Pic­turesque Port Eliot fes­ti­val, set on the South East Cor­nish coast, has built a rep­u­ta­tion for its thought­ful­ly curat­ed line­up, a mix of music, com­e­dy, work­shops and talks. Food, fash­ion and lit­er­a­ture also feature.

The beau­ti­ful estate is buzzing from dawn to mid­night and beyond with a huge vari­ety of events, so one minute you may be lis­ten­ing to a band, the next learn­ing about bee­keep­ing before head­ing to a cook­ery demo and then, as night falls, head out on a night time astron­o­my walk. Already on the line­up are Brett Ander­son, Viv Alber­tine, Shap­pi Khor­san­di, Bil­ly Bragg, Anna Burch, BC Camp­light, Stick in the Wheel, Arthur Smith and many more have been announced.

GwennoGwen­no often sings in her native Welsh and also in Cor­nish; her new album Le Kov, is entire­ly in Cor­nish which is well suit­ed to her per­for­mance at Port Eliot. Cor­nish is now spo­ken by only around 1,000 people.

Lit­er­a­ture is on the bill with ex Slits gui­tarist Viv Alber­tine, who was a sell­out with her book Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys Boys, Boys; she has a mem­oir out in April, To Throw Away Unopened.

in 2017, the Poet­ry Stage was a resound­ing suc­cess; this year sees its return with Bri­an Pat­ten, Hol­ly McNish and many more.

Anoth­er new ven­ture for 2018 is the Fash­ion Foun­da­tion, a new home for fash­ion and art. Head­ed by fash­ion writer and cura­tor, NJ Steven­son, it will wan­der into all kinds of artis­tic areas, set­ting fash­ion agen­das and stim­u­lat­ing cre­ative think­ing about the future, par­tic­u­lar­ly around sus­tain­abil­i­ty. There will be work­shops, talks, fash­ion shows, exhi­bi­tions and ret­ro­spec­tives, includ­ing an explo­ration of the moment when the first vin­tage fash­ion stores began to spring up as a pro-envi­ron­ment, anti-con­sumerism statement.

Caught by the Riv­er will be bring­ing their stage again, gath­er­ing place for all who trea­sure wildlife, nature, writ­ing, read­ing, great music and undis­cov­ered heroes. Among the line-up this year are Bax­ter Dury, Gwen­no, Tele­man, Nabi­hah Iqbal, Jim Ghe­di, Andrew Weather­all, Han­nah Peel, Dads on Drugs, Martha Sprack­land, Con­fi­dence Man, Adelle Stripe, Will Burns and 77:78.

Relaxing The bar at Port Eliot festival

Food gets equal billing and res­i­dent chefs includ­ing Anna Jones, Jack Stein and Rus­sell Nor­man, who will make the House’s Geor­gian Big Kitchen their own and head out­side to the Open Fire to cre­ate flavours, set trends, share tech­niques and reveal the work­ings of some of the country’s great kitchens; a new Port Eliot restau­rant will sit right at the front of the House; and Devon’s Oys­ter Shack will make a cor­ner of the Walled Gar­den its own with Plymouth’s Le Vig­no­ble serv­ing wines to match the fresh seafood menu

Chil­dren have their own area, and Wildlings Wood is run by chil­dren for children.

If you’re look­ing for unusu­al glamp­ing, check out Vin­tents on the Port Eliot web­site; their 70s can­vas tents are adorable, and they have pack­ages this year with can­dles, tables, rugs and more for extra coziness.

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