In 2024, Tow­ersey fes­ti­val was ‘retired’ and in its place, the own­ers have cre­at­ed new Found fes­ti­val. We’ve all had those moments (haven’t we?) when we’ve thought, I’d love to cre­ate my own fes­ti­val… and this is its ethos, and here’s my dream line­up. Well, the team have effec­tive­ly done just that, using their knowl­edge of actu­al­ly run­ning an inde­pen­dent fes­ti­val for so many years. They have shaped and honed Found fes­ti­val to rep­re­sent all the best bits of Tow­ersey, reimag­ined and updat­ed as an inti­mate gath­er­ing for all ages. As Found say, “2,000 peo­ple, built around music, dance, well­ness and connection”.

I’m look­ing for­ward to my vis­it to Found this year. The first bliss­ful ele­ment is park­ing your car next to your tent. Yup, no hav­ing to slog up and down dale, bal­anc­ing errant chairs, tent poles and packs of cider on your wob­bly fes­ti­val cart. At Found it’s not just the camper­van own­ers who get to smug­ly crack open a beer on arrival.

There’s a pret­ty amaz­ing line­up and now the sched­ule has dropped, it’s time to make plans. There’s so much to see and do but here’s a few: atmos­pher­ic indie folk­sters Stor­n­away on Fri­day; also Cor­nish alt-coun­try duo, silken voiced True Fox­es and an evoca­tive and unique folk-adja­cent band called Chimera. On Sat­ur­day, I’m look­ing for­ward to hear­ing This is the Kit with Kate Sta­bles’ unmis­take­able, expres­sive vocals, while big favourites, upstate New York­ers The Felice Broth­ers are also play­ing. And I’ve fall­en for Ele­phant Ses­sions with their atmos­pher­ic, clever folk/dance com­po­si­tions. And on Sun­day there’s the fan­tas­tic oppor­tu­ni­ty to see uplift­ing Afrobeat mas­ter, Dele Sosimi.

Health and well­ness are also a big fea­ture. Roger Jack­son’s Com­mu­ni­ty Choir is a great way to start each day. ‘A choir where every voice belongs’, says Roger’s blurb. As some­one with a voice that only “belongs” in my house while every­one else is out, this is, well, music to my ears. There’s choice in abun­dance, espe­cial­ly at the Dance House – I’m attract­ed to Rogue Yoga by the name alone, although there’s also fam­i­ly, pow­er and oth­er types avail­able. Sim­i­lar­ly if ceilidh does­n’t work for you, there’s bal­let, Lindy hop and lots more. And as a prop­er ‘fam­i­ly fes­ti­val’, kids’ activ­i­ties aren’t just add-ons, there’s lots of cir­cus skills, activ­i­ties and craft mak­ing tak­ing place.

Tick­ets to Found fes­ti­val are sell­ing fast and are down to the final 20 per cent, so if you’re tempt­ed, don’t wait too long!

Found fes­ti­val, Clay­don Estate, Buck­ing­ham. 28–30 August