Priddy Folk Festival will return from Friday, 10 July to Sunday, 12 July 2026, with organisers promising a weekend packed with music, dance and family events. The festival takes place in the Mendip village of Priddy, near Wells, with ticketed concerts and a wide programme of free events across the weekend.

Headliners for the ticketed programme include Dervish, the Melrose Quartet, Dallahan, Kasai Masai, Malin Lewis and the Henry Girls. Full line-up and ticket details are available through the Priddy Folk Festival website.

Alongside the paid programme, the festival will feature free dance events with Border and Cotswold Morris, Northern West and Step Clog sides, as well as Cornish and circle dancing groups. The Fringe will again showcase up-and-coming talent from Somerset and beyond.

Younger visitors will also be catered for on Saturday and Sunday, with crafts, singing and performance activities planned. Other events across the weekend include poetry, archaeology and wildlife walks, ceilidhs and workshops.

A highlight this year will be a Sunday festival procession led by the Lost Giants from Cornwall. The group has worked with children from Priddy Primary School to create Priddy's own giant, Fair Lady, who will take her first tour of the village accompanied by Morris sides, music and storytelling.

The free programme will also include Orchestra Jovem das Gerais, a 30-piece youth orchestra from Brazil. Priddy Rising, a concert showcasing students from The Blue School in Wells, will also return as part of the festival's work to support young folk musicians.

The festival is held on seven stages on and around Priddy village green. Visitors can watch performances in the open air or under canvas, with food, drink and a relaxed village festival setting high on the Mendip Hills.

Organisers say the event is run entirely by volunteers from Priddy and the surrounding area. The village has around 600 residents, with volunteers helping throughout the year on stewarding, site preparation, ticketing, catering and stage management.

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Priddy Folk Festival is a registered charity and reinvests any surplus into cultural projects and improvements to the local environment. Its Priddy Rising programme is run in partnership with The Blue School in Wells and the National Centre for Folk Arts at Halsway Manor, giving students the chance to work with professional musicians before performing on the festival's main stage.

The festival began in 1991 as a local PTA fundraiser and remains a not-for-profit event. Profits are used to support local causes, folk music, the arts and improvements to the village environment.

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