Larmer Tree Festival
Encyclopedia
The Larmer Tree Festival is a five-day music and arts festival held annually at the Larmer Tree Gardens
near Tollard Royal
on the Wiltshire
-Dorset
border in England
. Described as "One of the most family-friendly festivals around", it is also noted for its "stunning location ... and outstanding eclectic line-up." In October 2008 the Larmer Tree Festival won the Family Festival Award at the UK Festival Awards
.
and described as having "an enchanted and tranquil atmosphere". The Larmer Tree itself was an ancient landmark tree on the ancient boundary between Wiltshire and Dorset. The tree was possibly an ancient Wych elm
(Ulmus glabra) under which King John
(1167–1216) and his entourage were reputed to have met when they were out hunting. The festival takes place in a setting of lawns and carefully tended gardens, dotted with Indian pavilions and Roman temples, with free-roaming peacocks
and macaws.
The inspiration for the festival came in 1990 when James Shepard came across the Larmer Tree Gardens while out jogging one day in Cranborne Chase
. The first festival was held in 1990 and was a one-day event, featuring jazz
and blues
music, with about 200 attenders. The next festivals were two-day affairs, held over a weekend, with co-director Julia Safe joining the festival team in 1993. In 1995 the festival was extended to include the Friday night, and on-site camping was introduced.
The festival is now a five-day event licensed for 5,000 people. The organisers state that "numbers are still strictly limited to protect the intimate atmosphere cherished by devotees." Tickets for the event have sold out months in advance every year since 1995.
Shepard and Safe's company J & J Events Ltd. produces the festival. Shepard and Safe have rejected several major sponsorship deals as they are keen to protect their original concept. The ensuing independence and lack of sponsors' interference has allowed the small team of staff to develop the festival along its own unique lines.
A community spirit is encouraged at the festival: 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, recycling and saving water on site.
for line-up listings.
In 2008 the festival featured 108 hours of entertainment, including 80 bands across seven stages over five days. The festival predominantly features acoustic folk, world music, reggae, roots and blues. Festival areas include the main stage, a two-pole big top
, Acoustic Roots Café (ARC), The Club (a "retro-rave environment"), The Social (consisting of three large tipi
tents), as well as the Garden Stage, the original wooden Victorian Singing Theatre building.
There is also an extensive range of creative workshops for both adults, teenagers and younger children. There are designated teenagers' and children's areas which offer activities and workshops "in everything from baby yoga to unicycling".
Recent developments at the festival include the Club Larmer theatre productions and talks. Recently, film critic and writer Mark Kermode
interviewed leading figures in the world of film, including Ken Russell
in 2007 and Nicolas Roeg
in 2008.
Over the years, many different holistic therapies and treatments have been offered in the Secret Garden area, including osteopathy
, Swedish massage, Thai massage
, Bach flower remedies, Indian head massage
, reflexology
and shiatsu
.
In addition to all the festival areas, there are 11 acres (44,515.5 m²) of gardens for festival-goers to explore.
The 2011 Larmer Tree Festival is scheduled to take place from 13–17 July.
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.
: 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.
Larmer Tree Gardens
The Larmer Tree Gardens near Tollard Royal in south Wiltshire, England, were created by Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers in 1880 as pleasure grounds for "public enlightenment and entertainment". They were the first private gardens opened for public enjoyment in the United...
near Tollard Royal
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 Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
-Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
border in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Described as "One of the most family-friendly festivals around", it is also noted for its "stunning location ... and outstanding eclectic line-up." In October 2008 the Larmer Tree Festival won the Family Festival Award at the UK Festival Awards
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, and are produced by Virtual Festivals.com. They are voted for by the public via the...
.
Location
The festival is held in the Larmer Tree Gardens, Victorian pleasure grounds founded by Augustus Pitt RiversAugustus Pitt Rivers
Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane-Fox Pitt Rivers was an English army officer, ethnologist, and archaeologist. He was noted for his innovations in archaeological methods, and in the museum display of archaeological and ethnological collections.-Life and career:Born Augustus Henry Lane-Fox at...
and described as having "an enchanted and tranquil atmosphere". The Larmer Tree itself was an ancient landmark tree on the ancient boundary between Wiltshire and Dorset. The tree was possibly an ancient Wych elm
Wych Elm
Ulmus glabra, the Wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese in Greece; it is also found in Iran...
(Ulmus glabra) under which King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
(1167–1216) and his entourage were reputed to have met when they were out hunting. The festival takes place in a setting of lawns and carefully tended gardens, dotted with Indian pavilions and Roman temples, with free-roaming peacocks
Peafowl
Peafowl are two Asiatic species of flying birds in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae, best known for the male's extravagant eye-spotted tail, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen, and the offspring peachicks. The adult female...
and macaws.
Organisation
Cranborne Chase
Cranborne Chase is a Chalk plateau in central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. The plateau is part of the English Chalk Formation and is adjacent to Salisbury Plain and the West Wiltshire Downs in the north, the Dorset Downs to the south west and the...
. The first festival was held in 1990 and was a one-day event, featuring jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
music, with about 200 attenders. The next festivals were two-day affairs, held over a weekend, with co-director Julia Safe joining the festival team in 1993. In 1995 the festival was extended to include the Friday night, and on-site camping was introduced.
The festival is now a five-day event licensed for 5,000 people. The organisers state that "numbers are still strictly limited to protect the intimate atmosphere cherished by devotees." Tickets for the event have sold out months in advance every year since 1995.
Shepard and Safe's company J & J Events Ltd. produces the festival. Shepard and Safe have rejected several major sponsorship deals as they are keen to protect their original concept. The ensuing independence and lack of sponsors' interference has allowed the small team of staff to develop the festival along its own unique lines.
A community spirit is encouraged at the festival: 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, recycling and saving water on site.
Events
See Larmer Tree Festival line-upsLarmer Tree Festival line-ups
The Larmer Tree Festival near Tollard Royal on the Wiltshire-Dorset border is a music and arts festival which has taken place annually since 1990...
for line-up listings.
In 2008 the festival featured 108 hours of entertainment, including 80 bands across seven stages over five days. The festival predominantly features acoustic folk, world music, reggae, roots and blues. Festival areas include the main stage, a two-pole big top
Big Top
Big Top may refer to:* Big top , the biggest tent in early-20th century circuses, where the circus itself took place* Big Top , a Transformers character* Big Top , a children's television series in the 1950s...
, Acoustic Roots Café (ARC), The Club (a "retro-rave environment"), The Social (consisting of three large tipi
Tipi
A tipi is a Lakota name for a conical tent traditionally made of animal skins and wooden poles used by the nomadic tribes and sedentary tribal dwellers of the Great Plains...
tents), as well as the Garden Stage, the original wooden Victorian Singing Theatre building.
There is also an extensive range of creative workshops for both adults, teenagers and younger children. There are designated teenagers' and children's areas which offer activities and workshops "in everything from baby yoga to unicycling".
Recent developments at the festival include the Club Larmer theatre productions and talks. Recently, film critic and writer Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...
interviewed leading figures in the world of film, including Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
in 2007 and Nicolas Roeg
Nicolas Roeg
Nicolas Jack Roeg, CBE, BSC is an English film director and cinematographer.-Life and career:Roeg was born in London, the son of Mabel Gertrude and Jack Nicolas Roeg...
in 2008.
Over the years, many different holistic therapies and treatments have been offered in the Secret Garden area, including osteopathy
Osteopathy
Osteopathy and osteopathic medicine are often used interchangeably for the philosophy and system of alternative medical practice first proposed by A. T. Still MD, DO in 1874....
, Swedish massage, Thai massage
Thai massage
Thai massage is a type of massage in Thai style that involves stretching and deep massage. This form of bodywork is usually performed on the floor, and the client wears comfortable clothes that allow for movement. No oils are used in Thai massage...
, Bach flower remedies, Indian head massage
Champissage
Champissage, also known as an Indian head massage is a trademarked term for an alternative medicine massage therapy. In champissage, the head, neck and face are massaged with the purpose of manipulating energy channels...
, reflexology
Reflexology
Reflexology, or zone therapy, is an alternative medicine involving the physical act of applying pressure to the feet, hands, or ears with specific thumb, finger, and hand techniques without the use of oil or lotion...
and shiatsu
Shiatsu
Shiatsu is Japanese for "finger pressure;" it is a type of alternative medicine consisting of finger and palm pressure, stretches, and other massage techniques. There is no scientific evidence proving that shiatsu can treat any disease, but shiatsu practitioners promote it as a way to help people...
.
In addition to all the festival areas, there are 11 acres (44,515.5 m²) of gardens for festival-goers to explore.
The 2011 Larmer Tree Festival is scheduled to take place from 13–17 July.
Facilities
Catering facilities on site provide food and drinks from around the world, served from breakfast through to late night snacks. The site also has three bars.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 AwardsUK 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, and are produced by Virtual Festivals.com. They are voted for by the public via the...
: 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.