Fans of Warwickshire’s ALSO Festival, rejoice. The festival is back this July, bringing music, comedy, wellness, food and nature together in what I can confirm is a bit of a unique event.
I went to ALSO Festival for the first time last year and had a thoroughly great time. From lake swimming and a sauna in a horse box, to fab food, workshops, talks and plenty of music and general outdoor fun, it really is a great addition to your summer festival must-dos.
This year the festival is back in the beautiful Capability Brown-landscaped gardens of Warwickshire’s Compton Verney. This year, which takes place from July 12th-14th, is its 11th year and has the theme of Heavenly Bodies, bringing together performers and musicians, best-selling authors, celebrated scientists and experts.
You’re here for the food, and there’s plenty of that at ALSO, with feasts and set lunches from award-winning resident chef James Whetlor. I speak from experience when I say James’ food is great, and that ALSO has plenty of great food and drink options to keep you sated over the weekend.
But alongside the inevitable feasting, there’s so much more. You’ll be able to join in on adventures from from sound baths and lantern making workshops to a Venus and Adonis ‘Love is Love’ procession, or journey through nature on a Bat Walk or delve into the mysteries of the cosmos at Astrology in the Orrery.
Wellness activities include: laughter therapy, fitness workshops, a Zen Ten Spa, fire yoga, moon yoga or you can try floating SUP yoga, wild swimming or paddleboarding in the lake, or meditation or sauna.
For families there’s den building, a mini big safari, rocket workshop, raft building, messy play, circus school and character comedy workshop. But don’t worry, there’s a new Festival Nanny service if you want a break.
Along with Stornoway, music will include Welsh singer-songwriter Edie Bens; experimental musician Jessica Winter; hip-hop funk and soul band Miya the Sun; Birmingham-based indie rock band Jet Black Orange; multi-instrumentalist James Walker and Latin and Brazilian-influenced soul and funk collective The Fontanas.
Laughter is on the agenda with Sara Pascoe, as well as BAFTA-winning, best-selling writer and comedian Adam Kay; poet and novelist Salena Godden; TikTok sensation Marcel Lucont; and Rob Deering with his live music-based comedy pop quiz – Beat This!
Talks will include No. 1 Sunday Times Bestselling psychotherapist Philippa Perry in her only UK festival appearance this summer, and rock-star classicist and bestselling writer Natalie Haynes who re-introduces us to the stories of Greek Goddesses the way they were intended.
Glimpse the divine beauty of space with quantum theorist Professor David Tong; scream into the void with behavioural economist Dr Pragya Agarwal; or learn how hip-hop artists rewrote the rules of business with former banker–turned–hip-hop journalist Nels Abbey.
There are talks from cosmologist Roberto Trotta; journalist Tim Marshall and bestselling author and journalist Catherine Nixey, as well as learning the science behind being social with award-winning journalist and author David Robson or a look at longevity with Professor Sir Michael Marmot.
ALSO Festival’s Founder and Artistic Director, Helen Bagnall said: “Coming together to go wild in the wild each summer is what we humans are built to do and an essential part of a year lived well. ALSO is the next generation of festivals; highly immersive and truly experiential, with ideas threading through everything that we do.
“We make it effortless for our guests to engage with big, life-enhancing ideas and live a wild summer weekend in an extraordinary festival. So we are leaning in hard to the beauty in ourselves, in others, in the joy of festivals, the beauty of the site with our 2024 theme of ‘Heavenly Bodies’.”
ALSO24 tickets are available now. Find out more here. You can make a whole weekend of it and camp or glamp too.
