After “a long sad two year sabbatical”, the Cornbury Music Festival is back this weekend with headliners Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, troubadour James Blunt, The Darkness, Scottish stars The Waterboys and a Sunday finale of Ronan Keating & Jools Holland.
But it will be the last-ever after founder Hugh Phillimore announced he is bringing down the curtain after nearly 20 years.
Posting on Facebook, he wrote: We’re hoping for a perfect British summer weekend, lots of dancing, some fireworks and possibly a few tears."
In March he invited music lovers to join him for one 'last hurrah’ and said it was back "with a classic Cornbury line-up – old friends who simply do what they do brilliantly and make us smile.”
And Hugh said: “We don’t want to do serious, we simply want to have tons of fun over the whole weekend!”
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One of the late additions to the Sunday line-up is soul, R&B, pop, blues legend Geno Washington with Steve Winwood another latecomer and festival exclusive.
As well as music across four stages, there will be a children’s area with a complete programme of workshops daily - and now a nanny service, the best of the festival caterers, an extensive range of arts and crafts stalls, roaming entertainers, a fairground, relaxing therapy and massage zone, a non-stop Disco Shed and beautiful campsites.
Cornbury Festival began life in 2004 at Cornbury Park, near Charlbury, before moving to the beautiful Great Tew Park Estate, and has previously played host to Paul Simon, Robert Plant, Tom Jones, Amy Winehouse, Blondie, Elvis Costello and The Beach Boys.
It has also been a haunt for celebrities including Peter Crouch and wife Abbey Clancy, and locals Jeremy Clarkson, Alex James and David Cameron have also been pictured there.
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It describes itself as "a lovingly crafted, top-notch, very English open air party, tailor-made for the whole family" and "a country fair with a rock ‘n’ roll twist; a farmers’ market with a dancefloor; a magical local carnival with a classic contemporary soundtrack".
Mr Phillimore previously announced the festival would finish in 2017 but relented after he received a wave of support.
He said: "We’ve loved every precious moment of this dear little independent festival but I’m afraid it is now time for me to hang up my festival lanyards and call it a night."
For tickets and more information, see cornburyfestival.com
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This story was written by Miranda Norris, she joined the team in 2021 and covers celebrity and showbiz news across Oxfordshire as well as news from Witney.
Get in touch with her by emailing: Miranda.Norris@newsquest.co.uk
Follow her on Twitter @MirandaJNorris
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