UK Folk Festivals - Coming Soon

The Grand Northern Ukulele Festival is a festival with a bit of a difference.
A team of dedicated ukulele-playing music enthusiasts who volunteer our time to produce a festival that is truly like no other. Every year we try to find new talent to showcase, we develop new activities to get people playing and sharing music with each other.

There's a range of workshops (including one where you build your own diddly bow), events for all ages and a chance to do something a bit unique.

A weekend of dance and music
in this lovely cathedral city.

Dances - Displays - Workshops - Morris Tours

Formally known as Whitby Spring Session. This is a small event so book soon.

The format of the event is as follows:

- Live music is scheduled on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings.

- Camping is available from the Thursday. Showers and toilets are available.

- A Friday night Fish & Chip Supper is included as well as breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

- The wonderful town of Whitby is a short walk or taxi ride away, there is lots to discover during the day.

VIRTUAL EVENT

Has three main aims in life

To create an enjoyable event for all involved

To raise money for the RNLI

To preserve and promote the maritime heritage of Falmouth and Cornwall

An international festival based in the picturesque village of Ballydehob, West Cork, featuring maritime and other folk music.
Sea songs, shanties, dance, craft market, maritime food stalls, workshops, sea songwriting competition, busking, music in the pubs and main stage on Ballydehob pier. There will also be an Art Expo throughout the weekend.

A weekend event showcasing 15 to 20 local and independent music's best bands. Our goal is to create a reasonably priced, small summer music festival that provides an overwhelmingly positive, comfortable and fun, family experience for both attendees and musicians in a beautiful countryside setting for around 500 people. We also aim to support local young musicians by providing a stage for them.

The main events are on the Saturday. These will consist of a day of dance in the City Centre, a day of music with free showcase performances in local pubs and other venues, sessions and singarounds and a festival concert in the Maltings Arts Theatre.

Full details not yet available.

Music-lovers can look forward to a great day out this summer, as the 6th Bury St Edmunds Folk Festival once again brings its own brand of magic to the town.
The one-day event will be on Saturday 30th June in the walled garden at Nowton Park. With craft stalls, children's activities, music workshops, hot food and a bar with local real ales, this promises to be a wonderful day for the whole family.
The festival is organised by Bury Folk Collective, a not-for-profit group which promotes a diverse range of excellent local folk acts at events throughout the year.

As well as the main stage acts, there will be an Acoustic Tent with beginners' music workshops, informal sessions and a competition for newcomers to folk performance. This is a great space to try making music yourself in a relaxed and friendly way.

Full disabled access to site, reserved viewing area and toilet facilities

A small event, new to our lists.
Top names, beer festival and great food.

New website now live.
Note how inexpensive this one is.

2020 line will be announced shortly.

With four outdoor music stages, two ceilidh dances and over twenty teams of morris dancers in the streets overlooking Poole's lovely Harbour.

With colourful displays of dance and outdoor stages for concerts and ceilidh and lovely views across the stunning harbour.

Portsoy's annual celebration of our rich maritime and cultural heritage. . . beautiful boats . . . exhilarating skiff races on the open seas . . . maritime and rural craft demonstrations . . . non-stop song and dance . . .mouth-watering food and drink and adventure at the Sports Village (not just for kids!). Not stop song and dance, with an acoustic and Scottish flavour.

VIRTUAL EVENT

Seize this opportunity to become immersed in all aspects of traditional music for Irish harp. Develop skills and repertoire from ancient harpers' tunes to songs and slow airs to jigs and reels.

A highlight of An Chuirt Chruitireachta is our popular evening public concert series. Featuring world-renowned harpers from Ireland and further afield, this series is a major annual showcase celebrating Irish harping.

An acoustic festival for indie and contemporary music.
Shortlisted for Best Independent Festival 2015. Best Small Festival.

Established festival in Yorkshire, popular with many people. Craft fair, sessions, and award winning headline acts.
Several local venues.

Lots of big names.

Come along and join in the fun!

In its 34th year!

The event is spread over many days and different locations.

Taking place in venues mostly in the Sleat peninsula at the southern end of the Island, the Skye Festival or Feis an Eilein is a celebration of island culture and performing arts with a strong focus on Scottish traditional music, all spiced up with Jazz, Theatre, and lots, lots more.

Organised by SEALL, the festival hosts around 30 top quality events in music and innovative theatre, with a community-led fringe programme of house concerts, charity cafes, environmental days, food and drink, art exhibitions and ceilidhs.

Bringing together a star studded group of acts who have graced the stage at individual concerts for two days of quality music.

Real Music, Real Ale, Real Field.
Taking place in the heart of Norfolk near to the village of West Acre, the "Folk in a Field Festival" brings together a diverse mix of performers from the acoustic, folk and roots music scene. The rural setting of the festival, surrounded by woodland, contributes to a real get away from it all vibe in which to enjoy some great music, take in interesting craft demonstrations, craft stalls or sample local food.

A general arts festival, with a variety of types of events, including some folk music.

(There's often a separate Folk Festival in February.)

Many Sandwich Pubs will put on Folk music throughout the weekend, there will be street music and dancing.

The Pub events will be free to enter with main events at St. Mary's Arts Centre ticketed, see their website for details.

A free outdoor concert and Saturday and Sunday

A new festival in 2016, it's back for the fourth time.

Spend a chilled-out day enjoying the nation's favourite folk artists in the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside.

This is a one-day event with 4 separate venues including free events on the village green. Main stage has 3 ticketed concerts and there are workshops and a continuous concert in the 13th century church.

VIRTUAL EVENT

A major traditional Irish music, song and dance event held annually in Miltown Malbay, County Clare, Ireland.

With instrument and dance classes, lectures, workshops, recitals and ceilithe all through the week.

VIRTUAL EVENT

Folk event to raise money for four causes, Blood Cancer UK, HFT, Meningitis Now and ThisIsLuke

The New Forest Folk Festival is the small festival with the big names. Located to the north of The New Forest National Park near Southampton it's an ideal venue for campers with it's riverside campsite and unspoilt farm setting. The site opens Thursday lunchtime to allow travel and a chance to relax for the afternoon before the music begins. Additional attractions include local trade and craftsfolk, and of course local ale.

Provisionally taking place.

Bromsgrove is so much more than a series of concerts with headline artists. Club singers and budding artists are encouraged to add to the Bromsgrove Experience with singarounds, open mics, and the like including, of course, the legendary sessions in the pub bar....then there is the Ukulele Workshop (BUMS) and the Festival Choir (BOTOMS)

Bromsgrove Folk Festival has been described as small and friendly, bijou even, but it is so much more than that......it is enormous in heart and aspiration. We have a pub for sessions (and beer of course), a large camping field (open from 2.00pm on Thursday), a 350 capacity Main Marquee for "up close and personal" concerts, a MiniMarquee (seating about 125) for smaller concerts, singarounds, etc., and excellent toilet facilities.

CANCELLED

Think picture-perfect white sands. World-famous surf. Deserted roads lined with lush greenery and wild flowers. Not forgetting more sunshine than practically anywhere else in the UK. It's little wonder that the tiny Hebridean island of Tiree is nicknamed the Hawaii of the North.

Add to this three separate campsites - the main campsite, family campsite and campervan area - and the now famous Community Village with its many stalls and events, and TMF guarantees you an authentic flavour of Tiree. Which, in a nutshell, is the whole idea behind the festival.

Continuing our occasional festival that's not quite folk policy. (But it got blues...)
Surrounded by the beautiful Yorkshire Wolds, the Festival is set in the award winning grounds and Great Hall of this Elizabethan stately home.
Could this be the most breathtaking place to spend a weekend, soaking up the UK's hottest jazz and blues acts?

Cornbury is eccentric, charming and irresistible - a homespun melting pot, with a variety of music styles to be heard.
An eclectic mix of music across 4 stages, the hugely popular Absolute Radio Comedy Tent, the brilliant Festival of Words hosted by QI and Unbound, a fantastic children's area with a complete programme of workshops.

Furness Tradition is a folk-arts development group based in the Furness market town of Ulverston on the edge of the Lake District in north-west England. The group was initiated by volunteers to celebrate, encourage and make familiar the musical inheritance of the Furness and South Lakeland area of South Cumbria.

VIRTUAL EVENT

Join the many friends who will celebrate our anniversary with us. Always a great atmosphere. Special guests include The Occasionals, The Border Directors, The Spiers Family. Enjoy dances concerts, competitions, hosted singing room, outdoor stage, sessions. Try a workshop with The Border Directors (border songs and tunes), Ailsa Mackenzie (harp/dulcimer), Pete Shepheard (ballads) or Kevin Tilbury (bellows pipes).

As our website is being updated there are some details if you want to check on https://www.visitnewcastleton.com/listing/newcastleton-music-festival/

A family run festival in two towns separated by a river.

This is it's sixth year of existance.
The title says it all.

A friendly festival held in the idyllic setting of our Village Green high on the beautiful Mendip Hills AONB near Wells in Somerset. Now in its 24th year this festival has a reputation for exciting new folk. In the past we have had Kan, Treacherous Orchestra, and Flook. Some names booked already include the Will Pound Band and
Nizlopi. The weekend also provides great music, and dance, workshops, yoga sessions, club tent, an excellent craft and traders market, guided archaeology walks, a full programme of children's entertainment and much more

Deep in the heart of Wales, Rudry, population 1000, is the Rudry Music Festival. Two days of originalmusic and spoken word, for all ages.Features contemporary, alternative and traditional music artists, with food and real ale.

Family freindly

Last year's event was virtual, so if things go wrong, they have the expertise to do it again.

The small NE Coastal Town of Stonehaven comes alive with a Weekend of Music and song - Concerts in the Town Hall plus workshops, Ceilidh, sessions, late-night concerts, free afternoon concerts, Family show, Aqua ceilidh, World Paper and Comb Championships, Tradition Bearers Concert and more all around the Town.

In the streets and in venues all around the town the best of local performers bring you folk, jazz, blues and world music, colourful dance displays and children's entertainment.

The Beggars Fair has been running since 1993 and is living up to its aims of showcasing local talent in a friendly environment. From big bands on the Cornmarket stage to intimate acoustic music in tranquil gardens, cheerful pub sessions and spellbinding storytelling, the day has a great atmosphere that keeps bringing people (and performers!) back year after year.

A small, friendly, community based music festival set in the heart of Northumberland in Rothbury in the beautiful Coquet Valley. Over the last three decades Rothbury Festival has established a unique atmosphere that has drawn musicians and singers from throughout the country and beyond to spend a weekend sharing music and experiencing Northumbrian traditions.

Note: This year it is a scaled down event due to Covid.

Summer School of Traditional Irish Music, Song & Dance. Our programme includes a broad range of classes, workshops, interactive talks and masterclasses as well as nightly ceilis, concerts and informal music sessions.

Something just a bit different.

An explosion of bands and performers combining brass with folk, opera, dance and spectacular outdoor theatre descends on County Durham to fill some stunning venues and City streets with music and fantastic visual effects. With new, cutting edge collaborations, digital trails and established and emerging bands trumping brass in every genre imaginable, it's a feast of international cultures and sounds.

This is not a single venue event so you cannot buy one ticket that covers all events. Please choose carefully to make sure you make the most of your festival experience.
There will be a weekend ticket covering the events in the main arena
Features Hebridean music galore

Singers and musicians, street entertainers and Morris dancers - it seems that anybody and everybody who enjoys folk music heads for Warwick in July each year.

Since its humble beginnings in 1979, the annual Warwick Folk Festival has developed into one of the most highly regarded folk events on the national and international scene, attracting fans from all over Britain and as far afield as the USA and Australia

A Welsh festival of, well, Welsh folk music. One of the biggest Welsh Festivals.

If you have a guitar in the attic, or a bodhran in the cupboard, or maybe a fiddle under the bed, then bring them along! There is sure to be a jamming session in a pub or two.

If you’re a musician who would like to play in front of an audience, there will be a busking stage on the Square where you could perform in front of the crowd.

A well-established, intimate and family friendly event in a beautiful rural setting, held in large marquees on a greenfield site in the picturesque hamlet of Stainsby.

Great folk and world music in traditional marquees, crafts stalls, childrens entertainment, music workshops of every kind, storytelling, a singers competition and walkabout events throughout the weekend with camping thrown in.

PROVISIONAL VIRTUAL EVENT
(even though site says it's cancelled, they are investigating this)

Festival of the Year in the British Blues Awards 2015 and 2016.

Since the formation of the Blues Committee in 2001 there has been two aims, to produce a festival to promote Blues Music in Upton Upon Severn, and to support the local community. To achieve these aims the Upton Blues Festival has always, and will always be free from any admission charge.

What more can you want than the blues for free? 60 or 70 bands perhaps?

CANCELLED

Every July Drumshanbo plays host to the award winning Joe Mooney Summer School, a week long festival of traditional Irish music, song and dance named after the man who did so much to promote the cause of Leitrim and his beloved town. The committee continue to emulate his high ideals, endeavouring to promote Leitrim's heritage of traditional music while handing on the best traditions of the past to future generations.

Supports a local children's charity - Willow Foundation. They work to provide special days out for seriously ill young people.

Fairground Side Stalls :: Craft Tent :: Family Friendly atmosphere with Children's Activities :: Music Stalls :: Recycled Gifts :: Delicious Food :: Real Ale bar

Many big names come to this one day event.

Yn Chruinnaght Celtic Gathering.

Based in Peel, Yn Chruinnaght Celtic Gathering is a celebration of Manx
culture and the relationship between the Isle of Man and the other five
Celtic countries (Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany).

Musicians, singers and dancers!! Concerts, ceilis, sessions, free events and workshops.

As in previous years we are posting this under Scotland and Ireland due to its Celtic theme, as we don't have a separate Isle of Man page.

Yn Chruinnaght Celtic Gathering.

Based in Peel, Yn Chruinnaght Celtic Gathering is a celebration of Manx
culture and the relationship between the Isle of Man and the other five
Celtic countries (Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany).

Musicians, singers and dancers!! Concerts, ceilis, sessions, free events and workshops.

As in previous years we are posting this under Scotland and Ireland due to its Celtic theme, as we don't have a separate Isle of Man page.

Back for its 3rd year! Boutique Festival with only 3000 tickets available. Headline Act - Show Of Hands, Hayseed Dixie & 3 Daft Monkeys

Set in beautiful Kent just 5 mins from J5 on M2.

Camping opens Thursday 23rd July 2020 with entertainment and sing-a-rounds in the bar from 5pm.

All genres of music but have a particular passion for Folk Rock, Folk, Roots and Acoustic music, which is the main genre of the Acts booked, but Folk as you may not expect!

Based in beautiful Kent country, but just 5 minutes from J5 of the M2, Chickstock Festival is building on previous years' 'magical' festival of folk, roots and acoustic music, with even more bands booked for this year!

THE World Music event.
International music resonates throughout the grounds, bounces off trees in the Arboretum, whirls through the green arena and dashes across acres of beautiful grass land which becomes the camping grounds during the last weekend in July. It is truly a unique event and we suggest you come along and experience the beauty for yourself.