There’s something rather special about the atmosphere at FolkEast. Immersed in the timeless landscape of the Glemham Hall Estate as soon as you step through the gate, the gentle, grassy slopes form a bowl hemmed by tents and stages, stalls and displays. People wander, smiling and chatting, and you immediately feel you are among friends.
Whether you sit on the hill and watch the activity below, gather as a crowd in the beer tent, or join a cluster on the grass for an impromptu musical performance or recital, the sense of space and freedom, and the slow, easy pace mean your cares slip from your shoulders.
This festival of music and words, food, heritage and creativity takes place in fields and woodland just off the A12 near Woodbridge, but seemingly miles from anywhere. The most easterly folk festival in the country, FolkEast has built a reputation for a formidably talented line-up of artists, a programme of eclectic activities, and a relaxed, friendly ambience.
‘I’ve always said we have the most lovely audience,’ says Becky Marshall-Potter, who founded FolkEast with husband John in 2012. ‘It’s a very kind festival. Everyone is so receptive, and so tidy! They really care. And even though there may be 5,000 people on the site, it feels like you know everybody. That’s what it’s all about. We want to keep that atmosphere and those values.’
The couple launched the festival in Somerleyton before moving it to Glemham 11 years ago, and they have ensured it has remained an independent, family concern ever since, as well as a leading event on the British folk calendar.
After this year’s event, though, the festival will take a different tack. Glemham Hall is on the market and FolkEast needs to find an alternative venue.
‘The sale of the hall was announced in March so we decided to be proactive and start the search for another site,’ says Becky. ‘We've been overwhelmed by the support shown to us and we will be announcing where we will be in 2025 at this year’s festival.
‘The Cobbold family and Glemham Hall Estate have been very special to us in developing FolkEast and this has been our festival home for so long. But this will be our final fling.’
Celebrating the unique location, this year festival-goers will be able to tour Glemham Hall and its gardens during the weekend. The church, along a short track nearby, will be available as a sanctuary, offering a place for quiet contemplation, with acoustic music, sketching and photography.
And the wild wood will be filled with creativity as never before. The poetry shed, talks, debates and panel discussions will take place under lights and streamers festooning the branches, with audiences seated on hay bales and rugs spread on the forest floor.
Folk attracts younger audiences these days and there’s something for every age group. ‘It’s a safe place and very family orientated,’ says Becky. Abbie Clements, from Halesworth Bookshop, arranges the programme of author talks, readings and signings for adults and children.
Nature writers Patrick Barkham, Matt Gaw and James Canton will be speaking, as well as panels of novelists and crime-writers discussing their recently released books. Writer-illustrators James Mayhew, Kate Rolfe and Marjoke Henrichs will talk about their work for children.
There’s The Art Arcade with around 60 local makers and craftspeople, curated by artist and printmaker Mandy Walden. And there will be fireside singalongs, Morris dancers, The Vintage Mobile Cinema, theatre and recitals.
An open mic stage invites everyone to have a go; artists and performers lead workshops, and also try out their own new material. This year there will be five stages, and the three pubs will have singarounds and sessions, too.
‘You only have to sit in a bar and somebody will get out their violin or start singing a song,’ says Becky, ‘and it might be someone who the previous night was performing on the main stage. There are no barriers.’
Artists are visiting from France, Spain and Scotland as well as from all over England, and East Anglia. The line-up includes bhangra bonanza from The Dhol Foundation, with Johnny Kalsi and their double-headed drum extravaganza. The ‘queens of banjopunk’, Baskery, will be there, still riding high from supporting Robbie Williams on tour.
There’ll be singer Katherine Priddy, a rising star of the UK folk scene, Melrose Quartet, Rag Mama Rag, young English folk trio Granny’s Attic, Peter Knight’s Gigspanner Big Band, and Suffolk’s own Honey and the Bear, and many more.
This year there will be a FolkEast first in an original retelling of the one of the most important events in British working-class history, the Peterloo Massacre. Festival patron and member of the Young’uns Sean Cooney will join forces with singer-songwriter and guitarist Sam Carter and Eliza Carthy for an exclusive premiere of a new suite of songs and spoken word telling the events of 16 August 1819.
The 10 songs will tell the story of how a rally for parliamentary reform in Manchester was charged by the cavalry, leading to 18 dead and hundreds injured. The work is true to the storytelling tradition of folk music. There will be further celebration of the roots of the genre on the Sunday afternoon and evening with a special Tradfolk Takeover programmed by singer-songwriter Jon Wilks.
Ballads and stories, folklore and legends, love and loss will be at the forefront here, and the headliner is Eliza Carthy who after a 30-year career, ‘stands as a towering figure in the English folk revival,’ says Jon. ‘She embodies the spirit of tradition while fearlessly pushing boundaries.’ It seems fitting that Eliza should be attending this year as she was in the line-up for the very first FolkEast on the August bank holiday of 2012.
‘We’re going to relish all these things this year and enjoy them for the final time at Glemham Hall,’ says Becky. ‘Change can be a challenge, but we see the move to a new site as another chapter in the FolkEast story.
‘We have never stood still; each year there’s something new. We’re always pushing ourselves to do something a bit different. We move and develop and evolve, but we keep the same ethos all the time.
‘We love that the music is so accessible and inclusive,’ says Becky, ‘but we’ve always taken the word ‘folk’ to mean people. We want to celebrate everything about creativity.’
FolkEast August 16-18 at Glemham Hall Estate. folkeast.co.uk
