The one-day boutique festival of the season! The one-day festival for music, arts and food lovers returns, announcing first confirmed act – critically acclaimed band, The Magic Numbers!

19 March 2012

(London, 19 March 2012) – LAWNFEST, the one-day boutique festival for music, arts and food lovers at the New School at West Heath in Sevenoaks, Kent, returns this year on Saturday 30th June from 3.00pm-10.00pm; and it is promising treats around every corner!

Set in 32 acres of picture-perfect grounds, its music line-up is shaping up nicely, with Mercury Music Nominees, The Magic Numbers, already confirmed, and more acts being announced soon. Lawnfest is also great for showcasing upcoming talents – carefully selected to complement Lawnfest’s vibe, these unsigned artists will be the ones to watch during 2012/2013.

The Programme

Lawnfest’s imaginatively curated programme is a fantastic mix of traditional festival activities, with a few surprises along the way. It includes:

·      Art exhibition, installations and auction – original; eye-catching; affordable. Artworks, photography and sculpture by some of the world’s most exciting contemporary artists will be on display and auctioned throughout the day. Art-lovers also have the opportunity to bid on some items prior to the event in Lawnfest’s silent online auction at www.lawnfest.co.uk.

·      Drinks – a fantastic selection of soft and alcoholic drinks, and exquisite locally produced artisan wines.

·    Lawnfest Food Shed and Farmers’ Market - tasty seasonal organic foods, freshly sourced from Canterbury’s most respected farmers, then sliced, diced and prepared to entice by Olympic menu-maker and chef to Hollywood’s elite, Nicole Walshaw.  And that’s not all; festival-goers will be able to hand-pick their favourite ingredients from the very farmers that supplied the Lawnfest Food Shed, thanks to a brilliant new addition to the festival: the Lawnfest Farmers’ Market.  The market comprises 10 stalls including a baker, butcher and green grocer.

·      Vintage Teas – steaming-hot restorative brews served in vintage china cups, and accompanied by some sizeable slices of homemade cakes, scones and a mini-mountain of clotted cream. Seats can be reserved in advance.

·      Boutique stalls – shop chi-chi clothes, kitsch furniture and much more

·      Kids’ Garden – bubble shows, story-telling, wigwams, fancy dress, games and magic. Plus plenty of hands-on activities including Chocofrolics chocolate workshop, cupcake decoration, t-shirt design, circus-school, and face-painting by celebrity make-up artist Emma Miles!  What’s even better is that both entrance to the kids’ garden and access to most of its activities are absolutely free!

Loved by festival-goers of every generation, Lawnfest is impressive in every sense of the word. Not only does its one-day boutique status means festival-goers can enjoy more of life’s little luxuries, every penny raised by the festival goes directly to help fund bursaries for children at West Heath School, a highly-respected charity that uses education to rebuild the lives of emotionally traumatised children..

“The AlFayed Charitable Foundation is honoured to help organise Lawnfest. It’s a amazing one-day event, and what makes it even better is that all proceeds from Lawnfest go to fund bursaries at West Heath, a very special school which uses education to rebuild the lives of emotionally traumatised children.”  - Camilla Al Fayed, AlFayed Charitable Foundation (ACF)

Christina Wells, Principal at The New School at West Heath said “Lawnfest is the biggest event on the School calendar.  All the students are very excited. Our focus as a music, arts and food festival is proving to be very popular and we are hoping to have around 3,000 people attending this year.“It is important to remember why we put this event on.  It is to raise much need funds to enable vulnerable youngsters who are not currently funded by their Local Authority to be able to come to our School.   Camilla Al Fayed is very much at the helm in terms of the organisation of the event again this year and our charity is very dear to her heart.”