Stendhal Festival to welcome revellers of all ages

Thousands of people are set to descend on the Ballymully Cottage Farm in County Londonderry once again for the start of the Stendhal Festival.

The three-day festival just outside Limavady will be kicking off on Thursday 4 July and running until Saturday 6 July.

Now in its 14th year, the festival has grown from humble beginnings in 2011 into one of the biggest independent music and arts festivals in Northern Ireland.

Organisers have promised a full festival programme of events for all ages to enjoy.

Festival director Ross Parkhill said it was the biggest line-up so far, with 120 acts over the three days.

He said they established the festival to give home-grown talent the chance to appear alongside the big international acts.

By Wednesday night, they had sold 10,000 tickets and expect about 12,000 people, including "walk-ins" to attend the event.

“We never organised a music night in a barn, we wanted to jump into a field,” he said.

“And we’ve gone from 700 people now to 12,000, so it’s the real thing and we’re all very passionate about it."

Stendhal Festival is an annual outdoor event featuring music, comedy, dance, poetry, workshops and family-friendly fun.

Its name is a reference to Stendhal syndrome - a psychological condition resulting in dizziness experienced by people exposed to things of great beauty.

The festival is situated in the picturesque rural setting of Ballymully Cottage Farm in Roe Valley, about three miles outside the town of Limavady.

With more than eight stages spread across the farm site, surrounding woodlands and valley, this year's programme is packed with an array of performances, with everything from art installations to live workshops and activities for all ages across multiple performance stages.

Also, uniquely for Northern Ireland's music scene, the festival features a campsite for ticketholders to stay on site.

Headline music acts this year include The Zutons, Hot Chip (DJ set) and also a performance from M-People's Heather Small.

Music fans planning to make the trip will be hoping to hear Heather's powerful vocals blast out hits such as Moving On Up, One Night In Heaven and Search For The Hero.

Other notable acts this year include Skinny Living, former Walking On Cars frontman Pa Sheehy and The Showhawk Duo - to name but a few.

As usual for Stendhal, there will also be scores of local artists from across the island of Ireland hoping to leave their mark on the festival.

One band Lavengro, who hail from Londonderry, are making the short trip down the road to perform.

With their highly energetic live performances and catchy pop sound the band are hoping to impress when they take to the stage.

Other acts include County Londonderry singer Rachael O’Connor, whose career has rocketed since she appeared on television show The Voice.

She comes to Stendhal after performing with Duran Duran, who praised her “killer voice”.

“I’m always nervous going on stage but this time I’m so excited,” she told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.

“We had two days of band rehearsals there. I have a drummer and a guitarist and they’re all great.

“And we’ve put together a real fun show."

However, Stendhal is not just solely for music lovers, there is a host of other things on offer from comedy performances to poetry readings to craft classes.

It's summer in Northern Ireland so as usual the wind and rain were always likely to play a part.

Those heading down with day tickets and those who bought camping overnight tickets will be glad to hear that there is no heavy rain forecast for the duration of the festival, but it may be worth packing umbrellas.

The opening day of the festival is likely to see some showers and wind for the Roe Valley area.

By Friday, people can expect sunny intervals, but those strong winds will die down and festival goers can see that changing to a light breeze.

The final day, much like Friday, will see some clouds and light rain showers.

If you can't make it to Stendhal in person this year, do not fret.

There will be coverage from the festival this year available on programmes from both BBC Radio Foyle and BBC Radio UIster.

Some of the special programmes broadcasting live on site will be BBC Radio Foyle's The Mark Patterson Show and BBC Radio Ulster's The Stephen McCauley Show.

A full programme of all the events on offer can be found here.