England’s most easterly folk festival – Suffolk’s FolkEast – has officially revealed the site of its new home.
The perennially popular festival, organised by husband-and-wife team Becky and John Marshall-Potter, began in 2012 at Somerleyton Hall, close to Lowestoft but had taken place at Glemham Hall, near Woodbridge for the past 11 years.
But pastures new had to be found when the Glemham estate was put up for sale last year.
Now organisers are delighted to announce that the 13th FolkEast will take place at the stunning Sotterley Hall estate in the north-east of the county, near the market town of Beccles.
The 3500-acre private estate is owned by the Barne family and features extensive parkland around a Georgian house –with ancient woodland, a beautiful lake with Palladian folly and a 12th century church.
Says John Marshall Potter:
“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 – and 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 this summer to carry the festival’s story forward.”
Also welcoming the news was Sean Cooney from the multi award winning and much-loved folk act The Young’ uns. He 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 Sotterley 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.”
Recognised as one of the UK’s favourite folk festivals – by both audience and artists – FolkEast will make its Sotterley debut with three heady days of musical excellence. There will be a melting pot of eclectic talent – from vintage performers to the best new acts on the block. As at Glemham Hall it will be played out across five stages while the event’s three pubs will be alive with singarounds and sessions.
Among the first names to be announced are Kathryn Tickell and The Darkening who will perform on the Saturday night.
Kathryn is a stellar exponent of the Northumbrian pipes and has twice been named Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. She has some 19 albums to her name, an OBE and has won the Queen’s Medal for Music for her outstanding contribution to the British music scene. Also a presenter of BBC Radio 3’s Music Planet, Kathryn has gathered together stand-out musicians from Northumberland, Scotland and England to form her band The Darkening – a band that has finely honed Northumbrian traditional tunes and sounds into a thrilling aural twist.
“No-one has evoked the landscape and traditions of Northumbria more effectively than Kathryn Tickell – a champion of the Northumbrian pipes – she is steeped in the music and mythology of the north-east” – The Observer
Also announced for the 2025 line-up are:
The appealingly chaotic Penguin Cafe – a band originally conceived by Arthur Jeffes as a continuation of his father Simon’s project, the Penguin Café Orchestra. They are a hard-to-label act that has been variously described as avant-pop and chamber jazz – a blend of folk, classical and minimalism.
Keeping the joint jumping will be Sheelanagig – a quintet offering foot-stomping tunes inspired by pan European folk music with groove-heavy arrangements of both original and traditional tunes.
Bristol-based sea shanty kings The Longest Johns will be heading to Suffolk to show just why they have become a cult act. They first sang together at a friend’s barbecue and their fame surged when their folk song Wellerman went viral on Tik Tok back in 2021. With five studio albums to their name and a dedicated fan base they became the UK’s most streamed folk band in 2024.
FolkEast will also be welcoming The Rheingans Sisters (Rowan and Anna) , described as “one of the most visionary acts on the British folk scene today”. Strap yourself in for an immersive musical journey – as baroque fiddle tunes flirt with trance beats and merge with metal inspired arrangements of old folk ballads.
And festival favourites Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith will return with their combination of outstanding vocal work, sensitive instrumentation and songs with a distinctly powerful social conscience.
“To be a great folk singer, you have to be a great storyteller, as Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith are clearly aware. The duo are both fine singers and multi-instrumentalists.” – The Guardian
Goldsmith will also be on duty with brilliant Bristol-based trio Tarren n which he joins Alex Garden and Danny Pedler. With their dynamic, box fresh sound they combine citterns, concertina, fiddle and accordion to take folk to an exciting new place but still firmly rooted in the English tradition.
FolkEast is known for its ‘firsts’ and this year folk musician and writer Jon Wilks is the man behind something really special – a celebration of an iconic London folk venue.
Jon will curate the ‘Second Cousins’ stage, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the iconic Les Cousins folk and blues club, a ‘spawning ground’ for musical talent ,which opened in the basement of a restaurant at 49 Greek Street, Soho, back in 1965.
At Les Cousins musicians of the era met and learnt from each other –legendary names such as Al Stewart, Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Sandy Denny, John Martyn, Alexis Korner, The Strawbs, Roy Harper and Paul Simon.
With the involvement of Diana Matheou – who, along with her late husband, Andy, ran the club during its heyday—the stage will feature an exhibition of memorabilia and photography, alongside talks and performances. The line-up will include artists who originally played at the club, as well as younger musicians who embody its exploratory ethos.
Jon is currently writing a book on the history of Les Cousins and is looking forward to bringing its story to life at FolkEast. He says: “FolkEast is a festival perfectly positioned at the crossroads of traditional folk music and the singer-songwriter tradition that the club helped shape. With its shared spirit of creativity and community it is the ideal home for this celebration”
Artists performing in this special event will include USA-based Bridget St John, one of the leading lights of the British folk scene of the late Sixties and early Seventies. The Surrey-born singer songwriter is perhaps best known for the three albums she recorded between 1969 and 1972 for John Peel’s Dandelion record label. Peel referred to her as ‘The best lady singer songwriter in the country’.
Also described as ‘one of the most visionary acts on the British folk scene’ St John appeared at many leading folk venues in the UK, along with other folk and pop luminaries of the time such as Nick Drake and David Bowie. In 1976 she emigrated to Greenwich Village and virtually disappeared from public view – this will be a rare chance to see her back in the UK.
She will be joined by Ian A. Anderson, singer songwriter, founder of The Village Thing record label and editor of the much-missed fRoots magazine.
A one-time regular at Les Cousins he was first inspired by ancient folk blues records, was caught up in the late 1960s blues boom, mentored by Alexis Korner and supported by radio DJs like John Peel. Today he describes his intriguing music as veteran old time trad English death folk blues, psych-folk and world.
Celebrated songsmith and acclaimed guitarist Steve Tilston will add his skills to the line-up while younger performers will include UK progressive folk singer-songwriter /guitarist Katie Spencer.
Of course FolkEast is about much more than the music and many festival favourites will be finding their way to Sotterley – the bustling Art Arcade, Instrumental (instrument makers), the Librarium and Bookshop, the FolkEast Youth Moot and a plethora of children’s activities.
And returning to the Festival will be Suffolk’s Sutton Hoo Ship’s Company – as they continue their work to create a permanent and authentic replica of a 90 foot Anglo Saxon royal burial ship – one of the UK’s most important current archaeological projects. https://saxonship.org/
Festival goers will be able to witness members of the Company as they go about their business in this live archaeological experiment – which brings together boat builders, seafarers, archaeologists and inquisitive people all with an interest in discovering exactly how the Saxons built and used their craft.
Says John Marshall-Potter: “The Sotterley Estate sawmill is no stranger to the project as they have donated some tree trunks for the ship’s planking but the company is always on the look-out for more.”
With many more names to be announced Early Bird weekend tickets are now on sale – prices are £165 (adults aged 18-64), £155 for over 65s and £90 for Youth tickets (12-17 years) which must be purchased with an adult ticket. Family weekend tickets for two adults and two 12-17 year olds are £475.
FolkEast continues its great tradition of offering free admission for children aged 11 and under; camping under canvas is £25, camping under canvas with vehicle alongside £40 and camping on wheels (caravan, camper van, motorhome) £40-£60. Ticket link: https://folkeast.co.uk/tickets-4/
SUFFOLK: Sotterley Estate, near Beccles
Friday August 15 – Sunday August 17, 2025
Patrons: The Young ’uns
“I loved FolkEast. Relaxed and friendly with masses of space. A great weekend that really lifted the soul”
Robin Denselow Guardian journalist/broadcaster
