Wilderness Festival 2016

Wilderness Festival, despite the beautiful environs, edifying line-up and Arcadian atmosphere, was born out of strife and discord. In what can only be described as The Great Battle of The Poshstocks, Wilderness was established by Lord and Lady Rotherwick at their Cornbury Park estate after a monumental falling out with Hugh Phillimore, the founder of the estate's original Cornbury Festival.

Phillimore took his festival down the road, to Great Tew, and the Rotherwicks launched their very own Wilderness Festival in 2011. "The fallout with Hugh was a total nightmare", Lady Rotherwick divulged recently.

With all that nastiness dead and buried, the two Poshstocks sit side by side, spoiling the residents of Oxfordshire with their consistently outstanding lineups, which combine intellectualism with music.

This year, we're particularly excited about Oklahama-sprung psych-rockers The Flaming Lips who'll treat audiences to their 1999 classic Soft Bulletin. We're also pleased to see former Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant will be gracing the main stage with the Sensational Space Shifters. Meanwhile fans of the left-field need look no further than a a collaboration between drum and bass pioneer Goldie and the Heritage Orchestra.

While there are plenty of veterans on the bill, there's a healthy number of newer names too; Lianne La Havas is fast becoming one of our favourite singers while Shura's single 'Touch' announced her as one to watch this year. Don't miss either of them.

There's plenty of chit-chat scheduled, too. History comes courtesy of Anthony Beevor; astronomy from Martin Rees; and ecology from Satish Kumar and Resurgence Magazine. The School of Life is setting up shop with some top-notch speakers as is Sunday Papers Live, which arms you with a Bloody Mary and brings the news to life. Envoys from the V&A, Friends of the Earth, the RSA, and PEN International will be on hand, too.

Known for its Long Table Banquets, Wilderness Festival sits revellers down communally in canvas banqueting halls to dine. This year, Raymond Blanc, Skye Gingell and Virgilio Martinez will be preparing feasts.

With boat racing, cricket, wild swimming and much more also on offer, the festival offers a new take on the British country weekend.

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