This weekend sees Kent’s very own Milk House host its annual festival celebrating local food and music.
The Milk Fest is billed as a four day full fat festival showcasing local music talent, food and drink over the August Bank Holiday Weekend and even boasts a bespoke Kentish bitter crafted just for the festival by the outstanding Old Dairy Brewery. Old Dairy and The Milk House indeed; surely a match made in heaven!
The Milk House is based in the historic village of Sissinghurst and with the Milk Fest annually raises money for local charities and organisations as well as providing a programme that showcases the cream of Kent. It’s a former 16th century hall house with timber beams and a Tudor fireplace that is listed in the Michelin Guide, won Newcomer of the Year in the Kent Life Food & Drink Awards in 2014, and was a finalist in last year’s Taste of Kent Awards.
But the real reason the Milk Fest is such a success is its promotion of local music talent driven by the support and organisation of Sandstorm Records and its founder Lee Golledge, who has once again put together an outstanding selection of music.
Friday has a special draw for me as the local talent is joined by acclaimed Irish singer songwriter Pete Gardiner who will be bringing his special brand of lyricism to Kent, having recently played the Viper Room on a whistle-stop US tour. He will be supporting Lee Golledge’s new band Indigo Sea on the opening evening, and I can’t wait to see them launch this year’s festival in real style. I expect they will set the bar very high for performers over the next three days.
Another singer we have covered before, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing again, is Dan Glover, who will be appearing on Saturday afternoon, and then Sunday sees local favourite Alana Hazzard, who has built up quite a following online and is starting to draw attention for her beautiful voice and original songs.
After Indigo Sea, Pete Gardiner and Nick Eve get the party started on Friday night, Saturday will see acoustics from Finlay Leslie, Daniel Glover and Some Anyone, before Josh Renton & The Wildfires, Narratones and the Devil’s Cut Combo rock into the evening.
Sunday will see performances from Ramblin’ Rags, Alana Hazzard, Orfila, and Milky Negro, with The Caress, Caleb Howard-Almond, and The Bay Rays, bring the night to a hopefully exuberant conclusion. Monday will see tunes from Kyla Stroud, and Fred Clark, followed by the super fun Tragic Mushrooms.
There will certainly be music, food and drink to suit all tastes and lots for the children to do so that mums and dads can kick back and enjoy the festival feel of the Milk Fest. Watch for my review of the acts I catch next week.
