Port Eliot Festival has unveiled the first group of artists heading to Cornwall for this year’s event.

Full details of the line-up, which jumps from music to books, food to fashion, science to swimming and comedy to a Flower and Fodder Show will emerge as the festival approaches, but among the first names to be confirmed are: beloved singer-songwriter Nick Lowe; Kate Stables’s highly acclaimed This Is The Kit; Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist Michèle Roberts; best-selling food writer and chef Gizzi Erskine; Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston’s cosmic combination A Love from Outer Space; lauded standup, BBC comedy hit and endearingly mild-mannered social campaigner Tom Wrigglesworth; songwriting craftsman Chris Difford; Falmouth based Stephen Duffy-powered treasures The Lilac Time; Cornish gem of a restaurateur Nathan Outlaw; and multi award-winning writing sensation, Eimear McBride.

Port Eliot is the original free-ranging festival of ideas, which aims to inspire and surprise as it draws an unmatchable collection of artists, musicians, writers, comedians, performers, thinkers, makers, protagonists, agitators and scribblers to one of the most beautiful corners of the country. This year’s event will run from Thursday 27 to Sunday 30 July on the rolling park and woodland of the ancient estate at St Germans, on south east Cornwall’s Rame Peninsula. Tickets on sale now at porteliotfestival.com As more details are confirmed, the festival will build a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love. An early signal of things to come is the beautiful new artwork created especially for the festival by celebrated ’60s countercultural artist, designer and founder of the enduringly influential Kings Road boutique, Granny Takes a Trip, Nigel Waymouth. Haunted by The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd, the Chelsea boutique became a renegade emblem of the capital.

Festival Director, Catherine St Germans, said, “It has been 50 years since the original Summer of Love and it’s fair to say that, right now, we could all do with another. We’re honoured that artist, designer and founder of pioneering ‘60s boutique, Granny Takes a Trip, Nigel Waymouth, has been kind enough to create our new poster. Nigel’s design reflects beautifully the festival’s Elephant Fayre origins and the vast history of the ancient site which hosts the festival. We’re especially looking forward to this year; everybody needs it!” Nigel Waymouth said, “I’m very happy and honoured to have been asked to design the graphic artwork for the festival. I love Ralph Steadman’s wonderfully crazy lettering for the festival logo. It’s inspirational; so it remains an integral part of the graphics, I’m glad to say. One of the great things about the Port Eliot Festival is that it’s not the sort of mud slog we associate with other, big music, festivals. Also, because it has a literary bent there’s a certain gravitas to it that I like. The fact that everything happens so close to the house and the church, set in the beautiful Humphry Repton landscaping, means that it becomes much more graceful than most other festivals. I’ve been to others that are similar, but Port Eliot has a special quality to it. It’s very intimate in its friendliness. It’s a definite social gathering, much like a party, where you’re more than likely to bump into your friends. I’m very much hoping to be there this year, the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, and maybe give another talk about that time.” Port Eliot has its own half-paced atmosphere (there is no green room or exclusive-VIP-priority-access wristband-enclave) and everybody brings something special. The house’s Round Room becomes a science lab; vodka bars and the Boogie Round club materialise behind hedges and in clearings; the Lark’s Haven wellness enclosure settles in above the maze; Cornish stories and culture have a special home in the Tiddy Tent; the oldest church in Cornwall hosts genuinely unique gigs; and historic rooms, kitchens and nooks in the oldest continually-inhabited home in the country become restaurants, tea rooms,exhibition galleries and picture palaces. The Wardrobe Department and Theatre of Fashion are hot-beds of fashion and beauty creation; the Flower and Fodder stage and the house’s Big Kitchen invite you in for a magnificent celebration of food and drink, including many south west specialities; the programme of workshops, demonstrations and practical skills sessions is officially massive now, encompassing late night astronomy walks and talks, foraging for medicine, wild swimming, basecamp gourmet, business for bohemians, botanical illustration, headdress making, home herbal first aid, cider and cheese pairing, canoeing, archery and beekeeping (separately, not together). A century-old Rhododendron garden becomes The Hullabaloo, an entertainment hideout for children, conjured up by the inventive Rogue Theatre; the Pulse helps you learn how to wield your guitar (amongst many other things); the Ace of Clubs is loud ‘til late, exploding with blues, soul, rock & roll, jingle-pop, folk and opera (and a tremendous bar); The Idler Academy continues its gentle quest to help people lead more fulfilled lives; alongside the river Tiddy, Caught By The River, is the place for lovers of music, wildlife, nature, poetry, writing, reading, great music, treasured cult performers and long-time heroes; and the Park combines fine comedy and equally fine bands.

This year, for the first time, the festival will have its own dedicated poetry stage. Curated by Luke Wright and Rosy Carrick, the stage will feature over thirty poets, reflecting the diversity of Britain’s contemporary poetry scene - including Salena Godden, Mike Garry, Ros Barber, Rob Auton, Hannah Silva and Hollie McNish. A full twenty-four hours of poetry over the weekend makes Port Eliot among the most significant homes for poetry of all UK festivals.

FESTIVAL INFORMATION Port Eliot Festival: 27-30 July 2017. porteliotfestival.com Weekend, child, family and day tickets available. Children 7 & under free. Ticket prices remain as they have been for the past three years. Port Eliot Estate, St Germans, Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 5ND.