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The Gate to Southwell Festival

18th International Roots & Acoustic Music Festival

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New Lake Stage Cover

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​Shortlisted in the 2024 UK Festival Awards.

 

"I'd say it rivals Cambridge Folk Festival, albeit on a smaller scale, in terms of the diversity of the acts, the ambition of the programming, and the wide definition of folk it encompasses" Left Lion Magazine 2024 

Experience the joy and excitement of live music, and let yourself be swept away in a place where everyone belongs. On 3rd to 6th July 2025, the 18th Gate To Southwell Festival returns to the beautiful lakeside setting where we've been since 2021, 4 miles from the market town of Southwell in rural Nottinghamshire. We've had glowing reviews, including from RNR Magazine on the 2024 festival, "...how brilliant is that? What a great festival!" and previously "excellent cast list...too many good performances to mention. It has become a great favourite, if you haven't been already, try it"

We're a not-for-profit organisation run by enthusiastic and experienced volunteers who love staging what 2023 festival-goers agreed is "quite possibly the best small folk and roots festival in the UK"! Any surplus income we generate is ploughed straight back into future events.

See our latest flyer here:

(click to enlarge)

Jan 2025 GTSF Flyer

News...

Follow us on Facebook too, to keep up to date, and join our mailing list via the link at the bottom of the page. Our latest news posts are below.

 

Big news for 2024 was the introduction of a cover for our main stage (The Lake Stage). The Folk Stage remains in a marquee, and The Frontier Stage is fully open (there are 6 other stages and performance areas on site too). See the about us page here.

Line-Up 2025
(More to be annouced...)

Line-up

Sam Carter

Captivating live, filled with the raw honesty, humour, and skilled musicianship, that make him one of contemporary folk’s brightest talents

Saturday

Ma Polaine's Great Decline

"Pop-folk-blues-americana style that is warmly familiar, yet is sufficiently unhinged to keep you guessing"

Saturday

Narthen

Narthen present an orchestra of sound between them via whistles, saxes, fiddles, viola, hammer dulcimer, accordion and hardy-gurdy as well as four magnificent voices.

Friday

The Magpies

Talented musicians working collaboratively to create a fresh brand of transatlantic folk, and champion gender equality in the music industry.

Thursday

Tautas Roks

An energetic band with a mixture of genres to give a lively, full sound. They're playing the Saturday ceilidh.

Saturday

Arthur Coates & Kerran Cotterell

Exciting and energetic folk duo rooted in Quebecois traditional music fused with songs from North America & around the British Isles

Friday & Saturday

Sherburn Bartley Sanders

One of folk music’s most enduring partnerships. Their obvious rapport make them one of the busiest acts on the folk scene

Friday to Sunday

Broster & West

Two North American songwriters living in mid Wales, have put out their first collaboration, “Broster & West”.  Maverick banjo-picker, Mike West, joins forces with Canadian songwriter, Nick Broster, trading off songs, playing mandolins, guitars and banjo.

Saturday or Sunday

Slim Panatella & the Mellow Virginians

Worldclass collective on mandolin, violin and bass with an addictive blend of 30’s, 40’s and 50’s jazz, swing, ragtime, country blues and originals.

Sunday

Sunjay

Exquisite blues, country and folk music with sonorous vocals and a master class in guitar playing

Saturday

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3rd to 6th July 2025

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Member of the Association Independent Festivals.

Copyright, The Gate to Southwell Folk Festival Ltd. Gate to Southwell Festival | Nottinghamshire, England. Reg 06242562 

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Various images via vecteezy.com

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