The Secret Garden Party 2009

A crazy festival party where everyone joins in and brimming with ideas and creativity. This is a not-for-profit festival without sponsorship and offers an eclectic musical mix. The dates for 2009, which is 'Babylon and Eden' themed, are confirmed as Thursday 23rd to Sunday 26th July.

Set in a 10 acre landscaped garden, bordering a river and lake, The Secret Garden is a garden-party-gone-crazy. As well as music there's loads of activities for kids and adults alike, and it is more of a party experience offering mud wrestling, skinny dipping, bubble wrap popping, sock wrestling, twilight maypole dancing, silent disco dancing, raft-building, body painting, karaoke singing, counselling from the bad advice bears and crafts.

The line-up includes Jarvis Cocker, Emiliana Torrini, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, VV Brown, Those Dancing Days, Little Comets, Bombay Bicycle Club, Dear Reader, Detroit Social Club, Phoenix, Emmy The Great, Fight Like Apes, Caribou, Baxter Dury, Golden Silvers, Official Secrets Act, Slow Club, Team Waterpolo, EMF, DJ Food, Evil Nine, The Qemists, Thunderheist, Le Castle Vania, Freeland, Killaflaw, Midimidis, Slagsmalsklubben, The XX, Chew Lips, Officer Kicks, The Bicycle Thieves, Caspa, Cocosuma, and Dan Black. For the line-up details as available please click here.

Tickets were on sale, priced at £137 for an adult for the four days, teen tickets (14-17) are priced at £110, and under 14s are free, but need to have tickets. The price includes parking, and camping. This year there is a charge of £40 for live-in vehicles, tickets have sold out.

As well as music there's loads of activities for kids and adults alike, and this event is more of a party experience offering mud wrestling, skinny dipping, bubblewrap popping, sock wrestling, twilight maypole dancing, silent disco dancing, raft-building, body painting, karaoke singing, counselling from the bad advice bears and crafts.
The festival is spread out over two sides of a lake with a large main stage area, 'The Great Stage' and then smaller tent venues dotted around, like 'Where the Wild Things Are', 'The Living Room', and 'Small World' which all have artistic décor. The happenings on the main stage side are generally more dancey and louder, and the other side has a more acoustic and chilled vibe. There's also 'The Pagoda' stage, a dance floor jutting out in to the lake, and a galleon in the middle of the lake which people are ferried out to on Friday and Saturday until Saturday evening when in 2008 a galleon was ceremoniously burnt.

There's a kids' area too, and plenty of food stalls with some excellent organic fare on offer. Customers are asked not to bring food or alcohol onto the site.

More information will be here when available.

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