THIS year's Hatherleigh Festival has a new-look programme with a line up of outstanding events.
The festival — which runs from Thursday July 6 to Sunday July 9 — has a wide range of entertainment which spans film, comedy, music, workshops, exhibitions and children's shows.
One of the biggest new events will be Exeter's Timepiece comedy club hosting an evening of hilarity on Friday, July 7. This features a brilliant line-up headed by Milton Jones, winner of the Perrier best newcomer award at the Edinburgh Festival.
The second series of his BBC radio show 'The Very World of Milton Jones' was aired this spring and he has appeared on BBC1's 'The Stand Up Show' and 'Saturday Live' on ITV.
He will be joined by Richard Ayoade who as well as being a stand-up comic, he writes for the Big Breakfast and has a series commissioned for BBC Radio. Compere for the evening is Alistair Barrie who runs his own comedy club in London.
For those who like the best in rip-roaring electric folk music the Parcel of Rogues will be performing straight from their success at Glastonbury.
If your tastes are more in the classical department then an evening with baroque soprano Angela Henckel and harpsichordist Paul Nicholson is just the ticket with their 'banquet of baroque delights'.
The programme also boasts Bulgarian pianist Ivo Varbonon who will be performing works by Schubert and Brahms.
He will be accompanied by Finnish cellist Seeli Toivio. Varbonon, whose 1997 recording of the works by Mussorgsky received worldwide acclaim, will also perform piano solos by Schuman and Chopin.
The children of Hatherleigh will be getting the festival off to a flying start by parading around the streets with Ooarwe — a loud and lively drumming band — while brandishing the millennium banner painted by the children themselves.
The school choir will be singing, as will Soul Attitude Gospel Choir and a host of other musical talents, including the Stretch Band, Hatherleigh Silver Band and the FOS Brothers duo.
Meanwhile on the theatrical front Smallscale Theatre will be ripping apart, reducing and ridiculously retelling three of Daphne Du Maurier's plays.
Street theatre comes in the manic shape of Air Ace Armitage Tiger Thompson who will endeavour to make aviation history by getting his Spitfire off the ground in the town square.
And if you have never seen Sir Ralph Luvvie glide around in his motorised wheelchair you have never lived, darling!
A new edition to the festival this year will be poetry as never seen or heard before. Lucy English and Polly Carr will perform their poetry with attitude as Lucy has done at Glastonbury and Cheltenham festivals before.
Big crowd pullers are sure to be the headlining bands. On Saturday, July 8 the day's entertainments are rounded off with a unique Zimbabwean band Spirit Talk Mbira whose extraordinary music takes you to the heart of their country.
Entirely different but equally tempting is The Nightporters who enjoyed such success at last year's Bishopstock Festival with their electrifying 50s rhythm 'n' blues.
For more details contact Claire Gladstone at the Hatherleigh Festival office on (01837) 811116. E-mail: [email protected]">[email protected]