The Rock Oyster Festival is a smorgasboard of music, entertainment, Cornish food, drink and family-friendly activities at Dinham House
The Rock Oyster Festival is a veritable Smörgåsbord of food, fun and music - what better way to spend a perfect summer weekend?
Cornwall is the perfect place to fill up on festival fun all year round - and July has one of our all-time favourites. Set at Dinham House on the banks of the Camel river estuary, between Padstow and Wadebridge, Rock Oyster Festival is about as close as you can get to the perfect festival.
The festival on 10 - 11 July champions the arts, theatre, food, music, drink, talks, a riverside walks and even long table banquets with leading chefs. It is great for children and families, foodies, fans of performance and theatre, live music and wildlife - it’s hard to remember it began as a small foodie event to showcase the nearby oyster farm - although Porthilly Oysters remain a star of the show for many.
Today there is as much focus on the wealth of activities: from its musical line-up to workshops.
Now its sixth year, Rock Oyster Festival has a well-earned reputation as a near-perfect summer Cornish celebration in an idyllic setting with stunning views and the campsite and festival grounds rolling down to touch the banks of the River Camel near the village of St Minver.
Rock Oyster Festival is the perfect answer for those hardcore festival goers who are turning their backs on the main stream “factory packed” events and looking for a smaller festival with its own identity that offers banging entertainment with Cornwall at its heart,’ explains festival organiser Charlie Anderson. The music line up this year will guarantee to blow minds. We have already announced The Land of The Giants and most recently the fabulous Bristol based D&B act Dr Meaker and there are many more red hot acts we will be announcing in the coming weeks.’
So far Charlie and his gang of organisers have added April Maze, Josh Savage - named as one of Ten Artists To Watch’ by the Huffington Post - and South West eight-piece Antimatador.
For the foodies the festival boasts a great choice of food to eat - so come hungry. Expect Porthilly oysters from the Camel Estuary, succulent mussels cooked by chefs of the St Moritz Hotel, huge paellas, spicy Cornish curries and delicious bespoke wood-fire cooked pizzas. For younger palates Alice in Burgerland is back by popular demand.
We ran a Farmer’s Market for the first time last year which was a huge success,’ says Charlie. We will be keeping the very modest £20 stall charge as we are keen to contact even the smallest local food business so that we can show off the huge variety of top quality food that Cornwall can proudly boast.’
One of the most popular attractions, unsurprisingly, The Cornish Beer Tent will again be serving a great range of Cornish ales. Wadebridge Wines will be there for those with a taste for the grape.
Families remain a major focus for the organisers: kids love the festival and the festival loves kids, they say, putting their money where their strapline is, boasting one of the cheapest kids concession tickets around at £8 for the day (under 12s). This year the kids will take over the Big Top main stage during the afternoon with kids entertainment designed to captivate younger - and older - festival goers. Other children’s activities will include archery, swing boats, bouncy castle and football on Sunday morning for campers. Rock Oyster Festival remains one of the pearls in the Cornish festival calendars. Rock on indeed! n
Tickets are priced at £22 per adult / £12 for 12-16s / £8 for children (under 12) and under-fours go free. Camping is an additional cost. For tickets head to rockoysterfestival.co.uk
