ABOUT US

The Forncett Festival is an unexpected musical gathering, a micro-festival nested in the beautiful Tas Valley and held together by the gravity of the Forncett Industrial Steam Museum. 2025 was our first year and we’re delighted be back for 2026!

This is your invitation to come and be part of a new creative collective, a first step towards something bigger and long-lasting. The weekend will include featured artists, open mics, beautiful garden surroundings to explore and fireside food, 🔥 with entry on a pay-what-you-can basis to support the festival. Come and escape, share and receive, listen and belong.

PROGRAMME

FRIDAY 7TH AUGUST

An open mic hosted by local legend Peter Turrell, followed by our celebrated headliner Eliza Delf & The Wilderness. Then tunes and dancing in The Steam Café until midnight. 💃

Eliza Delf & The Wilderness

Eliza Delf & The Wilderness create music that joyfully trespasses across the carefully constructed genre boundaries of indie, gothic folk noir, and progressive art rock. Their songs are full of darkly imaginative and fiercely untamed imagery.

Flair, virtuosity, subtlety, and creativity are the hallmarks of their live performance – all underpinning the dramatic and mesmerising vocals of Eliza. At times hushed and fragile, at times soaring and spine-tingling, at all times captivating – Eliza commands the stage and bewitches the audience.

Eliza’s lyrics are written in blood and shadows - beautiful, haunting, and memorable, drawing inspiration from the darkly subversive folk tales of Angela Carter with a dash of defiance to add fire to the poetry. Eliza's songs take you fearlessly into the heart of the wilderness.

“What sets Eliza Delf & The Wilderness apart is their genre-defying musical alchemy. They draw on the untamed energy of alt-indie, the shadowy depths of gothic folk noir, and the colourful imagination of progressive art rock - yet nothing here feels derivative or forced. This is a band confidently following their own path, and the result is magical.”  Echo Rebel Music Magazine

SATURDAY 8TH AUGUST

A whole day of arts and music. Saturday is when we activate all the steam engines and the festival lifts off the floor. All kinds of vibes weave together, building up to the epic psychedelia of main day headliner Floral Image. After party continues through until midnight as we purge the pressure from the steam pipe network. ⚙️

Floral Image

There is a mischief and daydream to the character of Floral Image, the playful fraternity of band members Fergus Nolan (vocals, guitars), Jack Warner (vocals, keys), Matt Kennedy (bass guitar), Mitch Forsyth (drums, visuals), & Phil Whitton (guitars, visuals), preludes the ever-weaving textures they make together. It is an infrastructure that is unstructured; a flowing alchemy that bends and grows and shifts between light, dark, malaise, excitement. There are moments of head-down ferocity and, right there beside them, pools of pulsing wonderment. Fist and feather, hand in hand.

Their latest album, Gone Down Meadowland, was released in spring 2025. "A lot of themes are anti-establishment commentaries on the state of the modern world. It can feel isolating being bystanders of global concern in sleepy Norfolk, even though it’s easy to slip into a false comfort when you’re surrounded by vast space, natural beauty and friendly folks down the market. Gone Down Meadowland is that egoless escapist fantasy that still can't escape the world caving in on itself; Norfolk isolationism." - Jack Warner (keys/vocals).

“Gone Down Meadowland is more kaleidoscopic reverie than raucous affair. It includes 10 syntheses of 60s pastoral psych pop, kosmische, 70s space rock and groovy, jazz-tinged fusion, over which hover the spirits of Syd Barrett, The Beatles, Hawkwind and Neu!” - Sharon O’Connell (Uncut/Mojo)

Goldheart Assembly

Harmony-led indie-psych band from London, Goldheart Assembly drew a cult following amongst musicians and tastemakers in the 2010s.They released 2 critically acclaimed albums and received plaudits from Coldplay, Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq, Jonathan Ross, Edith Bowman, Janice Long, Dermott O’Leary and Cerys Matthews, to name but a few.

Goldheart Assembly then toured across the UK, US and Europe with artists such as Band of Horses, The Civil Wars, The Magic Numbers and We Are Scientists as well as as making multiple appearances at Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, SXSW, Isle Of Wight and Hyde Park. The band also performed on Carson Daly’s Last Call, which aired to over 1 million people in the US. 

SUNDAY 9TH AUGUST

The celebration continues with featured artists, films & workshops, opening the floor again with an afternoon open mic. A more relaxed day, coming in to land with our atmospheric Sunday headliners Green Gardens. Campfires and mellow chats wind down the festival to its cadence.

Green Gardens

Leeds’ Green Gardens form intricate indie-rock songs that value tenderness and extremity in equal measure. Real love and care for sweet melodies, lo-fi guitars, warm drums and the tension of their relationships sits at the heart of their music. Reflecting on loss and relishing the euphoria of passing joys, they explore a hushed sanctuary inspired by Sparklehorse, and the crushed lo-fi guitars of the genre’s giants The Microphones and Broken Social Scene.

“For all their clear musical prowess, Green Gardens seem to remember that music is above all about connection and emotion, about using that talent to make you feel something, and as for their debut album, well, I for one am feeling very good about that” - For The Rabbits

The Duke of Norfolk

The Duke of Norfolk is the recording project of Oklahoma-born musician Adam Thomas Howard. Inspired early on by Irish trad, bluegrass music, and the London-based folktronic band Tunng, his music nestles somewhere between traditional folk instrumentation and electronic folk. Howard currently resides and records in Paris.

His new album, Non-Hypnotised Man as a Camera, finds sonic resemblances to both Sufjan Stevens and the National.

OTHER CONFIRMED ARTISTS

SATURDAY 8TH AUGUST

Kieran LH

Naima

Lyla Foy

Joey Herzfeld & Gem Ash

Wrong Number & Saving Felix

Joseph Works

SUNDAY 9TH AUGUST

An Animated Music Experience (George Leeder & Peter Turrell)

Tom Hancock

Joe Durant

Luke Askew

Kirakira

Shakkalo

PLUS - creative workshops, yoga, frogs, talks & more TBC!

LIMITED CAPACITY

Capacity is very limited - we’re a micro-festival! And that makes this gathering extra magic. ✨

For this reason, we strongly recommend booking your tickets in advance if you plan to come as we cannot guarantee that tickets will be be available on the door.

If you get your tickets and come along, we guarantee that by the end of the weekend, you’ll leave knowing that you’ve become an important part of something special.

PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN

We want everyone to be able to come to our events, which is why we have a tiered pay-what-you-can system; supporter, standard and supported. Please choose your tier mindfully. 

• Supporter - A higher-price ticket for those who can contribute a little extra to help keep the festival accessible and support future events.
• Standard - The regular ticket price, covering the cost of your attendance.
• Supported - A reduced-price ticket for those who need it.

Every ticket includes the same entry; your choice of tier does not affect your festival experience.

Please purchase one ticket per person for each day you plan to attend. For example, if two people are attending for one day, you'll need two tickets. If one person is attending for two festival days, they'll need one ticket for each day.

We are a Community Interest Company - all income goes back into our mission of supporting emerging artists and bringing arts, music and culture to the Tas Valley.

ABOUT THE VENUE

The Forncett Industrial Steam Museum is home to an award winning collection of working stationary steam engines, hidden in the depths of the South Norfolk countryside.

Our main stage is upstairs in The Steam Café - an emerging arts & music venue with a steampunk bar and a view of the magnificent Hopwas Beam Engine. We host Steam Ups, gigs, a monthly open mic, and Starlight Cinema (our monthly film night) in the space. As the sun sets, The Steam Café transforms, becoming an atmospheric industrial nebula as we move into the night.

Outside of the industrial museum complex are the fields and gardens which overlook the Tas Valley - plus a pond which is home to a family of the famous Forncett Frogs.

STEAM! 💨

The steam engines (the most famous of which used to lift Tower Bridge!) will be participating in the music, with the unique opportunity to see them in steam at night. Check out the beam engine up in The Steam Café in action.

Usually the steam engines are run on our Steam Up days - the first Sunday of the month from May - October.

🎤 OPEN MIC SLOTS

We’re kicking off the festival with an open mic on Friday - everyone welcome! Sign up starts at 5.30pm, with music from 6pm. 

There will be another open mic opportunity on Sunday afternoon. Both are hosted by local legend Peter Turrell.

🍽️ FOOD & DRINK

We like sharing mealtimes together as a festival - there will be an hour for a collective lunch and dinner each day (all meals deliciously plant-based). You’ll be able to pay for meal tokens at the reception or The Steam Café bar. You’re also welcome to bring your own food.

🍻 ☕ Our bar will be also be open; tea, barista coffee & some light refreshments will also be available all day from The Steam Café. These purchases support the ongoing work of the museum.

If you have any specific dietary requirements, please send us an email at forncettfestival@gmail.com and we’ll do our best to help.

⛺ ACCOMMODATION / CAMPING

🚨 VERY IMPORTANT!!! 🚨

We have very limited camping available for public. Tickets do not secure a camping spot.

If you’re interested in pitching up a tent, please get in touch with us at forncettfestival@gmail.com

We’re also happy to recommend local accommodation offers. This is our second year running and we’re still expanding our camping options and facilities.

ACCESSIBILITY

We regret that our main venue, The Steam Café, is accessed by a flight of steep stairs and may not be suitable for some people with reduced mobility. There will, however, be performances outside and we're also investigating streaming the upstairs concerts to the video room downstairs in the museum. If you would like to come to the festival and are concerned about accessibility, please get in touch at forncettfestival@gmail.com

The museum is in the process of raising funds to install a lift (but these things are very expensive and take time to implement!)

🗺️ HOW TO GET HERE

Forncett Industrial Steam Museum, Kingsmuir, Forncett St Mary, NR16 1JJ

We are 10 miles south of Norwich in the village of Forncett St Mary. Brown tourist signs will direct you from the A140 at Long Stratton (3 miles) or the B1113 at Tacolneston (2 miles).

BY BUS: a limited bus service (the number 1) runs from Norwich to Forncett on Fridays and Saturdays. Hop off at Hapton Turn and the museum is only a 15 minute walk away. https://www.konectbus.co.uk/services/KCTB/1

The closest town is Long Stratton with a more regular bus service (the 36), and then it’s a 10-minute taxi ride to the museum. Long Stratton based taxi service K&J cars quoted these prices: £12 (car seating 4 people) / £15 (minibus seating 8 people). https://www.kandjcars.co.uk/ // 07464 736667

We encourage car sharing wherever possible - please bring your mates!

🧚 VOLUNTEERING

Our volunteers are absolutely vital in keeping the wheels turning! If you’d like to get involved with helping us run the festival, please get in touch at forncettfestival@gmail.com and tell us a bit about what you might like to do. 

We’re looking for:

• Front of house (taking entry donations)
• Stewards (helping manage parking)
• Bar staff
• Support with capturing the event (calling all photographers, videographers & social media folks!)
• Pre-festival prep - getting the venue clean & decorated!
• Collective catering volunteers
• Post-festival clean up
• & more!!

ANYTHING ELSE?

If you’ve got a question that wasn’t covered here, please get in touch with us at steamcafe.norfolk@gmail.com