PORT ELIOT FESTIVAL 2012 19-22 JULY 2012 8 March 2012

The idyllic Port Eliot estate in Cornwall will once again play host to the UK's most imaginative arts festival; over 100 performances on 10 different stages - presenting a wealth of creative talents from the worlds of books, music, fashion, food and film. Always inspiring and always surprising, Port Eliot has established itself as a matchless event on the arts calendar; things happen at Port Eliot you just don't find at other festivals. In 2011, Kate Winslet gave an impromptu reading, Hollywood maestro Martin Scorsese curated the outdoor cinema and world renowned milliner Stephen Jones demonstrated the best way to bake and eat a hat.

This is the first-wave announcement and many names will follow…

Words

John Cooper Clarke, Jessica Hynes, Jon Ronson, Tracy Chevalier, William Dalrymple,Simon Munnery, Luke Wright, India Knight, Murray Lachlan Young, Rosie Boycott,Hannah Rothschild, Matthew Hollis, Robert MacFarlane, Geoff Dyer, Susie Parr,Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Craig Taylor, Ben Masters, Sam Leith, Mick Brown, dovegreyreader,Wynn & Sally Chamberlain, Laura Beatty, Joanna Walsh aka ‘Badaude’, Tishani Doshi,Brian Selznick, Chris Yates & Dan Kieran, Matthew De Abaitua, Marcel Theroux,Will Hodgkinson, Kate Summerscale, 5x15, Will Fiennes, Roy Hutchins, Matt Harvey,Paddy Bramwells, Jackie Kay, Ali Smith, James Flint, David Bramwell

Music & Cabaret
Toy, Andrew Weatherall, Jeb Loy Nichols, Cate Le Bon, By The Sea, The See See, Diagrams, Tim Burgess (DJ set), The Bees, H Hawkline, Louis Eliot and the Embers, John Hegley,Jo & Danny (DJ set), RSVP, Spoonful, Geoff Travis (DJ set), Grasscut, Stealing Sheep, Rachel Zeffira, Crybaby, Robert Ellis (with band), The Schizodelic Sound, Gaz Mayall,The Urban Voodoo Machine, 2 Tonic, 50 Degrees Choir, Matt Barnard, Bayou Bros, Flap!,Woodland Blue, Dalla, Gazzo, Grooveyard, The Half Sisters, Hat Fitz & Cara,Hip Hop Karaoke, Jonah’s Lift, Gareth Jones, Jools on Wheels, Manière des Bohémiens,Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip, Spiro, Sundog, Tea Ladies on Tour, Jon Hicks

Food

The doors of the Georgian Big Kitchen will be thrown open as an international gathering of chefs invites you to eat your way around the festival. This year’s line-up will include dinner lady Sarah Husband on cooking for 200; godfather of fusion cuisine Peter Gordon; editor of Waitrose Kitchen, William Sitwell; acclaimed hairstylist and committed baker Sam McKnight; Nathan Outlaw, who has two restaurants at the St Enodoc Hotel in Rock, including the 2 Michelin-starred Restaurant Nathan Outlaw; Rose Prince, food writer and journalist, author of The New English Kitchen and The New English Table; presenter and ‘food adventurer’ Stefan Gates; Chris Sherville - resident chef at Port Eliot, whose fish restaurant is a firm festival favourite; and Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall.

Caught By The River

Down in the quarry, in front of the boathouse looking over the Lynher estuary, a refreshing mixture of bands, DJ sets, conversations, readings, discussions and archive recordings combining nature and music (not to mention the Rough Trade shop nearby) makes Caught By The River the perfect spot to pull up a hay bale and take root. In addition to the music line-up mentioned above, this year’s highlights include nature writers Robert MacFarlane and Chris Yates reading from their latest books; Tim Burgess reading from his autobiography, ‘Telling Stories’; treasured artefacts from Jonny Trunk’s vast collection of ‘Library Music’; Richard King reading from his history of independent music, ‘How Soon Is Now’; the Heavenly Jukebox; Pat Long discussing his new book, ‘The History of the NME’; and a Nature Disco created by celebrated natural history sound recordist Chris Watson, whose credits include some of the most significant wildlife series in TV history, including The Life of Birds, The Blue Planet, The Life of Mammals and Frozen Planet. Plenty more at caughtbytheriver.net

Port Eliot Flower Show

Curated by acclaimed Ballet Rambert production designer Michael Howells in the beautiful Orangery garden, the Port Eliot Flower Show gives a nod to the traditional village show, while staking out its own territory with a whole series of distinctive classes, as well as music, performances, gardening discussions and a chance for festivalgoers to scoop the Best-in-Show title. This year’s line-up will include poet and artist Sean Borodale; Anna Pavord, author of ‘The Tulip’ and ‘The Curious Gardener’; organic gardener Val Bourne; new media pioneer and investigator of plants, Jonathan Drori; singer and actress Issy Van Randwyck; and 70-piece choir, Vocal Harem.

The Idler Academy

A collection of colourful characters, corralled by Tom Hodgkinson, editor of cult magazine The Idler, spouting forth on subjects as diverse as Frisbee Tree Golf, dolphins and 18th-century coffee houses. This year, the Academy lecturers include Dr Mark Vernon giving amini-course in the Greek philosophers; Boff Whalley of Chumbawamba on fell running and playing the banjo; Dan Kieran discussing his new book, ‘The Idle Traveller’; Hugh Warwick on frogs; Lucy Cooke on the habits of the lovable sloth; Latin classes from actress Susanna Hislop; Tom Hodgkinson teaching the ukulele; a minstrels class from Michael Tyack; Robin Harford leading a forage around the festival site; Ben Moor gathering teams for rounds of Frisbee Tree Golf; NJ Stevenson reveal the links between fashion and song; and literary classes for children with the Wicked Young Writers Award.

Among the festival highlights:
Paradiso Cinema - 

Starlit screenings in a particularly beautiful part of the site alongside the Lynher estuary, with Brunel’s railway viaduct as a backdrop. This year’s guest curator will be revealed shortly.

The Wardrobe Department -

At festival time, the walled garden alongside the 19th-century Orangery becomes The Wardrobe Department, led by Port Eliot fashion curator Sarah Mower, the British Fashion Council’s Ambassador for Emerging Talent. Since it began, Port Eliot has played host to major names in fashion, establishing a tradition of spontaneous creativity as festivalgoers flock to make clothes and accessories. Line-up announced soon.

Five Dials – 

Online literary magazine Five Dials will invite writers and musicians to the Walled Garden throughout the festival. Published as a PDF by Simon Prosser and Craig Taylor of Hamish Hamilton, each issue begins life in a notable international location and is loosely based around a theme. Recent issues have included musings about trees, parenting and springtime by the likes of Maggie O’Farrell, Alain De Botton, Tracy Chevalier, Piers Paul Read, Philippa Gregory, Henning Mankell and Blake Morrison.

The Hullabaloo - 

Port Eliot’s 100-year-old Rhododendron Garden will be transformed into a world of games, drama, imagination, music and treasure hunts as Cornwall’s captivating Rogue Theatre invites children to take part in tales of fairies, pirates, witches, giants and elves.

Wild swimming - 

Festivalgoers are invited to leap into the Lynher estuary at high tide for an enlivening dip or a hands-on lesson in kayaking.

Boutique Camping - 

Campers looking for a luxurious stay in Port Eliot’s parkland have plenty of comfortable choices, with original, custom-fitted American Airstream caravans, traditional gypsy bowtop caravans, canvas bell tents, tipis and yurts ready and waiting for their arrival at the festival.

Port Eliot aims to raise the spirits and inspire its audience. It is an opportunity to step into four days of artistic surprises and lose yourself in one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Much of the joy of Port Eliot comes from poking around the edges of the line-up (and the corners of the site), easing between the cerebral and the frivolous, finding new performers and stumbling upon unannounced areas.

FESTIVAL INFORMATION
Port Eliot Festival – 19-22 July 2012 Tickets 
Port Eliot Estate, St Germans, Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 5ND 
Ticket prices: Adult weekend ticket including camping £150 Child weekend ticket (8-15 year olds) including camping £75 7 and under weekend ticket including camping 
FREE Pitch for Camper Van/Caravan £20  TICKETS on sale HERE