Music festival announces first acts at new site

The founders of England's most easterly folk festival have announced the first names for this year's line-up who will be performing at the event's new site.

FolkEast had been held at the Glemham Hall estate near Woodbridge in Suffolk, for the past 12 years, but this year's festival in August will be staged 20 miles away at the Sotterley Estate, near Beccles.

Among the first names to be announced are Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening who will perform on the Saturday night.

Tickell, who plays the Northumbrian pipes, has twice been named Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and was appointed OBE and awarded a Queen's Medal for Music for her outstanding contribution to the British music scene.

Also announced for the 2025 line-up are: Penguin Café, Sheelanagig, The Liverpool Shanty Kings, The Longest Johns, The Rheingans Sisters, Tarren, Katie Spencer and the duo Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith.

The festival is organised by husband-and-wife team Becky and John Marshall-Potter, who began FolkEast in 2012 at Somerleyton Hall, near Lowestoft, before it moved to Glemham Hall.

When the Glemham estate was put up for sale last year, a new venue had to be found.

Mr Marshall-Potter said: "Moving an event from a long-standing established site to a new and unfamiliar location is always going to be a challenge. You almost have to forget everything you have done and start again.

"Of course we will be transferring all of the popular main elements and ethos of FolkEast amd all the things people have told us they love, but it's a new geographical environment where things aren't necessarily going to fit and interact in the same way.

"So it's a learning curve but also an opportunity to be creative at a particularly striking site and we look forward to putting the FolkEast stamp on it to carry the festival's story forward."

Sean Cooney, from the multi-award winning folk act The Young'uns, said: "We've been proud patrons of FolkEast for many years and are thrilled at this exciting new chapter.

"In these dampening times for festivals across the country, FolkEast continues to shine its light."

Tom Brown, chief executive at the Sotterley Estate, said: "Everyone at Sotterley Estate and the Barne family are incredibly excited to be working alongside FolkEast.

"We know and have seen for ourselves what a special and unique festival this is and can understand why so many people already love it.

"The festival is such a great fit for us and we are keen for many new people to discover what a unique and amazing place Sotterley Park is, as well as offering many people in our community the opportunity to discover FolkEast."

The festival will include five stages and three pubs and will be held 15-17 August.

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