Welcome
Welcome to the Dentdale Music & Beer Festival website.
Take a look around and find out how preparations for this year's festival are progressing.
Beer Festival
As usual the two Bobs have stepped up to the arduous and daunting task of sampling and choosing 35 of the best real ales available in northern England and Scotland. They've done a cracking job but as they say practice does make perfect.
Food Festival
Festival food this year will include the usual excellent festival burgers and meat dishes from Dales Butchers, a steam-loco-fired pizza oven and a campervan cafe for a truly eclectic dining experience.
Add to that, Dentdale-reared pork - spit-roasted in front of you on the festival field. Mmm delicious - crackling anyone?
Holiday Cottages
There are a number of holiday cottages for rent in Dentdale. Please see links below for details.
Volunteers Needed
The festival is run on a voluntary basis and we are always in need of extra help over the weekend. If you could spare an hour or two over the weekend in return for a free supper & pint please drop us a line.
Festival Wristbands on sale now!
We aim to keep the festival on a free-entry basis for as long as we can so this year we need your help.
By buying a festival wristband you can become a friend of the festival and enjoy 50p off every pint of beer and discounts on other drinks!
Admission to the festival is still free but by buying a wristband you will help to ensure that this and future years' events will remain as successful as previous years.
Wristbands are £5 each plus 75p p&p and supplies are limited so click the button below to order yours now.
Festival Music 2012
We're proud to announce the following artists have been confirmed for 2012 - (click artist's name for more info).
Emily Smith
Emily Smith is a leading singer of the Scottish folk scene and features on the award-winning TV series 'The Transatlantic Sessions'. As a songwriter Emily has been likened to 'a Scottish Joni Mitchell', but is equally adept at presenting fresh and evocative interpretations of traditional songs.
Emily plays piano and accordian but it's her outstanding voice which gained her recognition such as being voted 'Scots Singer of the Year' at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2008.
Emily was also a nominee for 'Folk Singer of the Year' and 'Best Traditional Track' at the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Sarah Gillespie
Described by Rock'n'Reel as 'a bracingly eclectic mix of Beat poetry with jazz, folk and Middle Eastern elements' Sarah's music is a sonic reflection of the contemporary London street, a melting-pot mix of urban-folk stamped with her trademark lyricism that knits everyday banter with raw poetry.
"Lyrical grit and beautifully controlled associative word strings all delivered with her distinctive vocal mixture of dark romanticism and punkish attitude." - Metro
"Haunting tunes and striking lyrics... yearningly pretty and bitter sweet." - The Independant
Steve Tilston & The Durbervilles
BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winner Steve Tilston has teamed up with Yorkshire based roots quintet The Durbervilles to bring a magnificent full band sound to selected live dates. The line up adds a tasteful mix of mandolins, electric guitar, accordion, double bass, drums, banjo, 12string, bouzouki and four part harmony to Steve's acoustic guitar and vocals.
"The Durbs really shovel in behind Tilston and bring out the best... all done with aplomb" - Simon Jones: fRoots magazine.
The Feud
After a storming set at last year's festival we just had to have them back again this year. Taking an exclusive break from their tour of Czechoslovakia The Feud will return to Dentdale with their high octane and emotionally charged massive arena sound.
The Dog Roses
Our resident festival band return again for 2012. A furious mix of country, rock and a punk ethos which leaves you wanting more. Highly infectious melodies that just make you want to get up and dance.
"highly proficient....deliver lyrical doses of worldly wisdom, spinning a sweetly sincere line or being witty and wry: taking idioms and giving them twists, showing indeed things learned from hank (williams)" - Traditional Music Maker
"This is what you get if you mix country music with west coast harmonies, indie attitude and the odd furious burst of vitriolic home-made punk" - CZine
More...
We have more than 25 artists appearing over the weekend including The Kit Holmes Duo, Franco & The Dreadnought,
The Sometimers, The Convulsions, Gerry Cooper, Acoustic Routes, Muppett, Holly Taymar, Blunt Truth, Dan Korn & The Choppy Waters, Molly Warburton,
Reel Jiggy, The Hall Brothers, Mairi Orr, Live Lounge, Bella Gaffney plus more to come!
Campsites
There are two campsites in Dent village. High Laning which is the larger of the two sites takes pre-bookings which we would recommend if you're just here for the festival weekend. Also in the village is Conder Farm which operates on a first-come, first-served basis and has a tendency to begin to fill up in the week preceding the festival. Outside the village and a few miles further up the dale at Cowgill is Ewegales campsite.
Contact Details
High Laning - 015396 25239
Conder Farm - 015396 25277
Ewegales - 015396 25440
Muppett's Corner
"Since last year's festival I've found me sen in a number of out of the way places in and around England, this included cafes pubs, railway stations and bus stops and often when I've least expected it folk have come up to me and said "weren't you at Dent festival?" and told me what they liked the best about the weekend. It's amazing where they've popped up and everyone has said how they've enjoyed it and they were keen to know if it was happening again in 2012 as they wanted to come again with their friends or family or both.
Well like these folk I'm counting down the days to 2012 Dent Fest. I've already booked time off work for it and as last year showed we can have a reight good do no matter what the weather throws at us, though I do hope this year we do have a bit more sun then last year. So I look forward to meeting up with all those that have been to Dent in the past and to those that haven't and hope that this year's festival will be even better than previous ones."
Cheers, Muppett.
Live in Dentdale
In addition to the festival, Dentdale hosts regular events throughout the year. Visit www.discoverdentdale.co.uk or www.dentdale.com for more info.
Thank You
A huge thanks to everybody who braved the mud at the 2011 festival including all the performers, the volunteers & helpers, the various organising committees, our sponsors, and our patrons - Lord & Lady Johnson...
..and last, but by no means least, all of the fun-loving folk who came along to enjoy the craic!!
