Summer in Norfolk and Suffolk always brings a fantastic festival season
It’s just one of the reasons holiday homeowners love the eastern counties. Across all genres, and all over the region, the music and festival scene will be bustling with activity. Check out this festival checklist.
First on the festival checklist
Before you check venues, tickets, and headliners you need to get festival ready in the practical and sensible sense. Not all festival events are outside, but many are. So be careful. It doesn’t matter if you’re camping for two or three nights, or just making a day of it:
Factor up with good quality sun protection. Even if it doesn’t feel like a scorcher, the UV can be harmful if you’re not protected.
Take a hat.
Take an umbrella (in the heat it’s a parasol. In ‘summer’ it could be...an umbrella.)
Keep hydrated. That’s with water. You take the point…
Wear sunglasses. They make sense - and can of course look cool.
Cover up with appropriate clothing. Sunburn is dangerous - and frankly it’s not a good look either.
Head to the weekly fireworks on Great Yarmouth seafront every Wednesday during summer, just a short drive away from Caldecott Hall Country Park
Norfolk festivals in July and August
Holt Festival
July 13th - 27th
Comedy, literature, and, of course, music will make Holt Festival in 2024 a stand out festival. After 15 years the Holt Festival is always a definite date in the North Norfolk arts calendar. A fabulous festival in one of Norfolk’s most charming towns this promises to be a vintage year.
King’s Lynn Festival
July 14th - 27th
From classical quartets to The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, from Bollywood dance workshops to fine art exhibitions - the Kings Lynn Festival is now in its 73rd year of providing high quality entertainment. Renowned for bringing new compositions and international names to the town, it’s a summer must.
Wednesdays Fireworks at Gt Yarmouth
July 24th - August 28th
A weekly festival?! Firework festival at that! It’s an institution. Every Wednesday from late July through August, there are fireworks on the sea front at Great Yarmouth. Fit it in to your festival plans.
Norwich Pride
July 27th
Still dedicated to its ethos of being free to attend, Norwich Pride is now in its 16th year. The Norwich Pride march is at the heart of this glorious event but there’s so much else to see. Stalls, shops, the Makers Market and brilliant Pride merch are all part of a super day.
Worstead Festival
July 27th - 28th
Legend has it that Worstead Festival started life 50 years ago as a village fete to raise funds for the church roof. Now it’s one of the county’s most loved festivals of country life. Worstead brings you weaving, music, flowers, comedy, chefs and …Lego!
Wells Carnival
August 2nd - 11th
Wells Carnival will deliver another week of varied and marvellous entertainment this year. Competitions, workshops, bands and bingo. It’s packed.
North Norfolk Music Festival
August 9th - 16th
North Norfolk Music Festival is a classic classical music festival. Stunning sopranos, exceptional ensembles. Superb venues and …suppers!
The famous painted sheep at Latitude Festival, just a 30 min drive from Waveney River Centre
Suffolk festivals in July and August
Latitude Festival
July 25th - 28th
It’s the big one. Run by Festival Republic, and an annual event since 2006, Latitude Festival has only ever been interrupted by Covid in 2020. Major names in music have played at the Henham Park event and 2024 will bring more, including Kasabian, Duran Duran and Nile Rogers.
Black Shuck Festival
August 4th
Bungay brings you the Black Shuck Festival, celebrating folklore, imagination and storytelling. In the collective imaginations of local writers and artists the Black Shuck legend still influences the works produced here and continually attracts visitors to this unique and wonderful town.
The date is important of course. It was on August 4th 1577 that a wild black dog entered Bungay's St Mary's Church during a violent storm. The dog then appeared again at Blythburgh church, where it became trapped. Its claw marks in the door can be seen to this day. Go visit…but be afraid, be very afraid.
Folkeast Festival
August 16th - 18th
Folkeast Festival is one of the folk scene’s most loved events, and it always manages to bring together vintage acts and bright young stars. The talks, the workshops, the art, the food and, absolutely, the music make this Glemham Hall extravaganza an unmissable part of Suffolk’s summer.
The Suffolk Villages Festival
August 23rd - 26th
The Suffolk Villages Festival is a delightful experience featuring Renaissance, Baroque and classical music for voices and period instruments. And it happens in some beautiful churches. Since its inception in 1988, the festival has built a reputation for mixing performances of major works by its resident ensembles with performances by distinguished visitors.
Woodbridge Festival
August 30th - September 1st
12 years old, and building on a very successful 2023 festival, Woodbridge Festival 2024 is poised for great things. Local talent appears alongside international artists to raise money for cultural education. The festival has supported schools, music in health, music for the elderly and a choir for Alzheimer patients.
A whistle stop tour of Norfolk and Suffolk’s summer festivals proves the point. This is a part of the country where life is rich and varied. It’s somewhere that people get to know, and then come to love. As the idea of owning your own UK holiday home becomes an increasingly attractive proposition, people are looking at places like the Norfolk coast, the Suffolk coast, Broadland and the Waveney Valley.
