Leopallooza

The renowned, perhaps infamous Leopallooza music festival is in its twelfth year, taking place in a secluded wooded valley near Week St Mary in Cornwall, which lies not far inland between Tintagel and Bude.

The festival is pretty small, but a great opportunity to see big name acts as well as the emerging talent for which the event has quite a reputation as an incubator. Leopallooza has over the years hosted literally hundreds of bands, DJ’s and other artists but is still a very close-knit affair, managed by a small team. The first event was a party for only about two hundred people. It’s much bigger now, but Leopallooza clings tenaciously to their original ethos.

Festival co-founder Sam Dunnett said: “This is a festival built by festival lovers. We started it in 2006, and the same group of friends run it to this day. We work extremely hard to keep the independent ethos throughout, with everything people see, hear, drink and eat handpicked by us.” “We don’t want to be paying inflated bar or food prices at festivals, and neither do other music fans. By remaining 100% independent, we are able to keep control of pricing, with bar tariffs in-line with local pubs.”

British synth-pop-rock band Bastille featured low on the Leopallooza bill in 2012, before the release of their debut Bad Blood, and returned to the festival as headliners the following year. Rag’n’Bone Man performed on the main stage in 2016, a full six months before the release of his bestselling debut album. Eliza Doolittle played at the festival in 2010 and subsequently released a platinum-selling album that same summer. You can check out the full line-up for the 2018 festival here: https://www.leopallooza.com/whats-on/, but suffice to say Kelis is headlining on the main stage, so clearly the organisers have not dropped the ball on the “big names” promise! And if the relative unknowns do their job and the event lives up to its reputation as a talent incubator, we won’t be at all surprised!

Here are some quotes from our friends:

“Will be there again this year. The greatest house party in a field, no doubt. Great atmosphere, awesome setup. Really good to bring young children to. The year Bastille and Dan le Sac / Scroobius Pup headlined will take some beating though.”

“Great fun festival.”

“A couple of our friends go every year, we definitely want to go!”

Week St Mary itself is in an enviable location just inland from the surfing beaches of Widemouth and Crackington Haven, as well as being close to those of Bude, and famous spots like Boscastle, Tintagel and Port Isaac are also within easy striking distance.

For cottages in the Tintagel area click here or for cottages within a five-mile radius of Bude, here!

If you’d like to come and party in Kernow some time, there are lots of lovely cottages and homes, traditional and otherwise, available to rent through Cornish Traditional Cottages at any time of year. Click here to see our latest special offers and we’ll see you soon!